Disney+ & Other Streaming Services Capitalize On Japan's Audiences By Investing More In Anime
Sophia Edwards Disney has shared its share of Japan market and surprised a lot of people. They released earnings results on Wednesday that fell short of the investors’ expectations.
The gait studio has beaten Nippon TV’s Hulu and grabbed the third spot in Japan. In streaming service, Amazon Prime Video has around 16.5 million subscribers in Japan, whereas Netflix’s subscribers are around 7 million.
Despite Disney+ holding the third spot, their numbers are far from the other two leading streaming services. This week, these numbers come from Media Partners Asia’s quarterly Japan Online Video Consumer Insights & Analytics report.
All the leading streaming services have adopted a similar strategy to turn their content more focused on Anime shows and South Korean dramas to capture the market in Japan and also attract Global viewers.
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The strategy Of Major Streaming Platforms Is To Tame The Japanese Audience
In April, Netflix’s head of anime, Kohei Obara, talked to Hollywood Reporter. He revealed, “In Japan, at least 90% of our subscribers have been watching anime.”
In the same month, Netflix struck a multifilm deal with a Japanese anime studio named Studio Colorido. They also revealed 40 new anime titles this year to attract the viewers’ interest.
Netflix’s other rival, Amazon Prime Video, revealed its strategy to Deadline. Kelly Day, the vice president of Amazon’s Prime Video International, said in September that the company had invested a lot to create original anime content in Japan.
Disney+ saw success after acquiring the licenses for Korean and Japanese content last year. The streaming platform also announced a partnership with Nippon TV to understand Japan’s audience market precisely.
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According to the Media Partners’ report, Anime is the key element for all the premium video streaming services in Japan, “accounting for 44% of premium video consumption in Q3 2022.”
These streaming services are not only popular for the anime content but also for their original series as well. Netflix has series like “Squid Game,” “Stranger Things,” “Bridgerton,” and many other original shows that are quite popular among Japanese viewers.
On the other hand, Disney+ has popular and classic series like “The Simpsons,” and “Star Wars.” Marvel series are quite favored in Japan, as they have some anime and manga adaptations; their rights to all the Marvel flicks make them relatively superior to other available streaming apps.
However, these most famous trios are far from Japan’s Tsutaya TV, J:COM, and also NTT Docomo’s dTV.
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But other new streaming services like HBO Max and Paramount+ also come with more premium and original content. Especially, HBO Max has all the contents of all the DC movies.
These streaming services focus on the cultural shows of every country to attract more global audiences. Japan’s anime industry has a significant global fan base, and all these streaming services are aware of that. These shows help them to add not only audiences from Japan but also audiences from around the globe.
Source: Japan Times
