Like last basho, I created a chart for the popularity of the Aki Basho 2018 across days on Reddit.com/r/sumo, as measured by the number of daily post views and comments. Well, I created this chart again for the Kyushu Basho 2018! Click here to get a full-sized image of the chart!
Interestingly, the number of views and comments stayed pretty constant from Day 1 to Day 9. Then, there was a very surprising dip in views on Day 10 and 11, whereas there was an increase in views on these days. These view and post counts remained steady until Day 15, where views returned to normal but we see a huge spike in comments.
In the Kyushu basho, I think the story-line of Kisenosato drew a lot of popularity to the early days, which saw much fewer views during the Aki basho. As you can see, I also included two asterisks on Day 3 and 5. This is because there were two separate discussion threads for Kisenosato on these two days that garnered 41 and 76 comments, respectively. Clearly, although Kisenosato had a lackluster performance in the Kyushu Basho 2018, his drama was good for viewership on these early days.
I am surprised that people seem to have lost some interest in days 10 though 14. I assume this is because some people assumed that the yusho would be decided on the final day (which it was). Of course, I am not surprised that the final day had so many views and comments. The yusho was decided and Tochinoshin was in an extremely controversial match. It is undeniable that he brings viewers!
Last basho, only three days had over 1,000 views. This basho, four days had over 1,000 views. I’m not sure if the Kyushu basho was more popular than the Aki basho overall, but it seems that this may be the case.
If you have any comments or questions about this post, feel free to email me at NorthAmericanSumo@Gmail.com. Thanks for reading!
North American Sumo 
