Anime Household Names Crunchyroll and VIZ Media Europe Group to Join Forces

SAN FRANCISCO, PARIS, BERLIN and LAUSANNE, Switzerland, Sept. 6, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Crunchyroll, a subsidiary of Otter Media (a WarnerMedia company) serving anime fans in more than 200 countries and territories, and VIZ Media Europe Group, one of Europe's established licensors and distributors of Japanese animation, have announced today the signing of an agreement to bring together Crunchyroll's global platform with VIZ Media Europe Group's EMEA-wide network of partners, distributors, and licensees. Through this strategic relationship, Crunchyroll will become the majority investor in VIZ Media Europe Group, with The Hitotsubashi Group (Shogakukan Inc., Shueisha Inc., Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions, Co., Ltd.) retaining a minority stake in the company. Closing of the transaction will occur once closing conditions have been satisfied, including the receipt of required antitrust clearances.

Crunchyroll, founded in 2006 as a simple anime-sharing platform, has grown to amass a passionate community of more than 50 million registered users through a variety of 360° content experiences including:

• Streaming Video – Fans can choose between subscription-video-on-demand (SVOD) and advertising-based-video-on-demand (AVOD) services; Crunchyroll's two million paying subscribers spend an average of 85 minutes per day streaming. Crunchyroll streams more than 1000 licensed anime titles across devices, professionally translated into eight languages. Original content, largely from Crunchyroll's studios in Tokyo and Los Angeles, will be joining the collection soon. 
• Events – Through participation in more than 180 events across 18 countries, Crunchyroll engages with an estimated 21 million anime fans globally each year. In addition, Crunchyroll hosts two marquee events annually, Crunchyroll Expo and the Anime Awards.
• Consumer Products – Crunchyroll creates and sells a wide variety of anime products through more than 100 merchandising partners and their direct-to-consumer Crunchyroll Store. More than 2000 SKU's are currently available online for purchase in the Crunchyroll Store. 
• Games – Crunchyroll Games is a game publisher working on a growing collection of anime-based experiences for fans; four mobile games are currently available.
• Manga – Fans can download the Crunchyroll Manga app on mobile devices, with new titles updated regularly.

VIZ Media Europe Group, comprised of VIZ Media Europe (VME), AV Visionen, Anime Versand and VIZ Media Switzerland (VMS), is an established licensor and distributor of Japanese content for the EMEA region, bringing fans a variety of 360° experiences, including: