I decided to take a break after working continuously.
I went to the usual hotel near my home.
Without doing anything special, I just relaxed in the room,
stretched and walked in the pool, and kept the TV on.
Then I thought, the entertainment industry is built on advertising expenses
and live show sales.
Advertising expenses are equivalent to sponsorship ads on TV, which is B2B (A).
Live show sales include ticket fees and merchandise sold at the venues, which is Direct to Consumer (D2C) (B).
Over the eras of Showa, Heisei, and Reiwa, the composition ratio of A and B must have changed.
However, it can be speculated that A is trending downward, while B is trending upward.
A is essentially about calling out, “Please buy this.”
While watching TV in the room, the commercials were all about things like “improving bowel movements,” “family funerals,” and “pain relief for knees and hips” — all targeting the elderly.
I went to the pool, drank soda water in the lounge, and looked at the covers of the weekly magazines lined up there.
Topics like procedures after death, aging facts, summer medications, and dementia were prominent.
They are calling out to the elderly, “Please buy this.”
This has a ceiling and will eventually end.
In other words, the future of advertising expenses in Japan is bleak and will only decrease.
On the other hand, what about D2C, where customers directly pay for live tickets and merchandise? BMSG, which manages BE:FIRST, completes everything through an app.
The response to this trend is uneven, with some adapting quickly and others not.
Considering all this, it becomes clear that the market size of the entertainment industry will decline. Whether D2C can cover the drop in advertising expenses is unknown.
The budget available for TV programs will continue to decrease.
Even idols appearing on TV often have part-time jobs because the pay is so low, and job opportunities are decreasing.
The source of their pay is changing, and entertainers need to be aware of this. They also need to actively explore new ways to earn money.
This issue is not limited to entertainers. All Japanese people are facing the same challenge.
Therefore, I believe we need to effectively promote “Please buy this” to foreigners.
The activities of Discover Japan are precisely about that.
#discoverjapan
