A backlight unit of the present disclosure includes: a backlight including a plurality of light-emitting devices that are allowed to emit light at mutually different timings and include a first light-emitting device and a second light-emitting device; and a controller that controls a light emission operation of the backlight to cause the first light-emitting device and the second light-emitting device to emit light with mutually different average light emission intensities in a first sub-frame period of a plurality of sub-frame periods provided corresponding to a frame period.