What You Need to Know:
- As part of its effort to expand the overseas market for Japanese anime, the Cool Japan Fund has invested USD $30 million for shares of Sentai Holdings, LLC, parent company of Sentai Filmworks, HIDIVE and Anime Network (hereafter, "Sentai"). Sentai's independent status makes it a rarity in North America as a licensor of Japanese anime, which is beloved not just in North America but throughout the world.
- The Sentai group leverages multiple revenue streams including subscription-based Internet streaming services (HIDIVE), home video and packaged media sales, cable TV SVOD distribution (Anime Network), character goods and branded merchandise, B2B content licensing, and a direct-to-consumer e-commerce platform. Sentai Studios is a leader in delivering Japanese source material to global audiences with fully integrated translation, localization, subtitling, dubbing and quality control facilities.
- Given the anime industry's limited opportunities for domestic expansion, the current growth in the overseas content streaming market has become of increased importance. Through this investment, the Cool Japan Fund aims to provide support at the copyright level. In turn, this effort will increase the overall presence of Japanese anime in the North American market and help expand the scope of associated/exported merchandising. This will be done by Cool Japan Fund’s two-pronged approach to not only sell streaming platform rights via niche-market copyright acquisition, but also to bolster the marketplace by fostering relationships with and making important investments in overseas partners.
- The Cool Japan Fund considers Sentai, which has carefully and considerately fostered a fan base for Japanese anime while forging a path in the North American market, to be of major importance. The investment will contribute to Japanese anime and related merchandise having an increased presence in the North American market, supporting medium- to long-term growth in the Japanese animation industry as a whole.
Source: Official Press Release
Intriguing news for the business otaku out there.
I'm sure somewhere inside all of that text is something important for the real otaku!