Tokyo, Japan – As the company continues to execute its 60th Anniversary goals and looks toward the future with “Nippon TV Group Mid-term Management Plan 2012-2015 Next60”, Nippon TV announced that the company has created a new division named Cyber Business Strategy (CBS) in order to speed up the commercialisation of the company’s internet-related businesses with the aim of making this a significant source of income for Nippon TV. Included in this new division, set to integrate Nippon TV’s television and Internet ventures, will be Hulu and JoinTV. CBS also plans to fully leverage second screen technology and data broadcasting to support the creation of programmes and programming that puts the viewers’ needs at the forefront. In addition, it was announced that Hiroyuki Oho, currently Chairman of Hulu Japan and Divisional President of CBS, will oversee the division along with Shinsuke Wakai, Acting Divisional President.
“As part of this new division, we are looking to expand our internet-related businesses to include venture investments and M&A, as well as to foster relationships and develop a completely new business that integrates TV and the Internet,” commented Oho. “We also plan to bring together companies and students to create a laboratory that becomes a centre for business development while strengthening our focus on monetisation and further supporting our ad sales division.”
With the recent acquisition of Hulu in Japan, which marked Nippon TV’s entry into the SVOD business, the company plans to capture many subscribers from a vast demographic range and become the gold standard for VOD services in Japan. The goal is to evolve into the only platform that produces and streams original content, as well as creates programmes that are linked to terrestrial broadcasts. Moreover, the content line-up will be bolstered to include music, sports, and news in addition to movies and dramas.
Another goal of CBS is to popularise and monetise JoinTV, with the hope of helping to make Japan a safer place to live. JoinTV, which was developed by Nippon TV in 2012 with technical support from Facebook, Inc., is the world’s first TV programme-linked social interactive viewing service which can be enjoyed through both smart phones and TV data casting. This highly versatile application links television programmes to social media and aims to play a key role in disaster prevention, elderly protection, and life-saving initiatives in Japan.
