Japanese platform Abema TV has turned a profit for the first time, and is being credited with doubling net income for parent company CyberAgent for the year to end September. 

The media and IP division, which includes Abema TV, closed the year to end Sept with operating profit of ¥7.2 billion/US$47 million – up from a loss of ¥1.4 billion the previous year. Sales came in at ¥231.5 billion – up 15.7% year on year. 

The company said the IP business had progressed with the launch of its anime studio. Studio Kurm was founded in 2025 as the group’s third animation studio.  

“Sales growth resulted in a significant OP increase while actively investing in content,” CyberAgent said, adding that viewership of anime, sports (including the FIFA World Cup) and original programmes was strong. 

Dating reality and variety shows topped popularity, and weekly active users for original programmes had doubled year on year to a record high, the company said. Abema also strengthened content expansion with external partners, including DAZN and WOWSPO, the company said. 

“We are building a system that can handle an entire process from original work to monetisation and actively leverage group synergies,” it added. 

The CyberAgent group reported net income of  ¥31.6 billion, and a 79% increase in operating profit to ¥71.7 billion for the year. The bulk of this came from the games division, which reported a 96.5% year on year OP increase to ¥60 billion. 

Reporting a 9.1% increase in annual sales to ¥874 billion, CyberAgent said sales had grown for the 28th consecutive year. 

But the company is moderating expectations for the coming year, cutting OP forecasts to between ¥50 billion and ¥60 billion “due to the nature of the Games business, which has a high degree of volatility in performance”