SMAP delivers highest performer ratings at 61st Kouhaku Uta Gassen

The minute-by-minute breakdown of the viewership ratings (in the Kanto region) for the 61st NHK Kouhaku Uta Gassen was released to news outlets on Tuesday. (The overall ratings were announced a few days ago.) Based on the data, the ratings peak of the 4-hour show came near the end, reaching 49.7% at 11:41pm as the artists waited on stage for the winning team to be announced. Among the performers, the highest ratings were achieved just before that by SMAP's 2-song medley performance as the show's "ootori" (the final artist), measured at a peak of 48.9%.

This is SMAP's sixth time achieving the highest ratings at Kouhaku Uta Gassen. They previously did it in 2000 (tied with Sachiko Kobayashi and Yuki Koyanagi), 2003, 2005, 2006, and 2007.

DREAMS COME TRUE, who performed last for the Red Team and took the stage just before SMAP, had the second highest ratings with 47.2%.

The second half of the show (after 9:30pm) averaged 41.7%, thanks to plenty of highly-rated performances. In fact, the last 15 performances of the show, starting with Yuzo Kayama and ending with SMAP, all rated 40.0% or higher. These included Masaharu Fukuyama (43.4%), Keisuke Kuwata (45.4%), Arashi (43.3%), Sachiko Kobayashi, and Ikimono Gakari.

A few other artists in the second half broke the 40.0% mark. During the first half, which only averaged 35.7%, AKB48 was the only artist to reach that threshold, with ratings of 40.3%.

The complete ratings for all the artists are expected to be publicly released soon.

Source : AsianFanatics