Hulu Signed a Priority Cooperation Agreement with Animation Company Funimation

Attack on Titan

Hulu’s next move fell on animation: Recently, the streaming media company and Sony Pictures Television’s animation company Funimation reached an exclusive priority cooperation agreement, from 2019, Funimation authorized and produced new works will be broadcast on Hulu Out. Funimation’s previous content sharing agreement with American animation publisher Crunchyroll (now owned by AT&T’s Otter Media) expired in early November 2018, and Sony decided not to renew it.

Under the new agreement, Hulu will give priority to the streaming video on demand of the Funimation animated series in the United States. Hulu and Funimy will simultaneously broadcast the animation with the subtitles to the Japanese TV station, and then release the dubbed version.

Lisa Holme, Hulu’s vice president of content acquisition, said that his plan is to broadcast at least 20 Japanese animations and dubbed versions every year. “This collaboration will bring us the largest quality in history. An animated series, and it is broadcast in parallel with Japan. We fully believe in the execution ability of Funimation, and will win the biggest, best, and most popular animation works.” Currently, Holm did not disclose the specific list of works, she said now Still communicating with the Japanese animation company, “Hulu has a lot of heavy works from Funimation, and the new season of these works will be a big goal.”

According to the existing agreement, Hulu and Funimation will still be the only two platforms in the United States that can play subtitles and dubbed Japanese animations. The audience can see “The Attacking Giant”, “My Hero Academy”, “Tokyo Ghoul” Waiting for a big hot work.

My Hero Academia

Gen Fukunaga, Chairman and CEO of Funimation, said: “The new agreement will promote copyright transactions for new works and provide the best quality Japanese animation content for subscribers of Funimation and Hulu.”

Funimation’s streaming media service, FunimationNow, will share copyright with Hulu, but there is a difference in audience positioning between the two parties. Funimation’s goal is hardcore animation fans, and Hulu’s goal is a broader market. “We think each other’s audience is different and complementary.” Eric Berger, chief digital officer of Sony Pictures Television and the general manager of Sony’s Crackle, said he pointed out that Funimation’s business encompasses peripheral sales. Live events, community operations and theater screenings.

Berg said: “The advantage of working with Hulu is that Funimation has more choices. With more viewers, it means we can buy more big productions and work better with Japanese animation companies.”

Funimation currently has more than 600 works, providing viewers with over 10,000 hours of subtitles and dubbing. FunimationNow is currently available in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand and is priced at $5.99/month, $59.99/year. Hulu itself also has nearly 400 animation works, which is the most non-animated streaming media platform. Popular works include “Naruto Shippuden”, “Bai Ren Chuan: Huo Ying Next Generation”, “One Punch Superman”, “Sailor Moon”, “Sword Art Online” and so on.

Sword Art Online

Hulu has been laying out animation boards to attract new users to subscribe and enhance user stickiness. Holm said, “Animation is often considered a niche content, but it is developing, and animated fans may also like to look at other styles of content.” In addition to Japanese animated works, Hulu also has “Happy Burgers” and “Spoofs” in the United States. The exclusive streaming media copyright of local high-quality animation content such as “House”, “American Dad”, “South Park”, “Rick and Moti”, “Machine Broiler”, “Exploration Live”. It is worth mentioning that Netflix is also enriching its animated content, and recently booked a live-action episode of the classic anime “Star Cowboy”.

Funimation was founded in 1994. In addition to the animated drama business, Funimy also acquired and distributed animation and live-action animated films in the North American market. In 2017, Sony Pictures TV acquired Funimation for $143 million. The next work released by Funimation is “Dragon Ball Super: Broly”, which will land on the North American cinema on January 16, 2019.

Source: Interface News