Chapter 208: Ratings Are Out

The next morning, Akiwara Yuto got up and went downstairs. Just as he was about to take some bread from the refrigerator for breakfast, he unexpectedly saw a sticky note on the outside of the fridge.

The handwriting on the sticky note was Satake Maki's—"Teacher Akiwara, breakfast is already made and in the fridge. Please heat it up before eating."

Akiwara Yuto smiled, then peeled off the sticky note, opened the fridge to take out the Japanese-style breakfast Satake had prepared, placed it in the microwave, and turned the timer knob to 3 minutes.

While the microwave was heating, the telephone rang.

Akiwara Yuto picked up the phone, "Hello, this is Akiwara Yuto. May I ask who this is?"

"Teacher Akiwara, this is Fujioka Taiki. The ratings are out!" a voice came from the other side of the phone.

Akiwara Yuto had still been a bit sleepy, but he became instantly alert upon hearing this.

"Oh, how are the ratings?"

Fujioka Taiki cleared his throat and began to explain the situation surrounding the broadcast of the ratings this time.

Before *Furuhata Ninzaburo* aired, it followed the standard promotional process for a television station—trailers were played beforehand, and promotions were done at train stations and in newspapers. However, because it aired during the same period as *Detective Kamimura*, some media outlets over-interpreted it as a competition between the two major television stations, which instead attracted the interest of many onlookers.

Therefore, after it started airing, the ratings achieved a good result—the time-segmented rating reached 15%, the peak time-segmented rating was 16. %, and the rating for the final five minutes was 16. %, which was much higher than what the production team had originally expected.

Upon discovering that Akiwara Yuto was completely ignorant of these technical terms, Fujioka Taiki explained them carefully.

"We estimated the time-segmented rating to be above 12%, but unexpectedly it reached 15%, which is 3 percentage points higher than we thought. Moreover, from the start of the broadcast, it kept climbing until it reached 15%, which means many viewers tuned in midway."

"In the last 15 minutes of this episode, it reached a peak of 16. %, and only had a negligible drop at the very end. These data points indicate that these viewers were generally able to watch from beginning to end."

"Teacher Akiwara, this work can be considered to have had a good start!"

Akiwara Yuto really didn't know much about these things, but hearing it from a professional like Fujioka Taiki, he nodded with satisfaction.

However, he was still a bit puzzled and asked, "Mr. Fujioka, why was the peak in the last 15 minutes? It was almost the end by then, right?"

Fujioka Taiki explained, "Teacher Akiwara, it's because TV Asahi made a last-minute adjustment to the broadcast time of *Detective Kamimura*, specifically arranging for it to air 15 minutes earlier than us."

Akiwara Yuto understood immediately after hearing this explanation; it seemed there were people who finished watching *Detective Kamimura* and then switched back to the Fuji TV channel to watch *Furuhata Ninzaburo*.

He thought for a moment and then asked, "Mr. Fujioka, why did TV Asahi want to change their schedule? If they had arranged it at different times, the ratings for both shows should have been higher, right?"

In his view, it would have been fine for everyone to just do their own thing and occasionally have a war of words in the media for the onlookers to see.

Insisting on squeezing into the same time slot to split the audience was clearly a decision as stupid as it could possibly be.

Fujioka Taiki sighed, "Teacher Akiwara, for a television station, ratings are often not the first factor to consider; one also needs to consider suppressing the competition."

Akiwara Yuto immediately understood what he meant: TV Asahi still wanted to continue suppressing Fuji TV.

It was truly annoying. If not for that move by TV Asahi, *Furuhata* might have even broken through 20% in ratings.

But Fuji TV was probably even more annoyed than he was.

After finishing these points, the two discussed the feedback calls from viewers, and Fujioka Taiki informed him that many female viewers were very dissatisfied with the ending, believing the screenwriter shouldn't have written it that way.

Hearing this, Akiwara Yuto recalled Satake Maki's reaction from last night and subconsciously fell into thought.

He remembered seeing a post in his previous life about how this episode had caused quite a reaction among the audience.

Because the victim was truly scum—dating one person after another and even using a notebook for "time management"—he could be called the Japanese version of a playboy. And the murderer played by Nakamori Akina was very pitiful, portraying a lovelorn girl who only wanted pure love.

Therefore, many female viewers developed sympathy for the female lead while watching the show.

Besides that, the frequent occurrence of extramarital affairs in Japanese society was also an important reason. Many women who had been cheated on despised scumbags and wished they could give the other party a "cleaver ending."

Therefore, after watching this episode, they projected themselves into the female lead's situation and resonated with her.

Forget it, let the female viewers complain about the plot; as long as it can drive the conversation and increase ratings, that's all that matters.

*April Youth* and his collected volume were counting on the surge in sales brought by the increased ratings!

Akiwara Yuto asked again, "Mr. Fujioka, are there any other promotional plans for later?"

"After seeing the results, the board of directors expressed their satisfaction. If nothing unexpected happens, we will continue to increase our efforts later, regarding..." Fujioka Taiki began to explain.

The two chatted for a while longer, then both hung up the phone.

Akiwara Yuto put down the receiver, quickly finished his breakfast, and went out to get the newspaper. He was very curious about how the critics in the newspaper viewed this work.

He spread out the newspaper and began to read.

The headline, unsurprisingly, still used the showdown between *Detective Kamimura* and *Furuhata Ninzaburo* as a gimmick; after all, these topics involving a PK were undoubtedly what readers liked most.

In the body of the article, the critic first reviewed the actor comparisons and promotional introductions since the two shows began filming, provided a general overview, and then talked about the two leads, Wu Neizhenhui and Kishida Ryota.

Perhaps out of a desire to protect his own reputation, the critic praised both leads—first praising Wu Neizhenhui for his very mature performance, especially his calmness when fighting the criminal. Then he praised Kishida Ryota for being very elegant, allowing the female criminal to leave with dignity.

After finishing the analysis of the actors, Akiwara Yuto continued reading and found that the other party began to describe the plot and talk about the characteristics of the two shows, believing that *Detective Kamimura* was an action-plus-detective genre, while *Furuhata Ninzaburo* was a human-nature-plus-police genre, each with its own merits.

After reading this, he felt that this critic was simply a fence-sitter who tried to please everyone, aiming to offend neither side.

Having said that, this review actually had a certain positive impact on *Furuhata Ninzaburo*.

After all, Kishida Ryota had been a second or third-tier actor for so many years, and his fan base was far smaller than Wu Neizhenhui's. If all critics could be fence-sitters and say both were good, it would likely help Kishida Ryota attract a group of fans and recommend him to others.

Akiwara Yuto closed his eyes and thought. As an adapted television drama, *Detective Kamimura* had been serialized for so many issues, and it had many more readers than *Furuhata Ninzaburo*. Coupled with the comparison in the popularity of the leads, it was normal for *Detective Kamimura* to have the upper hand for now.

But there had actually been quite a few detective dramas with themes similar to *Detective Kamimura* in recent years, and it could not be ruled out that they might cause viewer fatigue later on.

On the contrary, the *Furuhata Ninzaburo* series, which delved more into the human nature of the murderer and the victim and showcased the elegance of the lead, appeared exceptionally striking and different.

After thinking about it this way, Akiwara Yuto's confidence grew quite a bit.

He put on his coat and walked out of the house, preparing to go to a nearby internet cafe to go online and see the opinions of netizens...