According to
Mahou Showtime, the initial noitaminA show still airs at 12:45 am Fridays as past shows did. With the expansion to an hour, the second show airs at 1:15 am. The first two noitaminA shows were aired as 12:35, but starting with
Hataraki Man, they all have begun at 12:45.
There are various
theories about the decline of noitaminA's ratings, but I don't think the timeslot is the issue.
As for why
Chihayafuru wasn't aired in a better time slot, I'll just repeat my earlier comment that the television powers-that-be in Japan apparently didn't think it would draw enough viewers in comparison to other things they could show at those times. Most any anime show would probably do better in the ratings in earlier time slots; the question is whether they would do sufficiently better to risk carrying them in those slots as opposed to more ordinary programs. Television executives tend to be a risk-averse lot so convincing them to carry anime outside its late-night ghetto is probably a difficult proposition.
Ratings in the mid-twos are actually pretty decent for anime shows these days, if you look at the figures over the past couple of years. However ratings for noitaminA
fell abruptly by about a full percentage point after the expansion to an hour and have stayed there ever since. (The drop in viewing for
Trapeze was probably more an aberration than the beginning of a trend.) Since we do not have figures for just the 12:45-1:15 slot, it's pretty difficult to compare ratings for the current offerings with those compiled during the single-show period. It could well be that the first show still draws a 3.5 while the second draws a 1.5; we see only the 2.5 average.
I'm actually more concerned about the relatively poor showing for
Usagi Drop/
No. 6.
Usagi Drop seemed like a prototypical noitaminA show; maybe it did okay and
No. 6 was just a dud.