Skip to main content

2023 Hakone Ekiden TV Broadcast Viewership Hits Peak Rating of 35.0%

A New Year tradition, the Nippon TV live broadcast of the 99th Hakone Ekiden earned an average viewership rating of 27.5% for the Day One broadcast from 7:50 a.m. to 2:05 p.m. on Jan. 2, and 29.6% for the Day Two broadcast from 7:50 a.m. to 2:18 p.m. on Jan. 3, an overall average of 28.6% according to data analyzed by Video Research, Inc

Last year's broadcast earned an average rating of 26.2% for Day One, 28.4% for Day Two, and 27.3% overall. Two years ago at the peak of the coronavirus pandemic when fans were asked not to come watch the race along its course, Day One earned ratings of 31.0%, Day Two of 33.7%, and the overall broadcast 32.3%, record highs in all three categories since the Nippon TV broadcast began in 1987.

Peak viewership on Day One this year was 31.9% at 9:04 a.m. when the race's first exchange was happening, and on Day Two 35.0% at 1:24 p.m. when Komazawa University anchor Hibiki Aogaki brought the team home to win the Hakone Ekiden for the 8th time. Together with its wins at this season's Izumo Ekiden in October and National University Ekiden in November, Komazawa became only the 5th school in history to win all three major university ekidens in a single season. With the fastest times for both the Day One and Day Two segments, it also achieved a perfect win.

The winningest school in Hakone's 99-year history with 14 overall victories, Chuo University finished 2nd. It was Chuo's first top-3 placing at Hakone since it took 3rd in 2001 and best performance since its 1996 win. Last year's Hakone champion Aoyama Gakuin University was 3rd.

source article:
translated and edited by Brett Larner

Buy Me A Coffee

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Ngetich Breaks CR, Murayama and Sasaki Make U.S. Debut at New York Mini 10k

WR holder Agnes Ngetich  soloed a fast one at the 54th edition of the Mastercard New York Mini 10k, leading inside the first mile and pulling away the rest of the race to run a 30:07 CR for the win, the fastest time ever on U.S. soil albeit on a slightly net downhill course. On a warm day that saw over 10,000 women finish  Tsigie Gebreselama  was on her own most of the way too, a distant 2nd in 30:53 and 17 seconds up on past champ Hellen Obiri . Further back, 2026 World University Cross Country bronze medalist Amisa Murayama  and 2025 Morinomiyako Ekiden 3rd leg CR breaker Nazuki Sasaki  from 2025 National University Women's Ekiden runner-up Tohoku Fukushi University  made their U.S. debuts. Murayama was targeting the fastest-ever Japanese time at the Mini, 32:37, but struggled on the hills just before 5 km and late in the race, fading to finish 23rd in 34:08. Sasaki, recovering from a stress reaction in her upper back a few months ago, ran a conservative ...

Federation Tells World Championships Marathoner Horibata To Go On Diet

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20110307-OHT1T00258.htm translated by Brett Larner Having made the 2011 World Championships marathon team by running a PB of 2:09:25 to come in 3rd overall and as the top Japanese finisher at the Mar. 6 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, Hiroyuki Horibata (24, Team Asahi Kasei), talked to the media at Osaka Airport on Mar. 7. Following Sunday's race Rikuren director Keisuke Sawaki , 67, told Horibata, "Let's cut things down a bit until the World Championships," directing him to go on a diet. The 189 cm Horibata weighs 72 kg [~6'3", 160 lbs]. When he joined Team Asahi Kasei in 2005 at age 18 he weighed 65 kg, and this weight is still generally listed on his profile at races and in the media. "For some reason it never changes," he said with a grin. His coach Takeshi Soh , 58, commented, "If he was hungrier for glory his world would change completely," slapping the 'heavyweight division runner...

National Track and Field Championships Entry List Highlights

Entry lists are out for next week's National Track and Field Championships in Nagoya, the main selection event for Japan's teams for September's Nagoya Asian Games and Copenhagen World Road Running Championships. Top entries in each event with best time in 2025-26. Asterisks indicate 2025 national champions. Men Men's 100 m *Yoshihide Kiryu (Nihon Seimei) - 9.99 Sorato Shimizu (Seiryu H.S.) - 10.00 Yuhi Mori (Watanabe Pipe) - 10.00 Yuki Koike (Sumitomo Denko) - 10.06 Fukuto Komuro (Chuo Univ.) - 10.08 Ryota Yamagata (Seiko) - 10.08 Shuhei Tada (Sumitomo Denko) - 10.10 Ryota Suzuki (Suzuki) - 10.11 Naoki Inoue (Osaka Gas) - 10.12 Rikuto Higuchi (Suzuki) - 10.12 Men's 200 m Shota Iizuka (Mizuno) - 20.45 Aoto Suzuki (Sumitomo Denko) - 20.49 Kota Uematsu (Chuo Univ.) - 20.50 Yuji Michael Orisa (GK Line) - 20.51 Soshi Mizukubo (Miyazaki T&F) - 20.51 Mitsuhiro Numata (Legalis) - 20.58 Seisho Sasaki (Iwate Univ.) - 20.60 Sota Miwa (Koizumi) - 20.61 Naoki Uemoto (Lega...