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Japanese TV Is Losing to Wii

Nintendo system steals prime-time audiences as families play together

By Dustin Lushing,  Newser Staff

Posted Jul 11, 2007 5:29 AM CDT
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(Newser) – Ratings are plummeting for Japanese prime-time TV shows as audiences increasingly turn to playing games on Nintendo's Wii system. Wii, which dominates the nation's $30B video games market, has stolen TV's "golden hour,"  thanks in part to parents who are choosing to share family time on Wii's interactive sports-simulating games rather than watching TV, the Times of London reports.

 "There has never been a period of decline" in TV like this, said one official. No single show has drawn more than a 9% audience share for the first time in nearly 20 years. Wii has widened the video-game audience beyond its traditional constituency of 8-to-16-year-olds, the Times observes.

A Taiwanese man plays Nintendo's new Wii console in his Taipei...
A Taiwanese man plays Nintendo's new Wii console in his Taipei...   (Getty Images (by Event))
TO GO WITH STORY AFPEntertainment-Japan-
TO GO WITH STORY AFPEntertainment-Japan-   (Getty Images)
Gabriel Benetiz, 12, and his grandmother Evelyn Rivas leave the Nintendo World store in New York's Rockefeller Center with his Wii video game console, Thursday morning, June 21, 2007. The Nintendo World store gets regular shipments of Wiis which usually sell out immediately.(AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Gabriel Benetiz, 12, and his grandmother Evelyn Rivas leave the Nintendo World store in New York's Rockefeller Center with his Wii video game console, Thursday morning, June 21, 2007. The Nintendo World...   (Associated Press)
This image, provided by Electronic Arts Inc., shows Tiger Woods on the course in the new Wii video game Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07. (AP Photo/Electronic Arts Inc.)
This image, provided by Electronic Arts Inc., shows Tiger Woods on the course in the new Wii video game "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07." (AP Photo/Electronic Arts Inc.)   (Associated Press)
A customer, right, hands over his credit card to purchase Wii video game console at the Nintendo World store in New York's Rockefeller Center, Thursday morning, June 21, 2007. The Nintendo World store gets regular shipments of Wiis which usually sell out immediately. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
A customer, right, hands over his credit card to purchase Wii video game console at the Nintendo World store in New York's Rockefeller Center, Thursday morning, June 21, 2007. The Nintendo World store...   (Associated Press)
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television • Japan • Nintendo Wii • parents • Playstation 3 • audiences • TV shows • primetime TV • Japanese • video games

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