Nippon TV launches Viral Pocket

Nippon TV is one of the major names in Japanese media, the country’s first commercial broadcaster from the 1950s onward, and it also operates Hulu in Japan.

The group announced the launch of Viral Pocket, a structure dedicated to the Duanju market. Nippon TV does not present this initiative as an isolated experiment, but as a fully fledged business built around three functions : IP development, the production of projects designed for the vertical format, and marketing support driven by performance indicators.

This positioning builds on results that are already in place. Nippon TV highlights the success of We are Coy Every Day, launched in March 2023, which the group says has generated more than 2.6 billion organic views. The company also points to Chokotto Paa-chii, whose episodes reportedly average more than one million views on TikTok. In other words, Viral Pocket is not being launched to test whether an audience exists. The division is there to turn existing know-how into a more structured production and commercialization pipeline.

For several months, the sector has often been viewed through the lens of specialized apps, mobile-native studios, or players emerging from the creator economy. Nippon TV explicitly links this new division to its international growth ambitions, its content portfolio, and its strategy to connect with audiences that were built on social platforms.

Sources :

• Nippon TV – February 17, 2026

• World Screen – February 17, 2026

• C21Media – February 17, 2026