2022 Hakone Ekiden Broadcast Pulls in Only 33.4% Peak Viewership Rating While Courseside Crowds Triple

The Nippon Television broadcast of the 98th Hakone Ekiden on Jan. 2 and 3 generated average viewership ratings of 26.2% for the first day of the race and 28.4% for the second day, according to data released on Jan. 4. The overall average viewership rating for the two days was 27.2%. Last year's broadcast had average viewership of 31.0% on day one, 33.7% on day two, and an overall average of 32.3%, all the highest since the TV broadcast began in 1987.

Peak viewership on the first day of this year's race came at 1:22 p.m. when winner Aoyama Gakuin University's Hiroki Wakabayashi finished the uphill Fifth Stage, reaching 31.1%. The peak day two rating of 33.4% came at 9:05 a.m., just after the finish of the downhill Sixth Stage when Aoyama Gakuin's Yuki Takahashi held on to the team's lead and Juntendo University's Keito Makase overtook Komazawa University's Kohei Tsukuda in a duel for 2nd.

Meanwhile, race organizers Kanto Gakuren announced that an estimated 600,000 people turned out to watch along the course, more than triple last year's estimate of 180,000. Both years the organizers had asked people to help counter the coronavirus pandemic by not coming to see the race in person. Few people made the trip to see the Day Two start at Lake Ashi, but as the race progressed the numbers increased. Large crowds turned out at exchange points and in the Nihonbashi area near the finish.

Despite the increase, the number of spectators remained far below normal. Organizers' estimates of crowd sizes over the last six years:

2017: 1,180,000

2018: 1,200,000

2019: 1,240,000

2020: 1,210,000

2021: 180,000

2022: 600,000

source article:

https://hochi.news/articles/20220104-OHT1T51017.html?page=1

https://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2022/01/03/kiji/20220103s00063000403000c.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner