Nippon TV Launch 'Viral Pocket' Vertical Video Division

Nippon TV has announced the establishment of Viral Pocket, a dedicated division focused on the accelerating vertical video and micro-drama market. The move transforms the broadcaster's established content expertise into a strategic partnership model designed to connect brands and agencies with Gen Z audiences through platform-native storytelling.

Hirofumi Tanaka, President of Content Strategy at Nippon TV, highlighted that the division will focus on developing emerging creators and fresh formats to drive cultural trends, blending creative empathy with rigorous data analysis—such as retention and drop-off metrics—to ensure high engagement across social platforms.
 
Viral Pocket will focus on three key pillars to revolutionize the micro drama landscape: Content IP Development: Creating original, platform-native stories; 360 Production & Project Design: End-to-end execution tailored for vertical formats; and Marketing Support: KPI-driven storytelling designed to spark empathy and action.

The establishment of Viral Pocket builds on the unprecedented success of Nippon TV's micro drama portfolio, which has become a dominant entertainment format for Gen Z. Since its launch in March 2023, "We are Coy Every Day," a short-form drama series, has achieved over 2.6 billion organic views, becoming one of Japan's most recognized social media accounts. Additionally, Nippon TV's short-form drama, "Chokotto Paa-chii" averages more than one million views on TikTok, further highlighting the division's ability to merge broadcast-quality storytelling with data-driven digital production. Most recently, a third title, "The Final Lesson – Only Survivors Graduate-" received a prestigious award at the 1st Asia Short-Form Drama Awards, underscoring Nippon TV's excellence in high-impact, short-form storytelling.
 
Viral Pocket will deliver high‑impact "Professionally Generated Content (PGC)" that drives brand engagement. A recent project with Nissui, one of Japan's leading food brands, showcased this approach. By weaving the company's egg‑free products into an emotional story about food allergies, the video generated over 10 million organic views in just two weeks.
 
The division's approach blends Right Brain creativity—social trend‑driven storytelling that sparks empathy—with Left Brain data analysis, using retention and drop‑off metrics.

www.ntv.co.jp/english/