OSAKA, JP (CelebrityAccess) – Japanese talent agency and media conglomerate Yoshimoto Kogyo has announced the launch of a streaming platform to distribute Japanese and Asian content to global audiences.
The news follows the growing global presence of US and Chinese platforms such as Netflix, Amazon, and China’s Bilibili, within the Asian market.
Yoshimoto president Hiroshi Osaki said: “We lost the 20th Century to the United States, because Hollywood succeeded in building a $10bn theatrical distribution model, and we’ll lose again in the 21st Century if we don’t build our own global platform.”
The new platform, which is geared toward the discovery and development of new talent, will also distribute content across a wide variety of formats, ranging from films and TV series to music, manga, anime, games, VR/AR, and videos of live performances.
Although Yoshimoto is poised to strike out on its own, this will not be the company’s first foray into the global digital space. It has actively co-produced a number of shows with both Netflix and Amazon over the past few years including: a 10-episode series based on Naoki Matayoshi’s novel, Hibana: Spark, Documental, an entertainment show presented by Hitoshi Matsumoto, and reality show Bachelor Japan.
At present, Yoshimoto also manages approximately 6,000 comedians, actors, musicians and other performers, in addition to operating a string of theatres across Japan.
