简体中文
Major commercial TV broadcasters are getting serious about earning revenue outside Japan. Until recently, selling TV programs and formats was the main focus of overseas sales. However, some broadcasters have made major moves into new businesses in foreign countries and territories. For example, Nippon TV has started TV channels in several overseas markets to air programs it has produced, while TV Asahi has begun producing anime in the Philippines.
Commercial TV broadcasters have a long history of selling their programs abroad. In the 1960s, TBS sold the dramas “Ultraman” and “Watashi wa Kai ni Naritai” (I want to be a shellfish) in the United States. Among Japanese anime shows, which are highly rated overseas, TV Asahi’s “Doraemon” is a brand of its own, being aired in 63 countries and territories as of October.
The companies also have often sold formats of TV shows, including program ideas and rules. The format for TBS’ athletic show “SASUKE” was bought in 165 countries and territories, including the United States, where it scored a big success. Fuji TV’s “Ryori no Tetsujin” was remade as “Iron Chef America” in the United States and became hugely successful.
Yet revenue from selling programs and formats had never become a pillar of any broadcaster’s businesses. It was around 2010 that the companies started seriously thinking about venturing overseas. As their advertising income at home stopped growing, they began trying to tap into markets in other Asian countries and territories.
Nippon TV determined to be local
Amid those moves, Nippon TV took an innovative step. In 2015, the company started a pay TV channel — GEM — with U.S.-based Sony Pictures Television Networks to broadcast its TV shows in Hong Kong, Thailand, Indonesia and Cambodia. This summer, the channel started broadcasting in Singapore and the Philippines.
GEM shows dramas and variety shows produced by Nippon TV with subtitles in local languages. The program lineup includes such popular dramas as “Death Note” as well as the latest dramas. GEM currently broadcasts “The Last Cop” in the same week as it is broadcast in Japan.
“We can reach [overseas] viewers more easily by owning a channel and arranging programs than by selling programs one by one,” said Atsushi Hatayama, president of the International Business Development division at Nippon TV. “Then we can also emphasize that Nippon TV is making those shows.”
South Korea dominates in the Asian market when it comes to TV dramas. As Japanese dramas trail behind South Korean dramas, Nippon TV has shown its determination to put roots down in the Asian market by owning local channels and showing its own programs continually.
In its medium-term business plan, Nippon TV decided to acquire channels and consolidate its position overseas. Business promotion in other Asian countries and territories is a top priority under the plan.
“Producers of our programs are also saying they want to produce shows with an eye to overseas markets,” Hatayama said. “We intend to take our time in producing programs that sell overseas.”
Customizing TV anime
For TV Asahi, nearly 50 percent of revenue from selling TV shows abroad comes from anime, such as “Doraemon” and “Crayon Shin-chan.” The commercial broadcaster’s anime “Ninja Hattori-kun” is popular in many Asian countries and territories, notably India. The company has produced and aired a completely new version of the anime for India ahead of the one for viewers in Japan.
In a new approach, the basketball anime “Barangay 143” is being produced as a joint project with a commercial TV firm and others in the Philippines. The Philippine side has created the story, which is set in the country, and TV Asahi has designed the characters. The anime is scheduled to be broadcast in the Philippines next spring. It has yet to be decided whether it will be shown in Japan.
Basketball is a national sport in the Philippines, where “Slam Dunk” and other anime works featuring basketball are extremely popular.
“The increase in local works is creating a rising tide for anime,” said Satoko Shinbori, the head of the International Business Department at TV Asahi. “We’d like to increase our business opportunities by not only selling Japanese anime, as we have done so far, but also by producing works customized for countries and territories where they will be broadcast.”
TBS has a wealth of experience working with foreign broadcasters, such as those in Vietnam, coproducing TV documentaries and remaking dramas with them. Now the company is seeking ways for Japanese companies to become sponsors when a coproduced show is aired overseas.
“Tour de Tohoku,” which was aired in Taiwan on Oct. 22 and will be shown in Japan in December, was jointly produced by TBS and FTV, a broadcaster in Taiwan. The program is meant to support reconstruction efforts for areas damaged by the Great East Japan Earthquake. In the show, a Taiwan entertainer takes part in a cycling event along the coastline in Miyagi Prefecture and introduces the charms of the area, such as beautiful scenery, food and interaction with local people.
For this show, TBS solicited sponsorship from Japanese companies, including Sendai International Airport Co. and tourist agencies. By running their commercials during the broadcast in Taiwan, TBS tried to raise the visibility of Japan.
Fuji TV is increasing its participation in the production of programs overseas by sending its own staff to countries or territories where it has sold a program format or the right to remake a program. The staff members the company sends overseas are experienced people who have produced dramas and variety shows at Fuji TV. They work in the fields of art, lighting, direction and other areas.
When remaking a Japanese TV drama for overseas viewers, it is necessary to make changes to fit local tastes. This becomes easier when staff from Fuji TV and the local broadcaster work together.
More and more programs are being made for China. Currently, Fuji TV is coproducing its drama “Date — Koi towa donna mono kashira” with Shanghai Media Group, a major Chinese media entity. The drama will become a web drama streamed online.
(The Japan News)
