Crunchyroll has formed a strategic alliance with Japan’s Kadokawa that gives it exclusive worldwide rights (excluding Asia) to stream Kadokawa’s anime titles over the next year.
The partnership also involves Crunchyroll co-financing some of Kadokawa’s upcoming anime titles, along with a marketing collaboration between Kadokawa’s publishing business and Crunchyroll’s online distribution business in North America.
Kadokawa is also forming a publishing joint venture with US publisher Hachette Book Group, specialising in manga and light novels. In a statement, Kadokawa and Crunchyroll said they would combine marketing efforts around book publishing, anime distribution and merchandising, “in order to maximize the growth potential of Japanese content in the North American market”.
Owned by US-based Otter Media, Crunchyroll specialises in anime and other Japanese content, which it streams in eight languages to 20 million users worldwide, excluding Asia. Otter Media is a joint venture between AT&T and The Chernin Group.
Crunchyroll also has a joint venture with Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation to co-finance original anime projects for international audiences.