Adjust, ABEMA, and the growing CTV & OTT market in Japan

One of the key markets for the growing Connected TV (CTV) and Over-The-Top (OTT) space is Japan. And as part of Adjust’s ongoing commitment to providing the best products, partnerships, and integrations in the CTV and OTT ecosystem, we recently partnered with Japanese entertainment company and OTT streaming service ABEMA. This is the first integration of its kind for Adjust in Japan, and a solution designed for advertisers looking to strengthen and broaden their advertising strategies in the market.

Among Japan’s population of 125 million, the OTT market is huge, and offers considerable opportunity for marketers and advertisers looking to reach audiences to drive users from CTV apps to mobile devices, or to CTV apps themselves. Over the past 5 and a half years, ABEMA has been downloaded more than 73 million times, has recorded a weekly active user of 18.25 million, and is seeing year-on-year increases in viewing on CTV. In 2017, just 4% of ABEMA’s overall users were on CTV, in 2019 it jumped to 7%, and in 2021 it’s sitting at 14%. If this trend continues, ABEMA’s CTV user base will continue to grow significantly over the next few years.

OTT viewership in Japan is an enormous market, and is continuing to grow rapidly — with CTV as a major pillar. As of 2021, there are 26.4 million CTV users in Japan (21% of the population), a figure that’s expected to grow to 28.6 million, or 23.2% of the population, by 2025. If we look at CTV penetration in Japan on a more granular level, it’s predicted that by the 2025 mark, 26% of people with an internet connection and 37% of total digital video viewers will be CTV users. Some surveys even suggest that these numbers are drastically higher, reporting up to 58% of internet users aged 16-69 watching CTV.

TV broadcasters including TBS and Fuji TV dominate the overall TV viewing space, with each broadcaster now offering owned subscription video on demand (SVOD) services including TBS’ Paravi and Fuji TV’s FOD. Catch-up content is also available via the broadcasters’ advertising-based video on demand (AVOD) OTT services. In terms of AVOD services in general, ABEMA, YouTube and TVer are among the most popular choices throughout Japan. Most of the advertising inventory is available directly via these OTT streaming services, or via DSPs with CTV inventory.

Ad spend is also growing rapidly, reaching ¥17.5 billion in 2021 — and is expected to hit a massive ¥58.8 billion by 2024.

With such a high mobile penetration level in Japan, the ability to measure cross-device is essential to success for mobile and app advertisers. Adjust makes it possible to measure mobile conversions from CTV ad campaigns, which is particularly crucial in a market where linear TV is becoming less relevant and is viewed, broadly, as an awareness tool. The ability to track app conversions and events triggered by connected TV ads changes the game for marketers looking to branch into advertising on CTV and via AVOD services.

The ability to access multi-touch attribution is also extremely important in a market where users are engaging with a high number of devices. This makes it possible to confidently assess the contribution (or potential attribution) of CTV ads, such as those on ABEMA, in an overall campaign strategy. By better understanding where, when and how users are interacting with CTV as part of their journey to install, marketers can leverage the data and further optimize campaigns.

If you’re looking to strengthen your Japanese advertising strategy, consider adding CTV ads from ABEMA with Adjust measurement. Our Help Center provides all information needed to set up ABEMA campaigns, and you can also read all about turning CTV into a performance channel with our CTV AdVision solution here.