VIZ Media Europe, one of Europe’s most established licensors and distributors of Japanese content, has been renamed Crunchyroll. The company is in the process of transitioning and all brands are starting to be communicated as Crunchyroll brands (KAZÉ, Anime on Demand, Anime Digital Network as a partnership between Crunchyroll and Citel, and Eye See Movies) and companies (AV Visionen in Germany, Ellation in Moldova).
John Easum has been appointed in the new role of Head of Crunchyroll EMEA and will steer the expansion of Crunchyroll’s international efforts. “Now that we are under the Crunchyroll brand - I am even more excited to be given the opportunity to lead a very talented team that is uniquely positioned to grow the passion and engagement of anime and manga across the EMEA region. Our teams in Berlin, Paris, and Lausanne will continue to expand our mission which is to bring to our fans 360-degree experiences around the content they love, wherever they may be, through streaming, broadcast, home video, publishing, consumer products, events, gaming, and much more.”
“We’ve admired VIZ Media Europe Group’s expertise in reaching and delivering quality experiences to anime and manga fans for many years”, said Brady McCollum, Crunchyroll’s head of international. “Together, our teams represent a stronger, global front and will be focused on finding ways to engage with current fans in meaningful ways, while also creating new fans along the way.”
TRANSACTION CLOSED
Crunchyroll - a WarnerMedia company - and VIZ Media Europe Group announced on December 4th the closing of a transaction that brings together Crunchyroll’s popular anime brand and global platform with VIZ Media Europe Group’s EMEA wide network of partners, distributors, and licensees.
Crunchyroll, the world’s most popular anime brand, connecting anime and manga fans across 200+ countries and territories with 360-degree experiences, is now the majority owner in VIZ Media Europe Group, which encompasses VIZ Media Europe, VIZ Media Switzerland, AV Visionen, KAZÉ, Anime on Demand, and Anime Digital Network (in partnership with Citel, a subsidiary of Média-Participations).