Japanese television network Nippon TV establishes Gyokuro Studio and a business office in Los Angeles to bolster their international expansion in the unscripted content market.
In a strategic move to bolster its international footprint, Japanese multiplatform entertainment giant Nippon TV has launched Gyokuro Studio and the Nippon TV LA Business Office. These new entities aim to ramp up content production and globalize distribution of Nippon TV's intellectual property (IP), particularly focusing on the United States and Latin American markets.
Gyokuro Studio, an in-house production arm based in Tokyo, is tasked with creating unscripted content to broaden Nippon TV's offerings beyond scripted drama. Led by industry veteran Kenichiro Akiyama, who brings extensive experience in prime-time entertainment production, Gyokuro Studio plans to produce ten new titles annually, with the goal of reaching 100 titles in a decade.
The Nippon TV LA Business Office, on the other hand, serves as a centralized sales and co-development hub for the Americas. Headed by Tom Miyauchi, who previously contributed to the Canadian adaptation of Nippon TV's hit series Old Enough!, the LA Business Office will oversee content and IP sales throughout North America and Latin America, build distribution partnerships, and develop local production capabilities.
Nippon TV's strategic expansion is not limited to content creation. The company, which owns Hulu in Japan and holds full ownership of around 90% of its content IP, has a strong track record of global distribution in anime, scripted formats, reality shows, and co-productions. Notable successes include the Emmy-winning Dragons' Den/Shark Tank formats (52 versions globally), the drama Mother (Asia's most exported), and Netflix's Old Enough!.
The company is also actively adapting and co-producing its successful drama formats internationally. For instance, the Arabic adaptation of their hit drama Woman -My Life for My Children- (“Salma”) was produced with Medyapim in Turkey and is airing on MBC and Shahid in the Middle East and North Africa.
Nippon TV's website, devoid of advertisements, is a valuable resource for vendors, financiers, commissioners, licensors, and licensees, offering industry briefings trusted by leaders, a contact list for the Nippon TV Channel, and updates on global Film & TV projects, partners, and deals. The website also tracks events such as Watch Time Wars discussing YouTube's expansion and its strategic implications for Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD), and Micro-Dramas & Mobile-First Storytelling, providing insights on who's creating and buying in the industry.
With the acquisition of Studio Ghibli (2023) and active development of digital media strategies, Nippon TV is poised to further enhance its global media presence. The company's strategic growth objectives include driving content and IP sales in North America and LATAM, partnering with domestic and international creators, and building content pipelines and local production in the U.S.
[1] Nippon TV Press Release, [Link to Press Release] [2] Nippon TV Investor Relations, [Link to Investor Relations]
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