ISOJ 2004

1. Online Landscape in Japan
Makoto Ota
The Yomiuri Shimbun, Tokyo
April 16, 2004

2. For Your Understanding
 Japan has:
 127 million population
 5 major national papers and many other
regional papers
 Subscription per HH: 1.07 in 2003
 Home-delivery rate: 93.9% in 2003
 2 editions on weekdays: morning & evening; 1
on Sundays: morning

3. For Your Understanding 2
 Japan has:
 70 million Internet users, HH penetration
81.4% in 2002
 BB via ADSL prevails
Source: Ministry of General Affairs, 2004

4. For Your Understanding 3
 Japan has;
 80 million cell phone
subscribers, of which 68
millions are mobile-internet
users
 All-in-one gadget w/ Java,
digital camera, a memory card
slot, bar-code reader, IrDA,
MP3 player, GPS+navigation,
doc+xls+pdf reader… & IC
chip, digital TV receiver, and
beyond
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
millions
2000/6/1 2001/6/1 2002/6/1 2003/6/1
# of celluar internet subscribers
(Source: MoGA, Telecommunications Carriers Association, Docomo Report
Feb. 2004;
http://www.nttdocomo.com/files/presscenter/34_No16_Doc.pdf)

5. The Yomiuri Shimbun
 Founded in 1874, to turn its 130th
anniversary this
year
 Publishes 10 million copies a day
 In cooperation w/ The Washington Post, LA
Times, Chicago Tribune, The Times (London), Le
Figaro…
 Governs TV stations, a symphonic orchestra, The
Giants, and so on
 Reads from top to bottom
 Also has an English daily, “The Daily Yomiuri”

6. Yomiuri On Line
 Launched in June, 1995
 PV: 200 millions (Jan. 2004); UU: 5
millions at home, 3 millions in office
 Ads revenue in FY2003: $7.6 million (15%
up)
 News + features such as jobs, health,
women, cars, money, travel, net&digital,
etc.

7. Keitai Yomiuri
 NTT Docomo introduced first in Feb., 1999
 Among 80 million cell-phone users, 68
million subscribe to keitai-internet
 The Yomiuri feeds news, ring-tone melody,
photos, email updates for baseball funs
 w/ 300 thousands subscribers paying $2
monthly, resulting in $7 million revenue
annually

8. How YOL works
 Updated continuously whenever available, like a
news agency or a blog
 “Distribution Center,” created in Mar. 2000,
enables to publish articles online on 24/7 basis
 Same articles as the paper & some materials
purchased for features
 News Flow: Reporters Sr. reporter called
“Captain” Editors/DC Proofreading Dept.
Editors/DC Paper or Web or Cell phone or
Electronic Signboard and so on

9. Market & Problems
 Competitors: Other papers. Not so much
Yahoo! News in Japan. Not yet Google
News
 Business model: Only ads, No link
 Broadband contents: Few movies