The rating is based on the percentage of households watching the anime as it airs.
It is not a perfect way to measure popularity or public opinion.
To an average Western anime fan, the number 3.2% being a good thing is quite confusing. However, these numbers are not based on any scores — they indicate how many people watch a certain program.
This particular one comes from Video Research, a company that conducts audience measurement for television and radio, and represents the percentage of households that watched the final episode of Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin) in the Kanto region.
Comprised of some of the most populous prefectures in Japan, such as Tokyo and Kanagawa, the region accounts for roughly one third of the country’s population, which makes for a good statistical representation overall.
So what about the number?
3.2% doesnэt tell you anything by itself, so let’s compare it to other shows. First, you need to remember that the episode aired exactly at midnight, which means a lot of people, and entire households, were already asleep at that point. For the sake of fair comparison, we can compare the Attack on Titan finale with Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 Episode 1 and Chainsaw Man Episode 10. Both of these shows aired at midnight as well, and the former got 2.6%, while the latter got 1.6%.
Needless to say, Attack on Titan being more popular than arguably the most impactful Chainsaw Man episode, even after ten years since it started airing, says something about the show’s popularity. Moreover, the final episode garnered even more attention than the one before it, which had a 2.1% rating, not to mention the Final Season before it, which had ratings between 0.9% and 2.6%. Seems that Attack on Titan is doing quite well in Japan.
Things to remember
There are, however, multiple caveats in measuring anime popularity by simply looking at household viewer ratings. First of all, as already mentioned, it doesn’t account for the timeslot, which naturally results in higher viewer rates for prime time anime (airing around 5 to 7 PM) and lower rates for otaku-oriented, late night anime. This can be seen if you look at the ratings of Sazae-san and Chibi Maruko-chan, which air at 6 and 6:30 PM on Sundays and constantly top the charts.
It also results in some shows having higher rates, suggesting their popularity to be higher than it actually is. An example this season is Firefighter Daigo: Rescuer in Orange (Megumi no Daigo: Kyuukoku no Orange), which had a 3.9% rating in the same week, even higher than One Piece.
However, the truth is it simply airs at a very convenient time, as well as right before Detective Conan, which is a very popular show in Japan. And of course, there is virtually no correlation between these ratings and the show’s popularity in the Western online community.
The rating is based on the percentage of households watching the anime as it airs.
It is not a perfect way to measure popularity or public opinion.
To an average Western anime fan, the number 3.2% being a good thing is quite confusing. However, these numbers are not based on any scores — they indicate how many people watch a certain program.
This particular one comes from Video Research, a company that conducts audience measurement for television and radio, and represents the percentage of households that watched the final episode of Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin) in the Kanto region.
Comprised of some of the most populous prefectures in Japan, such as Tokyo and Kanagawa, the region accounts for roughly one third of the country’s population, which makes for a good statistical representation overall.
So what about the number?
3.2% doesnэt tell you anything by itself, so let’s compare it to other shows. First, you need to remember that the episode aired exactly at midnight, which means a lot of people, and entire households, were already asleep at that point. For the sake of fair comparison, we can compare the Attack on Titan finale with Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 Episode 1 and Chainsaw Man Episode 10. Both of these shows aired at midnight as well, and the former got 2.6%, while the latter got 1.6%.
Needless to say, Attack on Titan being more popular than arguably the most impactful Chainsaw Man episode, even after ten years since it started airing, says something about the show’s popularity. Moreover, the final episode garnered even more attention than the one before it, which had a 2.1% rating, not to mention the Final Season before it, which had ratings between 0.9% and 2.6%. Seems that Attack on Titan is doing quite well in Japan.
Things to remember
There are, however, multiple caveats in measuring anime popularity by simply looking at household viewer ratings. First of all, as already mentioned, it doesn’t account for the timeslot, which naturally results in higher viewer rates for prime time anime (airing around 5 to 7 PM) and lower rates for otaku-oriented, late night anime. This can be seen if you look at the ratings of Sazae-san and Chibi Maruko-chan, which air at 6 and 6:30 PM on Sundays and constantly top the charts.
It also results in some shows having higher rates, suggesting their popularity to be higher than it actually is. An example this season is Firefighter Daigo: Rescuer in Orange (Megumi no Daigo: Kyuukoku no Orange), which had a 3.9% rating in the same week, even higher than One Piece.
However, the truth is it simply airs at a very convenient time, as well as right before Detective Conan, which is a very popular show in Japan. And of course, there is virtually no correlation between these ratings and the show’s popularity in the Western online community.
