Not only is the Nintendo Wii beating the PS3 and Xbox 360 by substantial margins in Japan, it is also cutting into television time, according to an an article from The Times. “Families who used to tune in to its colourful diet of soap operas, panel games and comedy variety shows may, instead, be drifting away and choosing to spend the same, economically-critical ‘golden hour’ time playing on their Wii,” the article says.
“The quality of programming has always been a little cyclical in Japan, but there has never been a period of decline like the one we are seeing now. There are outside factors at work. One is people watching TV on their cell phones where we can’t track them, but the really big factor is the time people are spending on the Wii,” an executive of TBS, another major commercial channel, said.
