A signing ceremony was held on March 20 between Yoshimoto Kogyo, Media Asia Group Holdings (Hong Kong), and Contents Land (Hong Kong), setting up a joint venture company between the trio for co-production business.
Hiroshi Osaki, Peter Lam (Media Asia) and Johnny Yau (Contents Land) put pen to paper on the deal, which will see the media giants working together with separate responsibilities for the packaging, production, distribution and promotion of content in China and SouthEast Asia.
The venture company aims to increase the scale of production of audio-visual content, as well as enabling a quicker, more streamlined process for sharing the productions across territories. Yoshimoto Kogyo will also be responsible for attracting further investment in the enterprise.
The trio of company’s already began working together with Hong Kong broadcaster TVB in January for “Wada Ichigo,” a short-film starring Naomi Watanabe that achieved a 25% viewing rating in the territory.
At the signing ceremony, the three highly experienced executives spoke of the opportunities ahead of the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, when the focus of the world will turn to Japan, offering a “golden chance” to showcase Japanese productions to global territories.
Media Asia, led by Chairman and CEO Peter Lam, is a diversified Chinese-language entertainment provider, with extensive experience in film and TV production, live concerts, artist management, and music publishing & production.
Content Land, which produces TV shows and operates in Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia, is helmed by Johnny Yau, who has over 30 years experience in the television industry since starting his career at Hong Kong Television Broadcasting Limited (TVB).
Yoshimoto Kogyo meanwhile, has already established branches in China, Taiwan, Korea, Thailand and the United States. In the new joint venture, the giant of Japanese entertainment will co-produce content with Media Asia and distribute via Contents Land’s channels.