Chinese video website Bilibili.com and Sony's Funimation jointly announced that the two parties will implement strategic cooperation in the animated content sector.
Commenting on the cooperation, Bilibili's vice chairman and COO Li Ni said that Funimation has many years of experience in publishing Japanese animations and movies and the two parties' businesses are highly in line. They are looking forward to play their advantages to the largest extent with the cooperation and further promote the global development of the animation industry.
According to public files, Funimation was founded in 1994 and it is a major publisher of Japanese animations and movies in North America. The company has nearly 30 years of DVD and movie publishing experience. Meanwhile, its streaming service Funimation NOW is currently available in countries like US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand.
With the cooperation, Bilibili and Funimation will be able to further enhance their copyright acquisition ability, IP operation, and overseas market business expansion.
Based on statistics released by Bilibili, from 2017 to the first half of 2018, a total of 312 new Japanese animations were launched and 201 of them were available on Bilibili, accounting for 64.4%.