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Japan's Ad Firm CyberAgent Partners With China's Social Media Platform Weibo
posted on by Joanna Cayanan
CyberAgent announced on Wednesday that its Anime & IP Business Division has signed a marketing partnership with Weibo, one of China's largest social media platforms, with the aim to strengthen the global expansion of CyberAgent's anime.
As part of the marketing partnership, CyberAgent's Anime & IP Division will open its official account (and also accounts for its anime titles) on Weibo. The partnership will sett up a special anime page on Weibo Topic, a page that aggregates the latest topics on Weibo. Message boards dedicated to specific anime works will also be set up, where users can interact, merchandise will go on sale, joint campaigns are arranged, and other activities. CyberAgent also plans to collaborate with Weibo's offline events such as the Weibo ACG World exhibition and Weibo Cultural Exchange Night awards event, and to jointly develop features on Weibo specifically for anime and manga such as character birthday events, quizzes, and digital goods.
Weibo, which launched in August 2009, has more than 590 million monthly active users as of the end of 2024. More than 320 million of the platform's users are interested in animation, comics, and games. There are over 1,100 official accounts dedicated to domestic and overseas animated titles on the platform with more than 100,000 related conversations every month.
CyberAgent established its Anime & IP Business Division in February 2024 to expand its IP business by planning and producing anime works including original anime, adaptation of manga titles, and merchandising of popular IP. In addition, the company has relaunched CyberAgent America, Inc., under a new structure as a global marketing organization, that will carry out domestic and international marketing strategy plans, localized communication plans, and global promotion.
CyberAgent recently established the new anime studio CA Soa, headed by former Sunrise producer Masakazu Ogawa (Mobile Suit Gundam AGE, Gundam Build Fighters, Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans). The subsidiary studio aims to produce high quality anime content for a global audience.
CyberAgent established Cygames in 2011, and the company has produced games such as Rage of Bahamut and Granblue Fantasy. Cygames established an anime division in March 2015 and the anime production subsidiary Cygames Pictures in April 2016. The company has worked on anime productions inspired by its games including Rage of Bahamut Genesis, Rage of Bahamut: Virgin Soul, Granblue Fantasy the Animation, and Uma Musume Pretty Derby.
CyberAgent and Cygames established the CA-Cygames Anime Fund in June 2017. The fund has allowed both companies to invest in anime production committees, acquire streaming rights, and acquire game adaptation rights. Some of the anime in which the fund has invested include Hinomaru Zumō, Zombie Land Saga, and As Miss Beelzebub Likes.
Kadokawa Corporation formed a capital alliance with CyberAgent, Inc. and Sony in February 2021 with the goals to strengthen the Global Media Mix Strategy to expand Kadokawa's IPs worldwide, and to cooperate with CyberAgent and Sony for "mutual exploitation of each other's business, expertise, and other strengths."
CyberAgent acquired stage production company Nelke Planning in June 2023. The company most recently acquired the creative company Nitroplus in June 2024.
Sources: CyberAgent, Anime! Anime! (Kōtarō Nakase)
Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.
