P.35 Media and Content Business (6)

Media and Content Business Strategies for Business Fulfilling our “Social Mission” as a news organization Entrusted with a portion of the “airwaves,” which are pub- lic property, TBS has a “social mission” both as a commercial enterprise and as a news organization. We will continue to maintain the trust we have earned over the years while flexibly adapting to the wave of digitalization, achieving broader, more accurate, and swifter information delivery, and remaining a news organization that meets the expecta- tions of our viewers in a manner suited to the times.

The spirit of the Broadcasting Act and adaptation to digitalization

Marking 80 years since the end of World War II, television broadcasting, having journeyed alongside the Broadcasting Act, which champions “contribution to the development of a healthy democracy,” has responded to the public’s right to know by flexibly transforming its shape to match the times. TBS began radio broad- casting in 1951 and television broadcasting in 1955. Expanding from terrestrial-only broadcasting, we have increased our channels to include BS and CS broadcasting. In 2022, together with 28 JNN stations, we launched the news site “TBS NEWS DIG Powered by JNN” and have been focusing on digital distribution to deliver ac- curate information and videos as quickly as possible. TBS NEWS DIG boasts top-tier performance among domestic news organizations, including newspapers, surpassing 300 million monthly page views and growing its YouTube subscriber base to 3.28 million. Including TBS CROSS DIG with Bloomberg, launched in partnership with Bloomberg in 2024, we continue to achieve steady growth in the field of digital journalism by leveraging the human and material resources dedicated to terrestrial broadcasting. Monthly page views (PV) trend graph for TBS NEWS DIG Powered by JNN (100 million views) 3.5 Monthly page views (PV) from co-hosted content 3.0 DIG-only monthly page views (PV) 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0 January 2025 January 2026 May Reporting on each political party’s policies through Broadcasting the party leaders’ debate on both terrestrial broadcasting and NEWS DIG “news23”

The foundation of democracy:

Exploring election reporting

Election reporting is one of the themes that has historically been pointed out as a challenge in comparisons between tele- vision broadcasting and digital journalism. Television election reporting, subject to various laws and regulations including the Broadcasting Act, has at times tended to prioritize “quan- titative fairness” to ensure that each political party is treated as equitably as possible. Meanwhile, on the internet and social media, free expression, including personal opinions and political arguments, spread widely, leading to arguments that traditional media outlets like television and newspapers are no longer necessary. In collaboration with JNN stations, TBS launched the “Before Election Day” campaign coverage starting with the House of Councillors election in July 2025, integrating television reporting such as terrestrial broadcasts with digital journalism on platforms like NEWS DIG. Furthermore, during the House of Representatives election in February 2026, we placed an even greater emphasis on “qualitative fairness,” expanding our coverage beyond TBS news programs to include information programs and JNN stations, while also increasing the “volume” of preliminary reporting. We also broadcast content designed to aid voter decision-making by demonstrating the differences in each party’s arguments regarding specific policies of high viewer interest, such as the consumption tax and foreign national issues. NEWS DIG not only distributes content broadcast on terrestrial television but also creates its own unique content by leveraging the strengths of digital journalism, such as uploading the full, uncut speeches given by party leaders immediately following the official announcement of the election. Protecting the lives and property of the people:

The evolution of disaster reporting

In December 2025, triggered by an intensity 6-upper earth- quake in Aomori, the “Off the Coast of Hokkaido and Sanriku Subsequent Earthquake Advisory” was issued for the first time. Following the “Nankai Trough Earthquake Extra Information” in 2024, two earthquakes occurred in succession that prompted the government to urge the public to prepare for seismic activ- ity. While TBS had conducted drills responding to the “Nankai Trough Earthquake Extra Information” with JNN stations in western Japan, it had also advanced preparations for the “Off the Coast of Hokkaido and Sanriku Subsequent Earthquake Advisory” with stations in the Tohoku region. This enabled the network to broadcast comprehensive special programming from the moment the earthquake occurred well into the late night when the first subsequent earthquake advisory was issued. Amid an increase in natural disasters, ranging from earthquakes and torrential rain to heavy snowfall and forest fires, JNN continues to operate “Team J,” a cooperative system where reporters and camera crews are dispatched from non-af- fected stations across the network to provide comprehensive disaster coverage. Through these efforts, we aim to deliver reporting that protects the lives and property of the people during disasters, when viewer interest is extremely high. Leveraging the immediacy that is a strength of digital journal- ism, we broadcast special news programs from the CS-”TBS channel” locally across JNN stations during disasters, while simultaneously streaming them on NEWS DIG and YouTube. Furthermore, based on information released by the Japan Meteorological Agency, we have developed an automated article generation system powered by AI to instantly deliver breaking news updates on NEWS DIG. 35