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Crunchyroll, VRV Plan to Expand Original IP Beyond Video
posted on by Karen Ressler
Eric Berman, the head of business development and content partnerships for Ellation's subscription video aggregation platform VRV, spoke with news website The Wrap regarding Ellation's new original content division in an interview published on Thursday. Berman said that the company plans to leverage the original IP from its new division to go "beyond just video."
"You are not truly a media company unless you are making your own content," Berman explained. "Our long-term vision is to expand VRV much further beyond video, and in order to do that it is critical you own IP and have the flexibility to leverage that IP in a variety of ways to the benefit of your fans, be it merch, games, events and more."
Berman also noted in the interview that the median age of VRV users is 26.
Ellation, the parent company of Crunchyroll and VRV, announced last month that it is opening a new division titled Ellation Studios in order to create original anime-inspired shows. The division includes production facilities in Tokyo and Burbank, California. The first project will be an animated series titled High Guardian Spice, under a "Crunchyroll Originals" brand.
VRV is a subscription bundle that includes anime streaming service Crunchyroll as well as several other streaming services, including FunimationNow.
Source: The Wrap (Matt Lopez)
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