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Over 55 Million Tune In to Hakone Ekiden Broadcast, With Viewership Rating Up From Last Year to 28.8%

On Jan. 6 Video Research, Inc. announced the viewership ratings for Nippon TV's broadcast of the 101st Hakone Ekiden on Jan. 2-3.

A total of 55,400,000 people tuned in during the complete 2-day broadcast, with 43,089,000 people tuning in on Day One and 44,250,000 on Day Two. The average audience size over the complete broadcast was 16,957,000, with an average Day One audience of 16,725,000 and an average Day Two audience of 17,305,000.

Average viewership on Day One was 27.9%, with the average for Aoyama Gakuin University's 2nd-straight win on Day Two coming it at 28.8%. Both ratings beat those for last year's broadcast, 26.1% on Day One and 28.3% on Day Two. Individual viewership ratings were 17.0% for Day One and 17.5% for Day Two, also surpassing last year's numbers of 15.7% and 17.5%.

Along with AGU's overall victory, Day Two action this year featured a record-breaking run from Komazawa University, Koku Gakuin University coming up short in its attempt at its first-ever ekiden season triple crown, and traditional powers Waseda University and Chuo University making the top 5.

Nippon TV's Hakone broadcast began in 1987. Its highest-ever ratings of 31.0% and 33.7% came in 2021 when Komazawa University won.
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