世論 What Japan Thinks

Here’s perhaps a rather ordinary survey on terrestrial digital broadcasting from goo Research, their seventh time of conducting this monthly survey, as reported by japan.internet.com.

Demographics

Between the 4th and 9th of April 2009 1,087 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.9% of the sample were male, 16.6% were in their teens, 18.3% in their twenties, 21.1% in their thirties, 16.2% in their forties, 15.5% in their fifties, and 12.3% aged sixty or older.

In order to try to spice up this survey just today there was a very interesting development regarding the government’s “image character”, Mr Tsuyoshi Kusunagi of the popular beat combo The Smaps, who appears on their advertising promoting, to use the common Japanese abbreviation for terrestrial digital, “chi-deji”. He was arrested in the early hours of the morning chin-deta – a corny pun that I will make no effort to explain – looking for digital adjustments to his antenna, if the rumours about him and the park are to be believed. The government, and just about every other organisation that he advertises for are now busy ripping up their contracts with him, although permit me to offer the above police mugshot as an alternative. (Yes, I know I suck at Photoshop!)

Leaving the gossip behind, let’s get back to the business on hand, the survey.

Research results

Q1: Which of the following kinds of broadcasts can you watch at home? (Sample size=1,087, multiple answer)

	Votes	Percentage
Terrestrial analogue	999	91.9%
Terrestrial digital	550	50.6%
One-seg (mobile terrestrial digital)	376	34.6%
BS digital (satellite)	369	33.9%
BS analogue (satellite)	333	30.6%
Cable television	269	24.7%
CS digital (satellite)	125	11.5%
CS analogue (satellite)	89	8.2%
IPTV (television broadcast over internet)	30	2.8%
Other	3	0.3%
Don’t have a television	8	0.7%

Q2: Do you plan to buy a terrestrial digital-capable television, video recorder before the analogue switch-off? (Sample size=1,087)

Already have done so	44.0%
Plan to do so	34.2%
Already changed to a different type of television (cable, IP, etc)	2.9%
Plan to change to a different type of television (cable, IP, etc)	1.8%
Will stop watching television	1.8%
Not decided yet	15.3%

There were 478 people with terrestrial digital-capable televisions at home, even though Q1 says 550, perhaps that includes digital-ready videos, and perhaps there are people not aware of additional features along with the standard television signal.

Q3: Which of the following kinds of broadcasts can you watch at home? (Sample size=478, multiple answer)

	Votes	Percentage
Always-available news headlines, weather, etc data broadcasts	250	52.3%
Easy program recording via EPG (Electronic Program Guide)	114	23.8%
Quiz, questionnaire, other two-way data services	90	18.8%
Subtitles	85	17.8%
Multi-channel functions	51	10.7%
Other	8	1.7%