[SKY PerfecTV! x WOWOW Collaboration Project] Official Note "Insider" Roundtable Discussion! (Part 2) To Continue Our Official Note into the Future

[Roundtable Participants]

The WOWOW style is to dig deep into content from various perspectives

Tantan "Thank you for letting me talk so much about SKY PerfecTV!'s Note articles (See the (Part 1) article for details!). I'm happy you've read various Note articles. I've been a fan of WOWOW's Note for a long time and enjoy reading it!"

Oide "Thank you. In our case, we aim for Note articles that help people enjoy our programs more, so our range of freedom might be narrower than SKY PerfecTV!'s.
WOWOW broadcasts programs in various genres, including original dramas, overseas dramas, sports, music, stage performances, and documentaries. We will continue to upload Note articles that allow fans of each genre who read our Note to encounter even more genres through WOWOW."

Yama "Recently, you started a series with comedian Kota Nakayama and Kibou Sakayori from Borujuku, who wrote sample articles for '#MemoriesRelatedToMovies' (a project that invites submissions based on a theme on Note), right?"

Nagano "Yes, the sample articles for the submission project were well-received, so we offered them a series. This series project, '#EntertainmentViewingExperienceLog' allows the writers to choose their favorite programs from content that can be 'watched right now' on our program streaming service, WOWOW On Demand, rather than broadcast, and freely write about their 'viewing experience.' It's a new project born from the desire to create a path for people who become interested in a program after reading a Note article to watch it immediately."

Yama "I thought the angle of having comedians watch and talk about it, rather than experts in that genre, was fresh and interesting! I think it's also a charm of WOWOW's Note that various people, such as comedians and professional writers, write articles and introduce the appeal of works and content from diverse perspectives.
Personally, I also love the series where Kazutaka Ozawa of Speed Wagon talks about famous movie lines also. Since I love comedy just like Nagano-san, I think it's great to be able to experience movies from Ozawa-san's perspective. I'm an avid reader because his writing, which overflows with his way of thinking and outlook on life, is wonderful."

Nagano "Thank you! Ozawa-san not only loves movies, but he also accurately conveys the appeal of the works with his own unique expressions, so we try to deliver Ozawa-san's words as they are as much as possible."

Yama "So that's why I feel like I can hear Ozawa-san's voice when I read the articles! That makes sense (laughs)."

Realizing that our "passion" is reaching people through "feedback"

Tantan "What article has had the biggest response so far?"

Oide "The Spitz live report. It's an article that followed an original live performance filmed at the former Futaba Kindergarten building in Obihiro, Hokkaido, which is also an Important Cultural Property. It was a valuable live performance held without an audience as a WOWOW project, and a theatrical version was also released in June of this year."

Tantan "I read the article. This was in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, right?"

Oide: "Yes. The moment I learned about this live performance project, I thought, 'I want to do something on Note too!' We decided in the editorial department to make it a column with the concept of 'Travel x Music' that would convey the scenery and atmosphere of the location to Spitz fans who couldn't go there, not just a report on the live performance, and we looked for a writer who was knowledgeable about both travel and music... The writer accompanied us to the location to cover it. Thanks to that, it became an article that resonated more than we expected. I feel that the team's spontaneity and passion at that time were conveyed to the fans."

Nagano "Please also tell us about the articles on the SKY PerfecTV! note that received a big response!"

Yama "As I mentioned earlier, it's the '#LetMeTalkAboutTheObsessionIHave' (a hashtag posting project. Check out the first part for details!). Articles with the hashtag '#IJoinedTheCompanyBecauseOfThis', which was derived from that, also became more popular than expected.
An employee who was in their first year at the time wrote an article about how they passionately talked about their love for 'Love Live!' during their job interview at SKY PerfecTV!, and it was quite well-received. So, we decided to introduce episodes of other employees who also got hired after pouring their love for entertainment into their interviews. As of now, 'Executive Interview: Masashi Sada A Cappella Edition' and 'Chunichi Dragons Fan Edition' have been published, and thanks to everyone, both have become popular articles."

Oode "The topic of 'reliable geeks' came up, and these episodes are exactly that in practice. By the way, the 'Love Live!' and Masashi Sada articles aren't linked to the broadcast content on SKY PerfecTV!, right?"

Tantan "There were related content broadcasts, but... for those two, we didn't specifically try to align them with the broadcast schedule (laughs)."

Nagano "The wonderful thing about the SKY PerfecTV! note is that it has become a place where you can freely express what you love!"

Articles with passion that touch on the depths generate 'likes'

Tantan "A strength of the WOWOW note is that you have program production staff among your employees, so you can turn their thoughts into articles."

Oode "That's right. We share the behind-the-scenes of program production in a magazine called 'Delivering Voices: The Creators of WOWOW'. For example, in the producer dialogue for 'Continuous Drama W: Fence' which was broadcast and distributed starting in March this year, the drama's content depicts the base issue in Okinawa, and the script is by Akiko Nogi. The producers are Taku Kitano from NHK Enterprises and Yoshiki Takaesu from our company's drama department, who is from Okinawa. Since it's a work that delves into a theme that is quite delicate to handle on terrestrial television, I thought we should properly convey the creators' determination and the sentiment that 'only WOWOW could make this!', so I planned and proposed a dialogue between the two producers."

Yama "It's a bit different from just having them talk about the highlights of the work. Articles written by picking up only the surface parts don't lead to 'likes'. I think articles that touch on the depths and convey passion create empathy."

Tantan "The article you mentioned earlier, introducing employees' impressions of the theatrical version of Spitz's original live concert, was also content filled with passion."

Oode "I think it was because there was a 'place' called the official note that we were able to release those passionate 'impressions' to the world. The producer in charge also felt the response to the note during the broadcast and distribution of the first original live program, and they have started to reach out to us, being aware of the official note as one of the channels to deliver the program to fans."

Steady efforts to get many people to read the official note...

Nagano "Since note itself is not a medium with high diffusion power, it is important to think about how to get people to read it and how to promote it. How do you promote it at SKY PerfecTV!?"

Tantan "When we started, we had almost no followers... First, we worked hard to increase followers by steadily adding hashtags to our articles. We have also announced the existence of the official note in emails to subscribers. How does WOWOW promote it?"

Nagano "We try to post on WOWOW's official X (formerly Twitter) account at the timing when we upload an article. In order to get more diffusion, we sometimes aim for the timing when an actor appearing in the article is appearing in a terrestrial drama, for example."

Yama "We also quietly started an official X account as note managers, but we are struggling with how to build excitement..."

Nagano "I see... We don't have an SNS account as an official note. In addition to the WOWOW general official account, there are accounts for each genre such as movies and dramas, so we use existing accounts according to the content of the article, such as the movie account for movie articles and the stage account for stage articles."

Tantan "Are you doing anything to increase awareness of the official note within the company?"

Nagano "We have used the internal bulletin board to write introductions for the official note, but even so, I think there are still employees who don't know about the existence of the WOWOW official note... First, we want to increase awareness within the company!"

To convey the value of the official Note and keep it going

Ode "This might be a bit of a stiff question, but don't you ever get asked by your company about the cost-effectiveness of the official Note, or whether it's contributing to program viewership or subscriber satisfaction?"

Tantan "Yes, we do get asked that. But since the official Note is in an indirect position, it's difficult to quantify, which is a struggle. How about you, WOWOW?"

Ode "KPIs are demanded everywhere these days, aren't they... We regularly share quantitative information like 'PV' and 'Like' counts internally. But as you said, Tantan-san, those numbers only contribute indirectly (to things like program viewership), so I just assume that positive feelings toward WOWOW are gradually accumulating in the hearts of those who read the Note. Believing that we are causing such a change in attitude, I try things like calculating the cost-effectiveness by explaining, 'If we were to ask an outside agency for an advertising article that guarantees 10,000 PVs, it would cost about this much,' and I use all sorts of methods (bitter laugh)."

Tantan "I see, so there's that way of doing it too!"

Ode "I've also been referring to the efforts of Takatoshi Hirayama, who launched an owned media at Kirin Holdings, but even a prominent marketer like him says it's really difficult to get the company to understand the value of owned media. I feel that we have no choice but to proceed through trial and error as well."

Tantan "Even after starting an official Note, there are quite a few companies that have quit, aren't there... I think it's a pattern where they relied too much on specific passionate employees, and when those employees left, they couldn't continue."

Ode "Continuing is very important, isn't it? If article posting stalls, it's probably difficult to return to normal operations from there. We entered our fourth year this July, and speaking for myself, I think we've done well to keep it going (laughs)."

Future ambitions as an official Note manager

Ode "The aforementioned Spitz live report is still being read continuously even now, nearly two years after it was posted. That is the strength of accumulated owned media like Note, so I believe it is important to continue in the future. On top of that, I hope to continue collaborating with other companies' Notes, just like this discussion with SKY PerfecTV!"

Nagano "I was truly happy that Tantan-san and Yama-san said they enjoyed reading the WOWOW Note this time. While I feel glad that I've worked hard up to this point, I also felt that I want to continue creating articles sincerely so that we can increase these kinds of valuable fans. If we can increase our fans even more, I'd like to hold an official Note event! I'd love to invite the famous talents and writers who have written for us to hold a talk show, and I'd also love to meet our readers in person. Also, if there's an 'Comedy' episode of SKY PerfecTV!'s 'Otaku Employee Roundtable' that crosses company boundaries, I'd love to participate (laughs)."

Tantan "That is definitely a must! For me, I want to make the distance between us and our readers even closer. My goal is for them to suddenly remember the SKY PerfecTV! Note while they are doing their 'ota-katsu' (fan activities) and want to share that fun experience with the 'insiders' of the SKY PerfecTV! Note. I want to be like an 'entertainment friend' to our readers. Internally, I want people to think, 'The editorial team of the SKY PerfecTV! official Note is doing the most interesting things!'"

Yama "After hearing everyone's stories, I feel like everything I wanted to say has already been said (laughs), but since SKY PerfecTV! has 'Skappy' and WOWOW has 'Woo and Waa' as characters, wouldn't it be interesting to create collaboration goods for each other's characters and write an article about the process? In addition to sharing our thoughts on content and initiatives, I hope we can create projects that readers can simply enjoy, thinking, 'This is interesting! I wonder when the next article is coming.' Also, since both SKY PerfecTV! and WOWOW are companies that provide content, I would be very happy if we could do a project where we talk about our 'partial love' for content together. Thank you for your continued support!"

[SKY PerfecTV! x WOWOW Collaboration Project] Note Manager Roundtable Discussion (Part 1) is here! (Published on the WOWOW official Note)

▼Click here for the SKY PerfecTV! official Note

▼Click here for the WOWOW official Note

Woo and Waa: ©WOWOW・aki kondo/dwarf