Japan’s media landscape is rapidly changing. Daily newspapers, that once distributed more than a copy per household, are in sharp decline, while broadcasters are losing their audiences to YouTube and other video networks. Traditional media are also struggling to find sustainable business models as the shift to digital gathers pace.

Daily newspapers’ total circulation decreased from 53 million in 2004 to 26 million in 2024 with most of that decline in the last ten years. Many Japanese publishers were slow to adapt to digital, partly to protect their profitable print businesses, but this means that online access is now largely controlled by aggregators such as Yahoo! News and LINE News (see brand lists) which offer free news from multiple providers. A ‘free news culture’, where advertising is seen as the main way to fund news, has made it hard for publishers to charge readers directly for online news.

One notable exception has been the economic daily, Nikkei, which reached the milestone of a million digital paid subscribers in 2024, even more if you include smaller publications owned by the group. Nikkei achieved this target partly by leaning into corporate (B2B) subscriptions and its digital paid readership is now close to its print circulation of 1.3 million. By contrast, the Asahi Shimbun’s digital subscription numbers have remained stable for several years at 300,000, with its print circulation still ten times larger.

The largest daily newspaper, Yomiuri, with a circulation of 5.7 million does not sell digital subscriptions separately but only as part of a bundle with print. It has also started to target businesses, a long-held market of Nikkei, in collaboration with Dow Jones. The new platform Dow Jones Yomiuri Shimbun Pro provides professionals with financial and business news from the two publications through its dashboard.

While terrestrial television remains the primary way of viewing in Japan, streaming services are growing, with Netflix surpassing 10 million subscribers in 2024. In January 2025, TVer, a free catch-up (VOD) service operated by the main commercial broadcasters, also announced that its monthly users had reached a record high of 41.2 million, a 17% increase from the same month of previous year.¹ Broadcasters are looking to stay relevant through innovation and by reducing costs. TV Tokyo announced the launch of its first Free Ad-Supported Streaming channel (FAST), and four Nippon TV affiliates announced a restructuring of their management structures in April 2025. On the other hand, the public broadcaster, NHK, is projected to be in the red for the third straight year following cuts in the level of its receiving fees in October 2023.

The TV industry was rocked by an allegation of sexual assault by Masahiro Nakai, a former member of a hugely popular boyband who fronted several Fuji TV shows. The network’s initial response to avoid an open press conference was criticised as a cover-up, triggering investors and the public to accuse the network of a lack of transparency and having flaws in governance.² As dozens of companies pulled their advertisements, the president of Fuji TV resigned, promising an independent investigation. However, the scandal raised broader questions about the industry’s respect of women’s rights. The response of the viewers is reflected in the decline in brand trust score of all TV stations this year including Fuji TV (-13pp).

Another challenge for traditional media relates to the increased role of social media in elections, since a ban on internet campaigning was lifted in 2013. In November, a former governor of Hyogo prefecture, located to the west of Osaka, Motohiko Saito, who had previously resigned due to abuse allegations, announced he was standing for re-election and unexpectedly found support online from voices who accused traditional media of unfairly bullying him. When ex-governor Saito won the race, a media analyst described 2024 as the first true example of an online election campaign.³ After the Hyogo election, a survey showed that there was a correlation between a favourable impression of the ex-governor and low trust in the media.⁴ During the election, it was observed that reporters covering Motohiko Saito’s rally were confronted and filmed by his supporters.

Meanwhile, AI is gradually being integrated into publisher news services. Yahoo! News has introduced an AI feature which detects offensive comments and asks users to reconsider before posting. It is up to the users whether to follow the advice, but the company says offensive comments have declined by 24% since the service was launched.⁵ Saga Shinbun, a local newspaper, also experimented with publishing a page entirely produced by artificial intelligence to commemorate its 140th anniversary, drawing a mixed reaction.

Yasuomi Sawa
Journalist and Professor of Journalism, Waseda University

Reiko Saisho
NHK, Broadcasting Culture Research Institute

The rising influence of social media and a major scandal in traditional media seem to have contributed to the drop in trust levels, especially among the younger group – the very generation the media struggle to reach. While traditional media aim to uphold impartiality and objectivity, political commentators and influencers criticise them for holding back the truth, and maintain they are the ones providing unbiased news.

Footnotes