The Nationwide Diary–Method Survey on Cross–Platform Reach is a public opinion survey that measures the reach, or the percentage of individuals who use various contents and services provided by broadcasters—not only TV and radio broadcasts but also recorded programs, social networking services, online videos, and websites—at least once during a given week. NHK has been periodically conducting this survey.

The authors classified the reach of contents and services provided by broadcasters into three categories: "real-time" (via broadcasting),"time–shifted," and "internet" (via telecommunications). In 2024, the “real-time” reach was 87.8%, “time-shifted” 50.6%, and “internet” 36.7%, with the total reach (using any of the above) of 92.0%. Among them, the reach of “recorded program”—a type of the “time-shifted” reach—has decreased from the 2021 survey, and the reach of　“free videos (official)”　(viewing TV programs, officially available from broadcasters, via streaming services such as “NHK Plus” and “TVer”)—a type of the “internet” reach—has increased from the 2021 survey. The percentage of connected TV (CTV) rose to 50% for the first time. With these changes in the situation, the survey also shows that the use of catch-up services is spreading to replace recorded-video-viewing.

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The Rating Survey on Young Children's TV Viewing is a public opinion survey of young children aged two through six living within a 30km radius of Tokyo with a purpose of measuring their TV viewing and use of recorded programs, DVDs, and internet videos per week, which has been continuously conducted by the NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute. This paper reports the results of the July 2024 survey.

As to the weekly reach, overall television (real-time viewing, NHK and commercial broadcasters combined) was 63.3%, recorded programs/DVD 41.3%, and internet videos 68.8%, showing that television and internet videos are now on par with each other. The weekly average of viewing time per day was 41 minutes for overall television and 13 minutes for recorded programs/DVDs—both have decreased from 2022, while internet videos increased to 47 minutes, indicating that internet videos’ presence is growing in young children’s media use.

While TV broadcasts were used during meals and/or for viewing with families by many, internet videos were used in various situations. Nevertheless, when comparing with 2022, those citing that they want to view TV broadcasts for “having fun as a family” have decreased, which suggest that family viewing—television’s strength—is declining. Among internet videos, in addition to game commentaries and YouTuber videos, content that is also broadcast on TV, such as anime, was watched by many. As to the devices for viewing internet videos, “television set” is most cited (68%). With the same content viewed and the same devices used as those for TV broadcasts, the positioning of the internet appears to draw closer to that of television.

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Extreme heat, torrential rain, flooding, and other threats to lives around the world, caused by climate change, are increasing in both frequency and intensity. To slow down the speed of global warming, just reporting on the crisis is not enough.　Media organizations also need to examine and reduce their CO2 emissions.

In Europe and the US, efforts by members of the media industry to calculate and reduce CO2 emissions in program and content production started in the 2000s. They have collaborated to create standards and tools in their countries and regions which have been adopted by major media companies, embedding emission calculation and reduction planning into routine production procedures. These precedents and the 2015 Paris Climate Accord spurred more media organizations into action around the world, including Japan.

The fifth installment of this series examines the efforts made by the visual media industry, with a particular focus on the specific measures Japanese media organizations have explored in various program genres. Measures using the latest technologies implemented during the production of an ongoing NHK period drama series, Berabou Tsutajū Eiga no Yume-banashi (Unbound), and other examples illustrate the challenges as well as insights for future productions.

The authors of this report include members of NHK’s Environment and Energy Secretariat, a team promoting climate change actions within NHK, which took part in those experiments to find the best ways to reduce emissions in the production process in the Japanese audiovisual media industry.

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In Europe, a series of countries are reviewing funding systems for public broadcasting since the 2010s, shifting from the license fee system based on the ownership of television receivers: Germany has introduced the broadcasting contribution fee that is imposed on all households, and Nordic countries have adopted the public service tax system based on personal income or the public grant system. In France, public broadcasters used to be funded by the license fee called “la contribution à l’audiovisuel public” (the contribution to public broadcasting), but it was removed in 2022 due to President Macron’s sudden election pledge. As a continuation of the provisional measures that followed, funding using portion of VAT tax have been institutionalized in 2025. Prior to this, how public broadcasters should be funded in the digital age had been discussed, taking into account the German and other systems, but they were not reflected in the institutionalization of the new system. After the scrap of the license fee, the introduction of a new tax was deemed not socially acceptable in the deliberations of the National Assembly. At the same time, there was a concern that public broadcasters would be considered state media if they were to be funded through the state general budget. As a result, allocating a portion of the VAT tax revenue to fund public broadcasting in a special account, separate from the state general budget, was adopted. Thus, the system has been put in place to ensure funding for public broadcasters, but issues remain regarding their independence and securing enough budget indispensable for their operations. The size of the budget over multiple years is supposed to be specified and guaranteed by COM (contracts of objectives and means) between the government and public broadcasters. However, it has frequently been reduced over the term of the contract due to the administration's policies. To secure funds, while reducing personnel and program production costs, French public TV is working on increasing revenues from advertising and other means. It also has to confront challenges such as differentiation and competition from commercial broadcasters.

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This paper reports the findings from our research on broadcast archives in the UK, centering on their efforts to make them more accessible and usable. The first installment of this two-part series presents and examines the services of the BBC and the BFI (British Film Institute) as well as their systems to provide archives to educational sites.

[Chapter I]
With its “Digital First” approach, the BBC has established radio and TV channels dedicated to the rerun of archived programs and is making more programs available also on demand on iPlayer and BBC Sounds. In line with this, approximately 280,000 programs are now accessible for viewing via BBC Programme Index—the search site of BBC Archive.

[Chapter II]
The BFI records and archives broadcast programs of each broadcaster, which are viewable at its viewing facility called Mediatheque, which is located within the BFI facility. The BFI has set its own rules for the public access with due consideration so as not to impede the commercial distribution of video archives and to prevent historical works from being overlooked.

[Chapter Ⅲ］
In the UK, more than 3.2 million broadcast archives are accessible to educational organizations. There is an established scheme that a centralized management body, ERA(Educational Recording Agency), grants licenses to educational organizations to use broadcast archives, collects usage fees, and distributes them to rights holders.

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The use of AI anchors in the media has been expanding in recent years. Although technological advancements have been remarkable, there have been few studies focusing specifically on AI anchors. Investigating and identifying their current state would be beneficial for understanding and anticipating future developments. Nevertheless, detailed information, including technological aspects, remains limited, making it difficult to see the whole picture.

This study focuses on the roles of AI anchors based on the information obtained from domestic and international news reports and other sources, and classifies them into three types according to the degree of human involvement.

These categories are as follows.
Type A: AI simply reads out scripts written by a human.
Type B: AI reads scripts that have been automatically generated from data.
Type C: AI autonomously develops speech content and engages in dialogue or other forms of interactions.

The result of the survey suggests that Type A is currently used most commonly. Type B was also found to be technically feasible, although it is not adopted as widely as Type A. Meanwhile, Type C was considered technically feasible as well, but concerns were raised about the potential risks of undermining the public trust in the media in some cases.

The use of AI anchors is expected to continue expanding among media outlets worldwide. However, when introducing them, it will be essential to carefully evaluate the benefits and associated risks, and to strike an appropriate balance between the two.

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