AbemaTV

Abema

Abema

Japanese online television website

Not to be confused with Ameba (website) or Ameba TV.

Abema (アベマ, often stylized as all caps) is a Japanese streaming service that launched on April 11, 2016, under the name AbemaTV.[2] It is majority-owned by CyberAgent, with a 55.2% stake, and TV Asahi, with a 36.8% stake, while the remaining ownership belongs to various other companies, mostly in the media and entertainment industry.

Quick Facts Type of site, Available in ...

Abema primarily functions as an online television network, featuring multiple FAST channels that offer news, sports, entertainment programming, with the option to become a premium member to view past programs on demand.

Abema's headquarters at Abema Towers in Shibuya, Tokyo

History

Launch

CyberAgent and TV Asahi announced on March 31, 2015, that they would jointly establish a fixed-rate video distribution company called AbemaTV in April of that year.[3] The company became subsidiaries of CyberAgent, and Shun Fujita, the President of CyberAgent, was appointed as the President of AbemaTV.[3]

CyberAgent and TV Asahi launched the service on April 11, 2016, with some channels pre-released starting from March 1 of the same year. AbemaTV channels stream in real-time, similar to traditional linear TV, but missed programs can only be watched by becoming a premium plan member, which costs 960 yen per month.[4]

Though CyberAgent also owns a similarly-named social networking service called Ameba, they chose not to re-use the brand for AbemaTV due to the existence of a Canadian service called Ameba TV.[5] According to President Fujita, he wanted to convey that AbemaTV was a new and fresh service that was an extension of Ameba, which has been around for over 10 years. However, he also admitted that the name AbemaTV can be difficult to remember, pronounce, and often mistaken, stating that he himself occasionally misspeaks it.[6]

Established position in Japan

On May 7, 2017, AbemaTV's live show Win 10 Million Yen if You Beat Koki Kameda set a new record with 14.2 million views, causing the service's servers to crash. AbemaTV offered the match footage for free on a special website.[7] In December of the same year, AbemaTV announced that the 72 Hour Honne TV program featuring three former members of SMAP had garnered 74 million views.[8]

However, according to the financial statement as of September 30, 2017, AbemaTV recorded a net loss of 19.125 billion yen and a deficit of 28.38 billion yen in retained earnings.[9] Despite this, CyberAgent plans to continue investing in AbemaTV in the fiscal year 2018 and expand into peripheral businesses such as radio channel launch and broadcast of shopping programs.[9] The reason for disclosing the losses is to deter other companies from entering this field and also because the parent company, CyberAgent, is listed on the stock exchange and has a responsibility to explain to shareholders that the stagnant operating profit is due to the preemptive investment in AbemaTV, according to President Fujita.[10]

In January 2019, CyberAgent disclosed that Abema Premium had 358,000 subscribers, a 4.5-fold increase from the previous year, and that AbemaTV's app had been downloaded 37 million times. The service had a record of 9.18 million weekly active users (WAU) during the New Year's holiday period.[11] President Fujita explained that when AbemaTV started about three years ago, the plan was to create a linear TV service on the internet. However, almost all of the package content is available on-demand, with live streaming of news and sports being the only linear content. He also stated that AbemaTV's dramas are 95% on-demand. Fujita expressed his intention to strengthen the hybridization of linear and on-demand viewing in pursuit of user convenience.[11]

On February 25, 2019, AbemaTV began a trial service for viewers outside Japan, with the ability to watch from the United States, Australia, Thailand, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Brazil using the iOS/Android app.[12]

In January 2020, CyberAgent announced its Q1 earnings for the 2020 fiscal year (October to December 2019), stating that the media division was boosted by AbemaTV, with a revenue increase of 6.9% to 12.2 billion yen, although there was an operating loss of 5 billion yen. The number of paid members for Abema Premium increased to 593,000.[13]

As of March 4, 2020, AbemaTV reached 50 million cumulative downloads on its smartphone app.[14] When the service was launched in 2016, its goal was to achieve 10 million weekly active users who could be monetized through advertising; the company achieved this goal for the first time in 2019. After March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic acted as a tailwind, and the number of weekly active users reached a record high of over 14.9 million in early April.[15]

In April 2020, AbemaTV changed its name to Abema, due to the diversification of services beyond linear streaming to on-demand streaming and other offerings.[16]

Investment in sports

On June 29, 2021, Abema announced that they would be live streaming 166 Major League Baseball games starting from July 1. The focus of the live streaming was on teams that included Japanese players, such as Shohei Ohtani's Los Angeles Angels. Out of the 166 games, 120 were available for free.[17][18] On March 31, 2022, Abema announced that they would continue live streaming games for the 2022 season, starting from the opening game on April 8. The service streamed a total of 324 games, including all games of the Los Angeles Angels, with 234 of them being available for free.[19] On March 22, 2023, Abema further announced that they would continue live streaming 324 games for the 2023 season, starting from the opening game.[20]

On November 16, 2022, Abema announced that it would livestream for free all 64 matches, including the qualifiers, of the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar starting from November 21, 2022.[21]

As the broadcasting rights fees for the FIFA World Cup have been increasing in recent years, many private broadcasters have reported losses since the South Africa tournament in 2010. As reported by The Asahi Shimbun on July 28, 2021; the domestic broadcasting rights fee for the 1998 France tournament, which was purchased solely by NHK, was 550 million yen, but the amount offered for the Qatar tournament exceeded 20 billion yen, and an agreement could not be reached on the price. As a "soccer enthusiast" who was concerned that the World Cup might not be viewable in Japan, President Fujita decided to pursue the acquisition of broadcasting rights.[22]

According to the official ranking of viewership by match that was announced, the "Japan vs. Croatia" match in the knockout stage on November 6 was the most watched, and the number of viewers immediately after the match exceeded 23 million. The second most watched match was the "Japan vs. Costa Rica" match in the group stage on November 17, and the third was the "Japan vs. Spain" match in the group stage on December 2. Abema explained that the number of viewers was counted as the "unique browsers" that accessed the site on that day, meaning that even if the same person accessed the site multiple times using different browser apps, they were counted as one person.[23]

On July 21, 2022, Abema announced a partnership with SPOTV NOW to stream the 2022-23 season of the Premier League. The service will live stream approximately one-third of all league games, or 114 matches, on Abema Premier, with some games available for free until the partnership was discontinued in January 3, 2024.[24] Additionally, on February 9, 2023, Abema announced a partnership with SKY PerfecTV! to live stream three games per match day for the remaining games of the Bundesliga this season, with some games also available for free.[25]

In 2023, Abema garnered a user base of 6.52 million people in February.[3] According to the Mobile Society Research Institute's survey in the same year, it achieved a recognition rate of 69.4%.[26] Additionally, the survey conducted by Dentsu DY Media Partners revealed that its usage rate stood at 34.4%.[27][28]

List of channels

More information Channel name, Date launched ...

Other channels

These channels run on an inconsistent schedule

  • Sports LIVE – Live sports competitions such as the Premier League[39]
  • Shogi LIVE – Live shogi competitions
  • Mahjong LIVE – Live Mahjong competitions
  • Ōsumo LIVE – Live honbasho sumo matches and content
  • Ultra Games – Live eSports competitions and video game related programs and content

See also

References

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