The Japanese broadcaster NHK has recorded a spectacular success with the top-end three-part super-documentary 'UPDATE - The World in 50 Years'. The Japanese premiered on 'World Documentaries', and the production attained especially good viewing figures with audiences aged 10 to 30 - an unusual achievement for this slot.

The Japanese version of the 'UPDATE - The World in 50 Years' website has been online since July at www.nhk.or.jp/mirai50. The series has been promoted on the official NHK website as well as Yahoo Japan, and extracts were even available there before the documentary was even broadcast. In addition, the 'World Documentaries' website recorded the highest number of hits of all NHK internet facilities during the month of August. It is also significant that many viewers had obtained information about the program from the website prior to transmission, reproducing this information in blogs or other websites - which naturally created an additional promotional effect for the program.

In November the series will be shown again on an educational channel of the NHK organisation, and the three-part series will be released on DVD in Japan during December.

Christian Massmann, Head of Sales at ZDF Enterprises: 'We are delighted with the success that such a renowned broadcaster as NHK has had with our all-media package. In addition to TV rights, NHK also secured rights for VOD, games and ring-tones - along with the B-to-C site for its viewers, which has been customized for that purpose. This success proves that our all-media package is a winner, and that we can provide our customers with the right package to satisfy their digital needs.'

Ms. Yukari Hayashi, Chief Producer from NHK's Program Development Center and Program Acquisition Department, adds: 'We were able to each an unusually high number of young viewers with 'UPADTE : The World in 50 Years'. Both the content of the program and the wealth of background information available on the Internet in advance enabled us to achieve a clear success with younger audiences. We fully intend to build on this success in the future.'