Japanese broadcaster Fuji TV is staking out a stronger global footprint, leveraging the successes of formats such as Iron Chef and Hole in the Wall and maximising the new distribution opportunities of the digital/ streaming environment.

Mamiko Maekawa, Fuji TV’s senior executive director, international department, says the company is expanding its programme profile in the coming year through internet distribution and satellite broadcast, with a focus on collapsing windows between the original broadcast in Japan as well as on multi-device viewing. “These factors are all aimed to expand our content market,” she says.

The burgeoning OTT environment opens a path to younger viewers, Maekawa says, pointing out heavy usage and high appetite for Japanese content in East and Southeast Asian countries, and the rising ability to service Japanese content fans in the rest of the world.

At the same time, Maekawa acknowledges the struggle to break into Western markets. “For both our programme and format sales, we are focusing on penetrating Western markets, an area where we have struggled to breakthrough. We hope to find a quick entry with our scripted programmes, at the same time creating a winning non-scripted show that will succeed Iron Chef and Hole in the Wall,” she says.

Partnerships are already well under way, including an equity invest- ment with American gaming giant Niantic, the company behind Pokémon Go and Ingress. “We think that the synergy of our production expertise fostered from traditional entertainment business teamed with

new technology from fresh and burgeoning enterprise will deliver exponential growth,” she says, adding: “We intend to aggres- sively collaborate and make capital investments to companies who can give us a new edge in the world of entertainment”.

Other than animation, Fuji TV’s biggest finished-programme success in international markets so far has been Iron Chef. This includes the U.S., where the original Japanese version premiered on the Food Network in 1998. A

U.S. version, Iron Chef America, aired for more than 10 years, and is credited with creating the culinary TV game show genre as well as for drivingthe popularity of Japanese food in America, Maekawa says. The Iron Chef brand returns to the U.S. in April after a three-year break as Iron Chef Gauntlet.

In Asia, Iron ChefThailand marks its fifth year this year and remains a solid favourite. Maekawa also points out the 360-degree strategy around the brand, including the Iron Chef Table restaurant in Bangkok. A local version of the format premiered in Indonesia in March.

While Iron Chef has topped licensing revenue charts for Fuji TV, Hole in the Wall is the format with the largest global footprint. Game show Total Blackout, a co-production with FremantleMedia, was also a winner with sales in more than 20 markets.

Maekawa notes the relative absence of breakout blockbuster formats on the global stage at the moment. “It may be the case that production and creative skills in each country have improved from introducing innovative formats so perhaps we’re seeing less people simply purchasing ready-made versions from overseas,” she says. “With that in mind, we’ve shifted to international co-production of formats, custom-made to suit the local culture and demands,” she adds. The initiative is built on Fuji TV’s decades-old relationships with TV stations and productioncompanies around the world. “We announced this ‘custom-made format’ arrangement at Mipcom last year and gathered a tremendous amount of attention from global buyers,” Maekawa says. One of the results so far is Super Boys, a co-production game show with China’s Zhejiang TV. A project with Hunan TV is also in progress, and Fuji TV is entertainingoffers from the U.S., France, South America and Asian countries. “International co-production of non-scripted show formats is an area where we expect further business opportunities,” Maekawa says. “We carry an extremely sharp and energetic creative troop in-house where we develop formats, produce, and broadcast entirely on our own. Unlike TV stations overseas, this is one of themajor strengths that Japanese TV stations possess, to be able to carry out consistent productions,” she adds.

On the scripted level, Fuji TV has had similar success in the past with its drama Hero, and has embarked on an ambitious co-production strategy in, among other markets, China.

Hero is the story of a maverick public prosecutor with unorthodox but brilliant investigative instincts. The series was broadcast in Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Burma, Philippines and other Asian countries. In Taiwan, Hero debuted in 2001, becoming so popular with local audiences that rights have been renewed eight times since.

Maekawa says one of the strengths of the Japanese content business include the “cornucopia of stories where many of the world renowned manga and anime are brought to life in drama and film versions”.

Other strengths are flexibility and length. Most Japanese drama series are about 10 episodes long. Maekawa says “the compressed and speedy story executions make them all the more suitable for OTT environment. What’s best, any single content can be morphed into animation, comic, drama, motion picture, even games. Each and every content is versatile and adaptable into different genres of entertainment so I am confident that all are vastly user-friendly.”

“We think that Japan is an ideal business locale with great advantages for a couple of reasons,” she says, adding: “First, the Asian market remains to be the core global engine of growth (where we have a geographical advantage). Second, Japanese law guarantees the freedom of speech and free enterprise. Third, our digital infrastructure is at the top international level. All these environmental factors contribute to safely challenge and implement business experiments using an assortment of technologies.”

Published on ContentAsia's Issue One 2017