THE BRIDGE

tag MTV

Tokyo Otaku Mode and MTV81.com to partner on Japan entertainment news syndication

SHARE:

Japanese startup Tokyo Otaku Mode and MTV81.com (a MTV Japan website serving international audiences) have today announced a joint syndication deal which will see both parties publishing the other’s content. Tokyo Otaku Mode, who we have written about frequently on this site, is a distributor of content relating to Japanese subculture, including anime, manga, and even cosplay. But given that there is significant overlap in this Japanese otaku culture and Japan’s more broad entertainment culture, this partnership appears to be a very natural fit. With new music and entertainment content coming from MTV81, Otaku Mode now has richer offerings for its wide audience. As we’ve mentioned before, the startup has a massive following on Facebook with more than 11 million fans, so it’s certainly easy to see why such a syndication deal would be attractive for a relatively young publisher like MTV81. On the other side of the deal, MTV81 will publish “selected feeds” from Tokyo Otaku Mode’s news site relating to otaku entertainment news. Earlier in the year when we spoke to Tokyo Otaku Mode, they mentioned that a big challenge for the company would be trying to monetize its huge audience in some way. To that end, the…

at Tokyo Otaku Mode HQ
at Tokyo Otaku Mode HQ

Japanese startup Tokyo Otaku Mode and MTV81.com (a MTV Japan website serving international audiences) have today announced a joint syndication deal which will see both parties publishing the other’s content.

Tokyo Otaku Mode, who we have written about frequently on this site, is a distributor of content relating to Japanese subculture, including anime, manga, and even cosplay. But given that there is significant overlap in this Japanese otaku culture and Japan’s more broad entertainment culture, this partnership appears to be a very natural fit.

With new music and entertainment content coming from MTV81, Otaku Mode now has richer offerings for its wide audience. As we’ve mentioned before, the startup has a massive following on Facebook with more than 11 million fans, so it’s certainly easy to see why such a syndication deal would be attractive for a relatively young publisher like MTV81.

On the other side of the deal, MTV81 will publish “selected feeds” from Tokyo Otaku Mode’s news site relating to otaku entertainment news.

Earlier in the year when we spoke to Tokyo Otaku Mode, they mentioned that a big challenge for the company would be trying to monetize its huge audience in some way. To that end, the company is experimenting with e-commerce over on otakumode.com/shop. We still don’t have any details on how that’s going or when it might officially launch, as things are still in the pretty early stages.

Tokyo Otaku Mode is one of the rare Japanese startups that adopted an ambitious global vision from the outset, so we certainly hope to see them do well!