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Funding and advertised pay are reported in USD; filed accounts retain their stated source currency and basis.

Exchange-rate basis

Indicative conversions use ECB reference rates dated 2026-09-14, applied consistently across all periods. They are not historical exchange rates. Indian rupees may use crore (1 crore = 10 million); other currencies use K, M and B. CSV downloads, source documents and quoted news headlines retain their original currencies.

THE JAPAN EDITION 2026

Japan’s
media & entertainment industry,
in focus.

The companies, capital and talent shaping media & entertainment in Japan. Find the leaders. Understand the segments. See where the activity is.

Explore in Radar Read the key signals
Snapshot: Funding in USD
Illustrated cover for Media & Entertainment Industry Landscape of Japan
JP
COMPANIES · CAPITAL · TALENT

An industry ecosystem,
measured in context.

Media & Entertainment illustration
Companies tracked 1,809Media & Entertainment ecosystem in Japan Disclosed funding $4.8B100 companies · all recorded rounds Companies hiring 11With open roles at the snapshot Tracked open roles 141 employers posted in the preceding 30 days
MEET THE COMPANIES

Explore Japan’s media & entertainment leaders

24 featured companies from the funding, hiring, revenue and team-size leaderboards.

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Explore the full landscape
Media & Entertainment company highlights in Japan, snapshot 7 August 2026
Company
Yahoo Japanyahoo.co.jp$4B—2,813—
Publication Digitalpubridge.jp$180.84M———
Brave groupbravegroup.co.jp$98.16M2 roles142—
ANA NEOana-neo.com$46.41M———
Mitsumoremeetsmore.com$40.75M—247—
Gunosygunosy.com$24.1M———
Antennaantenna.jp$20.59M———
Comic Smartcomicsmart.co.jp$19.49M———
Kozurecozre.co.jp—2 roles37—
Queriqueri.co.jp—2 roles——
Chronicle Creationschroniclecreations.co—1 roles——
Culture Entertainmentceg.co.jp—1 roles——
NineSigma Holdingsninesigma.com—1 roles100—
Team Labteam-lab.com—1 roles——
peco japancorp.peco-japan.com—1 roles200—
CyberAgentcyberagent.co.jp————
FUJI Media Holdingsfujimediahd.co.jp——8,295—
Kayakkayac.com——608—
Michaelmichael-inc.com————
Miximixi.jp——1—
SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGSsegasammy.co.jp——10,869—
Segasega.co.jp——3,238—
avexavex.com——2,131—
kinokuniyakinokuniya.co.jp——1,140—
24 featured companies

Locked revenue figures are available in Radar; the eight company financial previews stay the same throughout this page. A dash means the figure is outside these featured lists. Revenue years vary by company; the figures are not a like-for-like revenue comparison. Compare annual accounts ↗

Company discovery

Recorded evidence only
THE KEY SIGNALS

Media & Entertainment industry KPIs in Japan

A few useful ratios bring the size of this ecosystem into perspective.

7 August 2026
Hiring participation0.6%

11 of 1,809 tracked companies have open roles.

Funding participation9.3%

169 of 1,809 tracked companies have a recorded round.

Top 3 funding share89.2%

Share of disclosed capital received by the three largest recorded recipients.

Median disclosed round$2.63M

Midpoint of 103 rounds with a disclosed amount.

Scale is concentrated. Opportunity is broader. The three largest funding recipients hold 89.2% of disclosed capital, while 90.7% of tracked companies have no recorded funding round.

Explore the segments →
CAPITAL & COMPANY FORMATION

How Japan media & entertainment has grown

Recorded company formation and disclosed funding across the complete annual series shown.

Expand panel +
2016 — 2025

Disclosed funding by year

Sum of recorded funding rounds · USD

Japan media & entertainment
$0$1.15B$2.3B$3.46B$4.61B2016: $3.11M20162017: $8.98M20172018: $11.29M20182019: $4.04B20192020: $15.06M20202021: $11.88M20212022: $102.6M20222023: $94.42M20232024: $77.53M20242025: $46.88M2025
View the numbers
Annual media & entertainment funding and company formation in Japan
YearFunding (USD)FoundedRaising
2016$3.11M843
2017$8.98M895
2018$11.29M923
2019$4.04B10115
2020$15.06M1025
2021$11.88M823
2022$102.6M7615
2023$94.42M5116
2024$77.53M3514
2025$46.88M1012
WHERE CAPITAL SITS

Funding concentration

Share of all disclosed company funding.

  • Yahoo Japan83.4%
  • Publication Digital3.8%
  • Brave group2.0%
  • Other companies10.8%

Funding by stage

196 recorded rounds since 2016

NUMBER OF ROUNDS
Seed & Angel101 51.5%
Series A–B69 35.2%
Series C+ / PE13 6.6%
Grants, debt & other13 6.6%

Recent recorded rounds

Latest recorded rounds · USD
8 rounds

Swipe or scroll horizontally to browse.

Series E04/2026
Brave group $50.26M

Backed by REALITY and Cool Japan Fund and others.

Series B04/2026
Mitsumore $18.91M

Backed by SMBC Edge and X&KSK and others.

Series B04/2026
Pictoria $2.07M

Backed by Canon and Mizuho Capital and others.

Seed03/2026
Surf Music $6.3M

Backed by Yg Plus and Enigmo and others.

Series B02/2026
Anique $8.41M

Backed by Global Brain and Marui Group and others.

Largest and notable recorded rounds

Each card is one recorded round
10 cards

Swipe or scroll horizontally to browse.

Series A05/2024
openrecopenrec.tv$15.53M

Backed by SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS and Pegasus Tech Ventures and others.

Series A03/2014
Gunosygunosy.com$12M

Participating investors were not recorded in this snapshot.

THE BUSINESS BEHIND THE ACTIVITY

Revenue, profitability & financial strength

Expand panel +

Annual accounts availability

No reviewed exact national-ID connector maps Japan company identities to the configured global filings table.; No reviewed exact national-ID connector maps Japan company identities to the configured global filings table.

DIGITAL FOOTPRINT

Web traffic, app reach and release cadence

How the Japan companies on this page show up online: the sites people visit, the apps they install, and how often those apps ship.

Busiest websites

133 of the 1,814 companies on this page carry a measured traffic record (7.3%); these are the largest of those, by monthly visits. The median among them is 468,941 visits.

CompanyMonthly visitsAuthorityMobile
Yahoo Japanyahoo.co.jp1,799,318,98110080.6%
pixivpixiv.net626,224,2769589.1%
Niwangonicovideo.jp95,631,6438573.5%
DMM.comdmm.com90,077,4398973.1%
Kakuyomukakuyomu.jp84,848,9607294.1%
TRILLtrilltrill.jp79,414,6595883%
TVertver.jp29,090,8908021.9%
KadoComicomic-walker.com26,889,3097390.5%
Shonen Jump Plusshonenjumpplus.com25,025,0566789.8%
Amebaameba.jp21,897,7757878.7%

Visits and authority are third-party web estimates, not company-reported figures.

Most-installed apps

318 of these companies (17.5%) publish at least one Android app — 869 apps in all, carrying 1.2B installs between them.

AppInstallsRatingStore category
Sandwich RunnerDwango175.9M4.1Action
Yahoo! JAPANYahoo Japan87.9M4.5News & Magazines
Draw ColiseumDwango51.2M3.6Action
TVer(ティーバー) 民放公式テレビ配信サービスTVer29.9M4.2Entertainment
Yahoo!天気 - 雨雲や台風の接近がわかる天気予報アプリYahoo Japan29.7M4.5Weather
Yahoo!乗換案内　時刻表、運行情報、乗り換え検索Yahoo Japan29.6M4.8Maps & Navigation
radikoRadio24.7M3.1Music & Audio
Yahoo!ショッピング-アプリでおトクで便利にお買い物Yahoo Japan24.4M4.7Shopping
Silent Camera Continuous shootGlopa20.4M3.9Photography
radiko＋FMRadio20.1M3.7Music & Audio

Installs are lifetime totals to date at the June 2026 store reading — a measure of reach, not of people using an app today.

App reach by segment

The busiest app inside each of this page’s own segments, with the quarterly release trend behind it (2024Q1–2026Q2).

SegmentAppsInstallsLeading appRelease trend
Internet First Media122457.3MYahoo! JAPAN 87.9M
Services For Gaming200383.3MSandwich Runner 175.9M
Social Platforms9877.5Mニコニコ動画-アニメ、映画、ボカロが見放題の動画配信アプリ 14.9M
Ott Video3258.5MTVer(ティーバー) 民放公式テレビ配信サービス 29.9M
Book Tech5152.9M少年ジャンプ＋ 人気漫画が読める雑誌アプリ 9.8M
Radio Tech746.5Mradiko 24.7M
Online Photos9145.2MFamilyAlbum - Photo Sharing 15.2M
Film & Tv Studios2127.6MHulu \/ フールー　人気ドラマ・映画・アニメなどが見放題 19M

A company can carry several segment tags, so these rows overlap and should not be added together. Trend lines are zero-based and share one quarter grid, so a flat line is a quiet segment, not a missing one.

Release cadence by quarter

New apps published, beside apps whose most recent update landed in that quarter — the second bar is how much of the shelf is still being maintained.

2023Q2: 122023Q2: 52023Q22023Q3: 122023Q3: 112023Q32023Q4: 132023Q4: 112023Q42024Q1: 132024Q1: 92024Q12024Q2: 162024Q2: 72024Q22024Q3: 152024Q3: 222024Q32024Q4: 102024Q4: 142024Q42025Q1: 142025Q1: 202025Q12025Q2: 102025Q2: 142025Q22025Q3: 152025Q3: 592025Q32025Q4: 252025Q4: 1592025Q42026Q1: 212026Q1: 1222026Q1

Darker bars are new releases, lighter bars apps updated. 548 of 869 apps carry a release date. The series ends at 2026Q1, the last quarter that closed before the June 2026 reading.

INSIDE THE INDUSTRY

The Japan media & entertainment market map

Explore the segments behind the headline numbers.

Expand panel +

Where companies are building

Rank segments by scale, hiring or disclosed funding.

Consumer digital940
Enterprise tech176
B2c e-commerce124
Loneliness economy65
Marketplaces61
Internet first news publishers61
Book reading apps50
Enterprise software47
Real money gaming38
Saas34
Internet first sports media33
Blockchain28

Companies can sit in several segments. Counts and funding overlap.

SEGMENT TO EXPLORE

Consumer digital

The largest measured segment in this report snapshot.

940companies
0.6%have hiring activity

6 companies hiring · $4.62B disclosed funding

Explore in Radar

How companies make money

Common revenue models; a company can use more than one.

Advertising939
Subscription741
Commission on transaction490
E-commerce - service391
Sponsorship349
Fee-for-service312
E-commerce - product271
Affiliate marketing165
THE COMPANIES IN MOTION

Who is listing, hiring leaders, launching and winning work

Recorded corporate activity linked to companies in this landscape.

Expand panel +
Recent corporate headlines 10 dated reports
Mergers & acquisitionsmediado.jp ↗

Media Do has agreed to acquire Seven Seas for $80 million.

Mergers & acquisitionstms-e.co.jp ↗

Per GameBiz, an official "merger notice" has confirmed that TMS Entertainment will soon take over its subsidiary, Telecom Animation Film.

Funding roundsmeetsmore.com ↗

MeetsMore, a Tokyo, Japan–based technology company that provides a SaaS platform for field service businesses, has secured a Series B strategic round from SMBC Edge.

Funding roundsspectee.com ↗

Spectee, a Tokyo, Japan-based provider of supply chain risk management SaaS for manufacturers, has raised ¥1.25 billion in Series E2 funding round.

Funding roundspierrot.jp ↗

Pierrot Company secures funding from SparkLabs & CNTTech to expand its global IT device redistribution platform.

Mergers & acquisitionskadokawa.co.jp ↗

Kadokawa's purchase of control (US$ 320 million) and participation of 2.5% in Bandai Namco (US$ 460 million).

Mergers & acquisitionssrd.co.jp ↗

In February 2022, Nintendo bought long-time development partner SRD.

Funding roundspancakeswap.finance ↗

The team has backed projects in the BNB ecosystem, including PancakeSwap, ListaDAO, and Aspecta (from the MVB program).

Mergers & acquisitionsmixi.jp ↗

MIXI’s $402 million takeover bid in late June

Mergers & acquisitionssegasammy.co.jp ↗

The Japanese entertainment conglomerate Sega Sammy Holdings is poised to complete its acquisition of GAN Limited, marking a significant milestone in its expansion strategy.

Full recorded event mix

Top 10 categories among 134 recorded events in the 24-month window.

Mergers & acquisitions
34
Leadership moves
31
Earnings
25
Contracts
10
Regulatory
9
Funding rounds
8
Company announcements
7
Lawsuit
3
New products
3
Asset acquisitions
3
6 activity cards

Swipe or scroll horizontally to browse.

Leadership moves

14 tracked people moves

Kayak ↗
Susan Lichtenstein

Appointment Senior Director, K4B Strategic Growth

Kayak ↗
Cédric Lefort

Appointment France Country Manager, K4B

Kayak ↗
Tristan Hindley

Appointment UK Country Manager, K4B

Brave group ↗
Nkateko Khosa

Appointment Business Unit Director

Michiyo Yasuda

Resignation Previously Director

Michael ↗
Jordan Fortney

Appointment Director of Recycled Materials Sales and Operations

Brave group ↗
Collin Makhubela

Appointment Executive Creative Director

Brave group ↗
Bibi Bonnecwe

Promotion Executive Creative Director

Product launches

Products, platforms and features in the recorded window

Nikkei Moat Stock Index

Contract wins

5 recorded customer wins

Sega ↗

Customer: pramara promotionsRetail - Toy and Character Merchandising

sankyo ↗

Customer: Metabasis Therapeutics Inc.Biopharmaceuticals

sankyo ↗

Customer: tularik

HashPalette ↗

Customer: Aptos LabsTechnology

Workforce actions

1 companies with reported reductions

Sega ↗

240 roles

Regulatory events

5 recorded events

Mixi ↗

approvedAlcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario

Mixi ↗

approved acquisitionForeign Investment Review Board (FIRB)

Mixi ↗

no concernsAlcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO)

Mixi ↗

cleared for acquisitionAustralian Foreign Investment Review Board (FIBR)

Litigation

3 tracked suits

Company
Yomiuri Shimbun, Yomiuri Shimbun of Osaka, Yomiuri Shimbun o v perplexity ai

copyright infringementCivil ·

Company
N, A v Sega Sammy Holdings

M&A acquisition dispute over regulatory complianceCivil · Settled

Earnings pulse

Reported company results in the recorded window.

8companies
23period observations
-3.1%median reported growth

Median across 13 reported growth observations; companies may contribute multiple periods.

Mergers and acquisitions

Company-linked deal reports; status is preserved as recorded.

Acquirer → targetStatusDateValue / context
media do→SEVEN SEAS ENTERTAINMENTAnnounced2026-03-02$80.0M
TMS Entertainment→telecom animation filmAnnounced2026-02-17Not stated in snapshot
KADOKAWA→bandai namco2025-12-19$460.0M
sony→KADOKAWA ↗Announced2025-12-19Not stated in snapshot
nintendo→SRD ↗Completed2025-11-27Not stated in snapshot
Mixi→pointsbetCompleted2025-09-01Not stated in snapshot

A discussion or rumour is not a completed transaction. An unstated value is not zero.

PEOPLE & OPPORTUNITY

The talent market

Recorded hiring and workforce signals from the available source snapshot.

Expand panel +

Most advertised job titles

No repeated job title is supported by this snapshot.

0 internship postings

0 tracked postings mention remote work.

THE PEOPLE BUILDING THE FIELD

Founders and leaders

353 founders and chief executives across 310 companies.

Expand panel +
12 profiles

Swipe or scroll horizontally to browse.

Education networks

15 profiles with education records.

Harvard Business School
4
The University of Tokyo
4
Keio University
4
Harvard University
3
Singapore Management University (SMU)
1
University of Pennsylvania
1
Wharton School
1
University of California (Los Angeles)
1

Prior employers

6 profiles with prior-work records.

McKinsey
2
Uber
1
Cisco
1
Apple
1
Amazon
1

Profiles cover recorded founders and leaders; contact details remain in Radar.

NEWS INTELLIGENCE

How this industry appears in the news

406,412 articles in the measured 12-month window.

Expand panel +
406,412articles in the measured year
83,829articles in 2026Q1
49.5%positive tone in the latest complete year

News volume trends

Media & Entertainment coverage across Japan · articles per complete quarter

046,81193,622140,432187,2432021Q2: 58,6142021Q22021Q3: 76,9692021Q4: 51,9352022Q1: 63,1302022Q2: 61,6992022Q22022Q3: 64,5512022Q4: 85,1872023Q1: 85,5802023Q2: 84,5802023Q22023Q3: 96,1142023Q4: 80,1182024Q1: 95,8522024Q2: 95,0632024Q22024Q3: 105,7122024Q4: 104,0072025Q1: 125,3282025Q2: 93,1892025Q22025Q3: 162,8202025Q4: 73,9692026Q1: 83,8292026Q1
View quarterly article counts
QuarterArticles
2021Q258,614
2021Q376,969
2021Q451,935
2022Q163,130
2022Q261,699
2022Q364,551
2022Q485,187
2023Q185,580
2023Q284,580
2023Q396,114
2023Q480,118
2024Q195,852
2024Q295,063
2024Q3105,712
2024Q4104,007
2025Q1125,328
2025Q293,189
2025Q3162,820
2025Q473,969
2026Q183,829

Article volume measures coverage, not market sales.

Tone of coverage over time

2021
120,894 positive · 32,998 neutral · 62,644 negative
2022
149,949 positive · 46,960 neutral · 77,361 negative
2023
206,165 positive · 57,103 neutral · 82,679 negative
2024
221,165 positive · 86,693 neutral · 92,233 negative
2025
225,277 positive · 135,110 neutral · 94,414 negative

Leading coverage topics

Media & Entertainment coverage across Japan · ranked by full-period article count.

International And Transnational Geographic Entities300,276 articles in the full recorded period
92,553 recent · 69,793 prior
Geopolitical Disputes And Contested Areas300,272 articles in the full recorded period
92,551 recent · 69,792 prior
Administrative And Political Subdivisions300,225 articles in the full recorded period
92,539 recent · 69,780 prior
International Sports Competitions40,905 articles in the full recorded period
6,031 recent · 7,680 prior
International Political Relations34,933 articles in the full recorded period
6,669 recent · 5,967 prior
Olympic Games Coverage31,204 articles in the full recorded period
3,330 recent · 6,363 prior
International Relations And Diplomacy24,183 articles in the full recorded period
4,236 recent · 4,131 prior
Security And Defense Policies23,491 articles in the full recorded period
4,657 recent · 3,892 prior
Trade Policies And Agreements22,862 articles in the full recorded period
8,128 recent · 6,329 prior
Trade Wars And Geopolitical Impacts18,467 articles in the full recorded period
5,424 recent · 4,666 prior

Recent and prior counts use the source comparison windows.

Topics gaining and losing attention

Media & Entertainment coverage across Japan

KeywordRecentPriorChange
countries3,6051,581128%
trade dispute mechanisms2,2741,45756%
bilateral trade2,0111,17072%
preferential tariff1,5451,04847%
forex liquidity1,398356293%
exchange rates1,30276071%
tariff rate quota1,28281158%
mfn tariff1,17176353%
gold spot price1,043153582%
usd/jpy88153864%
honda forums02,248-100%
olympic team selections7611,971-61%
olympic trials8141,859-56%
summer olympics athletics2101,232-83%
olympians career highlights2821,101-74%

Event and signal lenses

Media & Entertainment coverage across Japan

All complete annual cohorts shown
Rising

Regulatory Risk

796,817 classified articles

territories, disputed islands, countries

24.5% critical · 17.3% positive
Rising

Funding Momentum

79,089 classified articles

inflation reports fx, currency intervention policies, trade deficits fx

39.7% critical · 43.9% positive
Rising

Growth

217,298 classified articles

gdp growth rate, gdp acceleration, economic output growth

33.3% critical · 45.9% positive

Media & Entertainment coverage across Japan. Topic labels describe recorded classifications and can include broad context.

GEOGRAPHIC FOOTPRINT

Where companies are based

Company counts, hiring and disclosed funding across the recorded hubs.

Expand panel +
8 cards

Swipe or scroll horizontally to browse.

UNDERSTAND THE LANDSCAPE

Media & Entertainment in Japan: key questions

Clear definitions for making better comparisons.

What does this landscape measure?

It measures the tracked company ecosystem, recorded funding, hiring and other available evidence. It is not a market-size estimate.

Can segment counts be added together?

No. A company can belong to several segments, so segment counts and funding can overlap.

What does a missing figure mean?

A dash or unavailable panel means the current reviewed source snapshot does not support that figure.

KEEP EXPLORING

Put Japan in context

All landscapes ↗

Company ecosystem snapshot: 7 August 2026. Funding is recorded in USD; filed accounts retain their stated currency and reporting basis. Each section identifies its own coverage. The news and research behind these sections is explorable in Prism.

Canonical landscape ↗
Coming soon