In the second quarter of the fiscal year ending March 2024, TBS Television’s anime division grappled with a significant downturn in both revenue and profit compared to the corresponding period in the prior year. Sales for the quarter amounted to 530 million yen, reflecting a sharp 52% decline from the same period last year. Operating income also witnessed a substantial drop, standing at 303 million yen, down by 38%. It’s noteworthy that these figures exclude the contributions of Seven Arcs, an animation production company and a subsidiary of TBS Holdings.
The pronounced dip in sales and profits can be attributed to the comparatively modest scale of TBS’s anime business compared to its industry counterparts. The sector’s financial performance tends to exhibit substantial fluctuations, heavily dependent on the presence or absence of major hits. Unlike the previous period, which boasted successful theatrical releases such as “The Quintessential Quintuplets” and “Platinum End,” the current year lacked comparable works, resulting in a significant setback.
Concurrently, TBS, in line with industry trends, is actively expanding its anime portfolio. The network recently launched a new nationwide anime slot on Sunday evenings, featuring upcoming broadcasts of “The Seven Deadly Sins: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” starting October 2023 and “Sentai Dai Shikkaku” from 2024.
In contrast, TBS’s movie business, with a larger scale than its anime counterpart, experienced robust performance this fiscal year. Sales and profits surged to 2,013 million yen (an 81% increase), while operating income reached 943 million yen (a 79% rise). The success of “TOKYO MER the Movie: Running Emergency Room” played a pivotal role in driving this positive outcome, along with the well-received movie “My Happy Marriage.”
Examining TBS Holdings as a whole, consolidated sales reached 182.07 billion yen, marking a 7.9% increase. Operating income, however, faced a 13.5% decline, settling at 8.743 billion yen, and ordinary income witnessed a 4.6% decrease, reaching 16.257 billion yen. Despite these challenges, a surplus was maintained, with net income totaling 9,832 million yen (up 7.0%), attributed to the sale of investment securities.
