Netflix has announced its plans to expand its reality TV offerings in Japan in an effort to capture a larger audience in the country. With subscriber growth plateauing in the West, Japan has become a key market for international expansion for the streaming giant. To cater to the Japanese audience, Netflix has unveiled a slate of five reality series, with a focus on dating and variety show formats.
Among the new shows is “Is She the Wolf?”, a quirky dating show featuring a group of attractive young contestants looking for love. However, hidden among them is at least one “wolf”, a fake dater whose mission is to dupe the other contestants with faux romance while keeping their secret status hidden. The show was produced in partnership with the Japanese online streaming platform ABEMA and has already attracted a large following.
Another show, “Love Like a K-Drama”, taps into the surging global appeal of Japanese romance series. The show blends the Korean drama format with the reality competition format, following four Japanese actresses and four Korean actors who are paired up to try and land lead roles in K-drama shows. The lines between acting and real romance blur during their steamy rehearsals, and the action is accompanied by lively commentary from celebrity studio emcees.
One of the new variety shows is “Lighthouse”, featuring musician-actor Gen Hoshino and comedian Masayasu Wakabayashi. The show offers an intimate look at the personal stories, struggles, and fears of the two entertainers as they embark on a six-month conversation. Viewers will get a fresh take on creativity and comedy, with Hoshino creating an opening song and five ending songs inspired by his conversations with Wakabayashi.
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Bringing a second season to the slate, “Last One Standing” is a comedy competition show that follows contestants as they compete for laughs. The show will launch its second season on October 10. Similarly, the dating show “Love Village” will also see a second season, although a release date is yet to be announced.
Dai Ota, Netflix’s Japan content manager, expressed the company’s excitement about the new phase of its content strategy. Ota emphasized the importance of unscripted content in Japan, noting that 70 percent of primetime linear programming in the country consists of reality, variety, and dating shows. Netflix currently has a total of 15 unscripted titles in development in Japan.
By investing in diverse content categories in international markets, Netflix continues to gain a competitive edge over its legacy studio rivals. With strikes affecting actors and writers in Hollywood, the company’s expansion into different genres and regions helps ensure a steady stream of fresh content for its subscribers. Additionally, as Japan is the world’s third-largest economy, the country presents a significant growth opportunity for subscription video services. Japan has relatively high average revenues per user and still has room for local and international services to increase their subscriber base.
The first show from the new slate, “Lighthouse”, is set to launch on Netflix on August 22. Following that, “Is She the Wolf?” will premiere on September 3, and “Love Like a K-Drama” will debut on November 28. Viewers can look forward to an exciting lineup of reality shows that aim to entertain and engage Japanese audiences.
