September 2024
The TBS Group in Transformation: What Makes Integrated Reports So Important
TBS, which began as a radio station around 70 years ago, is currently undergoing a great transformation. The company's integrated reports detail how it is changing from being a broadcaster to a content group and also disclose its story of value creation. The TBS Group became aware of the importance of integrated reports early on and published its first issue in 2021. It was one of the first companies in the broadcasting industry to do so. It released an English version simultaneously to provide information to stakeholders in Japan and across the globe. Tokuhiro Akasaka, a member of the Sustainability Transformation Center at TBS, has been in charge of putting together the company's integrated reports since the first issue and is now the chief editor for the fourth one, Integrated Report 2024. We sat down with him to discuss the significance of integrated reports in the broadcasting and content industry, the challenges he has faced while working on the publications, and future outlooks.
From left to right: Mariko Ohsato, Tokuhiro Akasaka, Yuri Onishi, Hiroaki Baba
- Profile
- Tokuhiro Akasaka: TBS Group Integrated Report 2024 Editor in chief, TBS Holdings, Inc.
- Mariko Ohsato: CEO & President, Arc Communications Inc.
- Hiroaki Baba: Executive Manager, Translation & Localization Division, Arc Communications Inc.
- Yuri Onishi: Project Manager, Translation & Localization Division, Arc Communications Inc.
Reforming Beyond a Broadcaster to Become a Content Group
Ohsato: When we hear about TBS, we tend to think of it as a broadcasting business. So much so that the first phrase that comes to mind is "TBS TV dramas." But I understand the TBS Group is currently working to change itself significantly. Could you first give us a general overview of what's happening right now?
Akasaka: The TBS Group is currently in the middle of a transformation. The company was born in 1951 as a radio station and began TV broadcasting four years later. Over 70 years have passed since then, and we are now working towards being reborn as a content group, based on the long-term vision "TBS Group VISION 2030" with the slogan "Beyond Tokyo, Beyond Broadcasting." Our goal is to create value and achieve continuous growth. Efforts to this end obviously include TV series, entertainment shows, news, information and other broadcasting businesses. But they also go further, such as supplying content, led by overseas streaming, and combining our company's content skills with various other businesses in fields such as real estate, lifestyle and after-school tutoring.
TBS's brand promise is "From each moment, a better tomorrow." It is our hope and promise that this "moment" is an accumulation of wonderful "moments" where people around the world come into contact with our content and services, which will hopefully contribute to the future of the world. There are around 8,000 employees in the TBS Group, and they are all in the middle of transforming their mindset to use the content skills acquired through their broadcasting experiences as a foundation to rise above the framework of broadcasting and be reborn as a content group. This is where we are right now in 2024.
Furthermore, TBS carries a social mission as a broadcaster entrusted with the citizens' precious and finite resource of airwaves. When the Noto Peninsula Earthquake struck on January 1 of this year, TBS broadcast a special program that continued to air for nine hours after the disaster's occurrence. We are fully aware of the duty we carry to continue relaying information that will protect people's lives and lifestyles during disasters and other emergencies. We are working and preparing every day to fulfill the role of being an information lifeline. This social mission is not limited to domestic events. We are also striving to actively report on wars and conflicts around the globe and contribute to maintaining a fair society and world through information and content.
Choosing Integrated Reports as a Means to Convey TBS's Purpose of Existence
Ohsato: I understand TBS decided to publish integrated reports very early on in the broadcasting industry. What drove you, as a broadcaster, to actively take on the work of publishing an integrated report?
Akasaka: The project initially stemmed from the TBS Director of Financial Strategy (the Representative Director at the time) who said, "Integrated reports are necessary to communicate with investors and shareholders." He believed it would be difficult to communicate the company's values and value-enhancing initiatives without using integrated reports as a dialogue tool to lay out the Group's information in a systematic, detailed and integrated manner. He said he wanted not only investors and shareholders but also all stakeholders to understand the TBS Group's purpose of existence.
Ohsato: With hardly any precedents in the industry, it must have been very difficult creating something from scratch. How did you work your way to publication?
Akasaka: I joined TBS News in my second year in the company and worked there for a long time, mainly producing news and documentary programs. I believe this experience helped me. News is a job that revolves around providing information to viewers through interviews. So, I always reminded myself that observation, analysis and expression were the three important keys. That's also what I taught my juniors. Without proper observation, you cannot grasp the situation. Without proper analysis, you cannot gain a systematic understanding. And finally, in order to convey the situation appropriately without bias, you need to refine the expressions you use. Observation, analysis and expression. Not a single one of these three elements can be omitted.
It was shortly after my transfer to a section called the Financial Strategy Department that I was told to create an integrated report for TBS. Although I had experience in news, I could in no way describe myself as an expert on financial affairs. What's more, it was virtually the first time I had heard of the term "integrated report." So, to be honest, I was completely at a loss when I was given this mission. But then I thought to myself, "Can't I apply observation, analysis and expression to creating an integrated report as well?" That realization showed me a way forward to take on this editorial task with my fellow project members. I figured we could handle it like the production of a special program. TBS would be the interviewee, and the goal would be to present the company's competitive superiority and other initiatives we want to communicate to all stakeholders. There's no denying we faced a lot of struggles at first, but after trial and error, we were finally able to publish the first issue in 2021.
Ohsato: Some may say that financial reporting documents are enough if the goal is simply to disclose a company's state of management. Why did you go through the effort of creating an integrated report?
Akasaka: I don't know if this is entirely right since it's merely my personal understanding, but let's say a company is a person. Disclosing only financial reporting information, such as the settlement of accounts, is like releasing just the person's bank balance and household accounting book. Are the bank and accounting books enough to make you trust that person, hand over money and have them earn more? You would probably want to know a wider range of information as well, like character, personality, lifestyle, state of health and so on. I think it's the same thing with a company. Integrated reports are growing increasingly important because they provide the right amount of information, both financial and non-financial, in an integrated manner. That information determines investments.
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