With titles growing in demand across the globe, the corporation is now looking to break new ground in untapped territories for Japanese content.
Produced by Luis Cabrera, from Croatia
All the way from Japan, TV Tokyo made its way to a new edition of NEM Dubrovnik, to showcase the best of animé for the CEE region.
“We are a free-to-air broadcaster, based in Tokyo,” began Hiroaki Saiki, Head of Global Distribution at the TV Tokyo Corporation, in conversation with ttvnews at the event. “We are one of the largest exporters of Japanese entertainment content, namely TV.”
“We are here selling here animated TV series, but also some entertainment formats, remakes, and ready-made TV drama series, all out of Japan,” he added.
The popularity of Asian content has been steadily increasing in the international market, where the demand for animated titles continues to grow. Yet, the CEE region currently stands as a more challenging door to open.
“In terms of the region, our shows are becoming quite popular, even outside the Asian part of the world, especially with animation for teenagers and young adults,” he explained. “But for some reason, Eastern Europe has been difficult for us. The perception of Japanese animation for young adults is not here yet.”
“But I’m hoping that it will happen eventually. If you look back seven years ago, it was the same situation in the Middle East, in the Indian subcontinent. And now our shows are in demand. So, I think eventually that will happen. And already, we have some shows showing on television in Poland, Bulgaria, Ukraine.”
In addition to their flagship genre, animated series, the group is also offering entertainment formats and drama series “with daring subject matters, stories of murder, betrayal, things like that…”
