Is the representative’s popularity decreasing due to DAZN exclusive? Torio “JFA has to think about it'' without terrestrial broadcasting of the Vietnam War | Football Tribe Japan

Japan's national soccer team, Moriyasu Japan, defeated Vietnam 4-2 in the first round of the AFC Asian Cup group stage held on the 14th of this month. The activities of midfielder Takumi Minamino (AS Monaco) and others attracted attention, but as there was no terrestrial broadcasting and the live broadcast was exclusively on the sports video distribution service “DAZN'', Japan national team alumnus Marcus Torio Tanaka had mixed feelings about it. He seems to be feeling the same way.

Up until now, Japan national team matches have been mainly broadcast on commercial broadcasters and NHK, but in 2021 DAZN signed a long-term contract with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) until 2028. Due to the acquisition of broadcasting rights for AFC-sponsored tournaments such as the World Cup final qualifiers and the Asian Cup, away games in the Qatar World Cup final qualifiers were broadcast live exclusively on DAZN and were not broadcast on terrestrial TV.

At this year's Asian Cup in Qatar 2023, the group stage matches against Vietnam and Indonesia, as well as the first round of the final tournament, will be broadcast live exclusively on DAZN. In addition to DAZN, TV Asahi is scheduled to broadcast the game against Iraq and the quarterfinals nationwide.

However, Torio seems to have a sense of crisis over the fact that the Vietnam War was not broadcast on terrestrial TV. On the 15th, he updated his YouTube and looked back on the Vietnam game, complaining, “Why is it being broadcast in Brazil but not in Japan (terrestrial)? First of all, that's strange, isn't it?''

Given that opportunities to see the Japanese national team through terrestrial broadcasting are decreasing, he said, “The Japan Football Association (JFA) needs to think about it properly.This is not a good idea. I don't think so.''

DAZN began providing services in Japan on August 23, 2016, and began broadcasting J. League and overseas soccer in 2017. They had a broadcasting rights contract with the J.League worth approximately 210 billion yen over 10 years starting in 2017, but the terms of the contract were revised in March 2023.

In addition to whispering in some quarters that the target number of DAZN subscribers may not be reached, the “3rd Autumn/Spring Season System Transition Town Meeting” held by Katale Toyama for fans and supporters on October 28, 2023. “In terms of broadcasting rights fees, the J.League initially had a grip on the annual viewership of 1 million people compared to Dazone, but currently it remains at around 400,000, so Dazone is in the red.'' report. Due to this difficult current situation, DAZN has officially announced an increase in usage fees for the third consecutive year starting February 14th of this year.