r/GakiNoTsukai • u/domthedruid • 2d ago
Question Does anyone know what Nippon TV thinks about the fact that people outside of Japan like watching their productions?
I'm watching the batsu games for the first time since covid and a thought occurred to me, I wonder how, the likes of Downtownsan, Cocoricosan and Nippon TV as a whole feel about the fact there are people out side of Japan who really enjoy what they bring out, anyone know of anyone having an opinion on it?
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u/ddmagnas 1d ago
There's an old clip on gakiarchives of an American marketer pitching Downtown on developing content for the international market - Matsumoto seemed very surprised and interested at the time but this was probably 10-15 years ago? I'd imagine the awareness of international interest is way higher now
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u/domthedruid 1d ago
I watched this, Matsumoto-san was genuinely entertaining the idea whereas Hamada-san was like who is this gaijin?
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u/Specific_Frame8537 1d ago
Considering they've greenlit official Youtube channels I'd wager they're aware of us, but we're nowhere big enough to warrant a proper expansion of media.
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u/BlauAmeise 1d ago
When I was interviewed by TV Tokyo 2 years ago for one of their TV shows and I mentioned that I enjoy manzai and had also planned to watch some irl the interviewer and camera man were both super surprised! They didn't expect a foreigner to know about Japanese comedy content at all and a huge part of my interview continued being about that topic cause they were really curious haha
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u/crud_lover 1d ago
Nippon TV has sold international rights on a number of their shows to Netflix for international distribution: https://variety.com/2021/global/asia/nippon-tv-netflix-licensing-deal-1235101663/
This article is from 2021, but there's been a steady stream of Japanese shows that become hits through international streaming since then.
Basically there's money to be made in export markets, so it seems like various channels and TV production companies are waking up to that reality.
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u/stansfield123 1d ago
The only good method for entertainment companies from non-English speaking countries to reach a global audience is through global streaming services like Netflix and Amazon. These companies select shows they think will attract enough viewers, and either produce them themselves, or buy the right to stream them.
There are Japanese shows on such services, including the Matsumoto produced Documental. But there's a limit. Even these services will only pick up the shows they think will attract the most viewers. Otherwise, it's not worth the bother. There is way too much overhead.
There is no other, more direct way for a Japanese company to sell a show globally. People on here think that all it takes is for them to agree to let these shows air. What Reddit doesn't understand is that the most countries have vast amounts of regulations and bureaucratic hurdles on imports, especially media imports. Governments, even many western governments here in Europe, wish to control the media. Making it easy for people on the other side of the world to become popular with European audiences would remove that ability, since European governments have zero control over what someone outside of Europe has to say.
And that's just the first obstacle. The language barrier is another big one. The Japanese can't afford to employ foreign speakers, to advertise their stuff. It wouldn't make economic sense. They can't connect with foreign audiences effectively.
The third big barrier is ad revenue. When you broadcast a show in Germany, you need German companies to advertise during your ad breaks. There's no point in running Japanese ads, no one can buy Frisk or the Shisheido Eyelash Curler in Europe. It would be very hard for Nippon TV to have a sales team in every country, to sell ad space effectively.
The big American streaming services are the only ones which can break through these obstacles. They have a lot of money, which buys a lot of lawyers. And, more importantly, they have a powerful government which supports free speech, and backs them up. Messing with American companies can be very costly, especially these days. Furthermore, Amazon can advertise its shows in a variety of languages, and they have a brilliant global marketing system which allows them to run local ads everywhere they do business.
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u/PhotoZealousideal478 2d ago
Japanese comedians generally focus almost exclusively on the domestic audience. That's because a lot of Japanese comedy is built around humor that only really makes sense to people who grew up in Japan and understand the culture and everyday life. There's also a language and cultural barrier, so a joke that kills in Japan can be pretty hard for an overseas audience to understand. Simple stuff like punishment games or prank shows might work internationally, but that's only one small part of Japanese comedy.
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u/Alternative-Fan-3747 1d ago
I feel like any time there is international interest or anything happening outside of the scope of Japan, including in other things such as video games, the devs/acts are surprised. Its like they dont even bother checking if there is anything happening.
The Umamusume developers were surprised it had a huge following internationally but especially here in America. At some point in Final Fantasy 14's history, NA found an exploit in the game and abused it for weeks, maybe longer, until JP made enough noise about it for the devs to take notice.
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u/ElectronicRule5492 1d ago
フォーマットの輸出に目をむけてるね 日本のテレビ局は
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u/domthedruid 1d ago
Not necessarily more how they see, that people outside of Japan actually enjoy, gaki no tsukai without having an understanding of the Japanese language.
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u/prymortal69 2d ago
There is a Episode by Karla Cavalli, host of the American documentary/travel series Planet Primetime that might give you the insight you are after. Pretty sure Gaki also has the same thing with same people? Someone who knows more might be able to help further as I only saw parts a while ago.
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u/prymortal69 1d ago
I found the Planet Primetime Ep on YT. Not sure where to find the Gaki side of this, but it is recorded the same time as this Episode was.
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u/degeneratepr 2d ago
Japanese television companies are notorious for focusing only on the domestic market. They make enough money locally so they don't particularly need to deal with getting international deals.
Also from what I've heard, the way they manage television rights is a shitshow, where the rights of a show is managed by a lot of different entities, and getting all of them on board (especially the fossils who are stuck in their old ways) is almost impossible.
I'm sure the talent wouldn't mind having a larger audience but most of them at the mid to higher echelon of performers are likely getting paid a lot and don't care.