People

Nippon TV announced that Hiroyuki Fukuda, former Executive Vice President and Executive Officer, has been promoted to Representative Director, President and Chief Operating Officer of Nippon TV from January 1st, 2025. He replaces Akira Ishizawa who will serve as the Representative Director of the newly established Yomiuri Chukyo FS Broadcasting Holdings Corporation from January 1st, 2025.

Hiroyuki Fukuda said:“I am extremely honored to be appointed to become Representative Director, President and Chief Operating Officer of Nippon TV effective January 1, 2025, upon the announcement of the establishment of Yomiuri Chukyo FS Broadcasting Holdings Corporation (FYCS).

I joined Nippon TV in 1985 and since being assigned to the On-Air Commercial Operations Department of the Sales Division, I have dedicated my journey exclusively to the television industry. My role has spanned positions in both the Programming and Sales Divisions, culminating in my leadership as Divisional President of the Production Division and President of the Programming Division, I became Board Director and Chief Content Officer in charge of Content Strategy and Corporate Strategy. Until June of this year, I will continue to oversee these roles.
In 2024, Nippon TV maintained the position at the top of the individual viewer ratings share for the Golden Time category, albeit tied with a competitor. Although the share of our strategic core target (viewers aged 13 to 49) remained high, enabling us to achieve lucrative advertising sales, the second-ranked broadcaster is fiercely trying to catch up. With the downward trend in PUT (Persons Using Television) showing no signs of slowing down, we face the immediate and urgent challenge of acquiring and maintaining the volume of our individual and core target demographics. Increasing the share of revenue from sources other than broadcasting is an important goal, but we must start by fundamentally reviewing our approach to the annual viewer ratings battle and building a strong timetable for our broadcasting business. Morale across our content creation teams remains tremendously high, and barring any errors in our approach, we will recover. Strengthening the timetable is also an initiative that will form the basis for expanding our content business.

Meanwhile, our high level of dependence on our broadcasting business remains the biggest risk. In the upcoming “New Medium-Term Management Plan 2025-2027”, we aim to further expand and develop the ‘content-centric strategy’ stipulated in the current plan as the Nippon TV Group that is highly valued in the global market, one that boasts powerful IP assets, and contributes to people’s well-being. To achieve this, we will work to transform our business portfolio and reduce our dependence on broadcasting revenue. Active proposals from relevant departments and group companies are already underway".