From our other sites
The story
Claims that the streaming service “Downtown Plus” is struggling less than a year after launch have spread across 5ch. With annual subscriptions set to renew next month, threads buzzed with reports that even members who signed up for a full year right from the start are now talking about canceling. Posters also raised the fact that the service has begun partial distribution on Netflix, and that Hamada Masatoshi’s appearances have been kept to a bare minimum. Meanwhile, some argued “we don’t actually know if membership has really dropped,” and opinions were split over the reliability of the widely reported figure of 500,000 subscribers.
What people said
Maybe Dow-Pla can't make it on its own — they've started streaming some of it on Netflix too
Has Hamada already written it off? He's barely involved anymore
People wouldn't watch you even if it were free — that's where you're at now lol
Yeah, by about a year after he vanished from TV, reactions to articles about him had already died down too
These days it's basically just the die-hard fans and 5ch still bothering to pay attention to Matsumoto
Schrödinger's Matsumoto Hitoshi
People are posting cancellation announcements all over social media, it's not even funny anymore
Even Hikaru said in a video it was boring and he's canceling his annual subscription
It's over
Yeah, exactly
When even the fans who were still paying just to watch that old man who's practically confirmed to be a creep (5ch slang tied to the scandal) are abandoning him — that says it all
That '500,000' figure has zero credible sourcing anyway
And when the article about the subscriber crash dropped, Matsumoto — who never tweets — came rushing in, which is just pathetically small-time, lol
He lost the lawsuit, got banned from network TV, and then didn't even show up for Dow-Pla's first broadcast — all while saying 'I totally won that one!'
Yeah, he got crushed
That claim is just as sketchy as the '500,000 members' number
It's true that you can't keep up if you don't watch streamers, so sure, Dow-Pla counts as one of those too
They packed the audience seats with young women, but this is supposedly the real fanbase…
There are even rumors they're hiring paid shills (sakura), lol
Once the fans who signed up for the year from the start abandon it, it's over
There's nothing here that could grow membership, only shrink it
Zero energy in this, probably because the end of service is near
and they're absolute garbage
Can't believe people pay money for that
So this is apparently the funniest comedy bit Matsumoto's done all year…
The old Matsumoto would've probably snapped, 'You're losing points with how you wrote that flip board' (フリップ, the cue cards used in variety shows)
Even though 'Iibe' (a 5ch nickname tied to the scandal) and Matsumoto both brought this on themselves, this is still way too sad an ending
Yeah, I think so too
Abandoning the underling you squeezed money out of for so long is just cruel
If I were Idota, I'd tell him to never come near me again
They said Downtown Plus was going to be the final blow to network TV
Dow-Pla's decline outpaced network TV's decline
Dow-Pla barely even became a topic of conversation in the first place
At this point Matsumoto might have no choice but to rely on big brother Hikaru
This is where Matsumoto's stinginess shows through too
Being this cheap when he's got the money — now that's a talent
If he did YouTube, where the numbers are visible for everyone to see, and ended up losing to Egashira of all people, proud Matsumoto could never handle that
He's probably not going to appear on the show, and besides, Ozawa had already resumed his entertainment career
Seems like in the TV industry, the read is: Matsumoto got cut loose, and Ozawa got forgiven
Yeah, that's about right
Though whether there's even demand for Ozawa is looking tough too
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
Downtown Plus is a paid streaming service that Matsumoto Hitoshi launched after failing to get the outcome he wanted in his lawsuit over the sexual misconduct allegations and pulling back from network television, with co-starring appearances alongside Hamada Masatoshi serving as its main selling point. What split opinion in the thread was whether membership is genuinely declining: some pointed to cancellation reports circulating on social media as evidence of a downturn, while others countered that no official membership figures have ever been released, so the real situation is unknown. The “500,000 members” figure mentioned in media reports also came with no cited source, and questions about its reliability kept coming up in the thread. Readers should keep in mind that neither the reports of a wave of cancellations nor the membership figure itself have been confirmed by an official statement from those involved or verified by a third party.
*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “[Sad News] Downtown Plus Is Already Done In Under a Year.”
Leave a Reply