Japan reached the top in 14 years at the World Baseball Classic (WBC). The hot fever for baseball was proved by the ratings.
Daily Shincho, the Internet version of Shukan Shincho, a Japanese media outlet, reported on the 24th, “As Japan won a dramatic victory, the WBC ratings also exploded.”
On the 22nd (Korean time), Japan defeated the United States 3-2 in the 2023 WBC final held at Rondipo Park in Miami, Florida, USA and lifted the championship trophy. Japan, which won the championship twice in a row in 2006 and 2009, became the champion for the third time through this tournament.
Based on excellent pitching staff such as Shohei Ohtani (29), Yu Darvish (37), and Yoshinobu Yamamoto (25), Japan, which defeated tough opponents such as Korea and Australia in the group stage, defeated Italy in the quarterfinals (9-3) and Mexico in the semifinals ( 6:5) and won all the way to the final.
Japan, which had the strongest team ever, including only four big leaguers, raised a lot of expectations even before the tournament. Perhaps that is why the interest of the Japanese people was great from the first match. According to the media, the viewership rating for the first leg of the group stage against China on the 9th was 41.9%. Then, the match against fate’s rival Korea rose to 44.4%.
As Japan advanced to the quarterfinals, interest grew even more. It is said that 48.0% of the quarterfinal match against Italy, which took place after moving to the United States, came out. The final, which was held at 8:00 am on weekdays in Japan time, also recorded a high rate of 42.4% live broadcast and 22.2% rebroadcast.먹튀검증
Even if you look at the details, you can see the popularity of the competition. The match against Italy had a viewer rating of 20.0% for the main audience, 13-49 years old, which is close to three times the highest rating (7.1%) among programs excluding WBC in the same week.
The highest viewer rating of this WBC is said to be higher than the 2022 Qatar World Cup, which ranked first in the group stage and reached the round of 16. According to the media, the match with the highest viewer ratings in the last World Cup was Costa Rica and Group E group stage 2, which was 42.9% thanks to the anticipation of beating Germany 2-1. The WBC got over it with ease.
Of course, there was not only a positive analysis of the popularity of baseball. Individual ratings were 31.2% for WBC and 30.6% for World Cup, but the ratings for those aged 13-49 were 5%p higher for World Cup. It can be analyzed that baseball is popular among the elderly and the elderly. However, the media said, “If the fun of baseball is eaten by the younger generation, it may go beyond soccer.” At the same time, he saw that this WBC championship was popular among young people because it was a ‘cartoon-like development’.