Japan’s Nippon TV has selected Hiroyuki Fukuda to serve as its new representative director, president and COO, replacing Akira Ishizawa, who has transitioned into a new role as representative director of Yomiuri Chukyo FS Broadcasting Holdings Corporation, which encompasses Nippon regional channels Sapporo Television Broadcasting, Chukyo TV Broadcasting, Yomiuri Telecasting and Fukuoka Broadcasting System.

A Nippon TV veteran, Fukuda has worked there since 1985, initially starting out in the on-air commercial operations department of the broadcaster’s sales division. He eventually moved into content, serving as divisional president of the production division and president of the programming division. In addition to his new role as president and COO, which he started on January 1, Fukuda will continue serving as board director and chief content officer until June 2025. 

Despite strong ad sales driven by Nippon TV tying for the top ratings share in Japan last year (with an unnamed competitor), Fukuda says the company is in a “battle for survival” due to broader industry changes and increased competition. Reducing its dependence on broadcasting revenue and executing a more content-centric strategy dubbed the “New Medium-Term Management Plan” for 2025 to 2027 are among his priorities.

“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,” he explains.

Fukuda also notes that Nippon TV will actively tap into AI to “improve the efficiency of the content creation process,” as well as bolstering ad sales by using the tech in its proprietary Ad Reach Max tool, which provides a platform for advertising slot transactions.