As the world of streaming continues to inch towards its saturation point in the United States, nearly all services are looking for ways to expand their natural reaches into more and more international markets. On Thursday, Disney+ announced that it had entered a long-term partnership with top Japanese content producer Nippon TV, beginning with next month’s “The Files of Young Kindaichi.” The mystery series will be immediately available on Disney+ following each episode’s debut on Nippon TV.
In addition to streaming distribution rights for Nippon TV programming, the partnership also includes plans for coproductions between the companies that include additional dramas, animated series, variety shows, and more, all to be released globally via Disney+. The deal also allows the two companies to share content on their individual services.
Disney+ launched in Japan in June 2020 and began releasing 18 Asian original properties in fall 2021. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney plans on “greenlighting at least 50 original films and series from the region by 2023.”
As of the end of 2021, Disney+ boasted 42.9 million U.S. and Canadian subscribers and 41.1 million internationally. That total is in addition to the 45.9 million subscribers to Disney+ Hotstar, a collaboration between Disney and Star India.
“As Disney moves into the world of local content production, we are excited to expand our collaboration with Nippon TV Holdings as one of our strategic partners, starting with a very popular title to audiences across Asia Pacific,” said Carol Choi, a Disney managing director.
“Disney is a world leader in entertainment and a long-standing important partner for us,” said president of Nippon Television Holdings Yoshikuni Sugiyama. “Over the years, we have worked together on many business initiatives. It is an incredible honor to be able to develop our relationship further and join forces to advance our global expansion.”
Disney+
Disney+ is a video streaming service with over 13,000 series and films from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic, The Muppets, and more. It is available in 61 countries and 21 languages. It is notable for its popular original series like “The Mandalorian,” “Ms. Marvel,” “Loki,” “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” and “Andor.”