Diversification plans for the country’s leading broadcaster, Nippon TV, are continuing apace with the planned acquisition of paid online video site Hulu Japan, announced at the end of February, and due to complete in Q2.

Nippon TV, part of Japan’s largest media conglomerate Yomiuri Group, has been slowly reducing its reliance on terrestrial TV advertising for some time now, with forays into movies and home shopping now seen as core business.

More recently however, the broadcaster declared it wanted to speed up this transition, both inside Japan and internationally, through M&A, JVs and new launches. It’s a path already pursued by some major players in Korea, including CJ and SBS.

A particular focus for Nippon TV is extending distribution through paid and digital channels. Hulu Japan adds a subscription-based VOD service to its online armory, which already includes a pay-as-you-go video offering.

Mobile Focus

Japan’s paid video market has seen plenty of growth in the last year or so, with new services from large telcos, offered at a cheaper price point to Hulu, stirring up market interest.

All this comes off a low base however, with no company yet to ruffle the feathers of the status quo, as Netflix seems to have done in the US for example.

Nippon will only likely announce a business plan for Hulu after the operational transfer is complete, but a push around mobile viewing is likely, seen as the key to unlock subscriber revenue in a market where penetration for traditional pay-TV sits at just 30%.