I know that a music show called
Kohaku Uta Gassen (Kohaku, for short) is one of the most watched TV shows in Japan every year. It airs on New Year's Eve, so the 24-hour batsu game would be competing against it. Matsumoto actually jokes about Kohaku when he says "
But the 'New Year's Even Singing Contest' didn't make me an offer..." 0:17 into the news/press conference video.
New Year's Eve in Japan is more of a stay-at-home holiday than a go-out-and-party night like in the U.S. So, a lot of the networks do special programming that night.