In a video display apparatus, a backlight for illuminating a liquid crystal panel is segmented into a plurality of areas. A frequency distribution processing unit calculates a dark pixel amount from the frequency distribution of the gradation values of pixels in a video image. A backlight control unit calculates a lower limit of luminance in each area included in the backlight so that the lower limit increases as the dark pixel amount becomes smaller. The backlight control unit adjusts the luminance in each area individually according to the gradation values in each portion of the video image, and adjusts the luminance in an area where the luminance is less than the lower limit to the lower limit. The difference in luminance between the areas illuminating dark portions of the video image is decreased, and the occurrence of luminance blur resulting from the difference in luminance between the areas is reduced.