Most of the Great Streaming Wars is about what’s happening in the U.S. But all the media conglomerates are eyeing a worldwide market, and some changes are coming to Europe and surrounding regions.
On September 6th, Crunchyroll announced it had become the biggest owner in VIZ Media Europe Group. VIZ Media Europe Group, as its name suggests, serves the European region as well as areas in the Middle East and Africa under various subsidies and labels like VIZ Media Europe, Anime Versand, and Kazé. Hitotsubashi Group, which owns VIZ Media, will still have a minority stake in VIZ Media Europe Group. The deal isn’t finalized yet, but Crunchyroll and VIZ Media Europe Group have signed an agreement.
Like the US VIZ Media, VIZ Media Europe Group deals with anime licensing, manga releases, live action shows, streaming rights, merchandise, and more. While not all titles are available in all regions, among their licenses include:
- A Silent Voice
- Attack on Titan
- Bleach
- Captain Tsubasa
- Death Note
- Dragon Ball
- Grave of the Fireflies
- My Hero Academia
- One-Punch Man
- One Piece
- Sailor Moon
- Sword Art Online
In North America, these anime releases are split among several distributors including VIZ Media, Funimation, and Aniplex of America.
So what does this mean for Europe and areas in the Middle East and Africa? Probably a bigger Crunchyroll. VIZ Media Europe Group’s licenses will likely start appearing on this anime streaming platform, or region locks on current titles will open up to more markets. And if more people start using (or increase their use of) Crunchyroll, they’ll be able to market themselves better and have more money to back new anime productions. According to Variety, about 60% of their current revenue comes from North America; Crunchyroll hopes that its worldwide revenue will grow so that half of their profits come from the rest of the world.
HBO Max, WarnerMedia’s upcoming streaming service that includes at least some Crunchyroll content, currently has no plans to go worldwide. But I imagine the goal will be to expand the regions in which HBO Max is available. Why let Friends or Riverdale share their international streaming profits with Netflix when AT&T’s WarnerMedia has its own streaming platform?
If HBO Max aims to have 50 million subscribers in five years, an easy way to reach that goal is to have as many potential customers as possible — and that means audiences worldwide. Netflix is already international, and Disney+ will be worldwide by 2021. A recent study suggests that Disney, Apple, Amazon, and Netflix will control just under half of the streaming market, so that gives HBO Max plenty of possibilities to get a piece of that 55%. Audiences in Europe and elsewhere could be tempted if a lot of VIZ Media Europe Group’s big anime hits were made a part of an international HBO Max. At the very least, by becoming the majority investor in the company, Crunchyroll prevents them from sublicensing to a rival streaming service.
For now, though, once this deal is finalized, Crunchyroll will be well on its way of increasing international revenue to 50%. VIZ Media Europe Group has many popular series under its umbrella, and the added muscle of Crunchyroll could be enticing for production companies who want to make sure that their works are available for as much of the world as possible. It may take a while, especially if WarnerMedia drags its feet on making HBO Max available globally, but hopefully fans in VIZ Media Europe Group’s countries will be better served in the future.