Asahi Broadcasting Group Holdings Acquires Animation Studio Silver Link.

by Aidan
Aug 3, 2020 2:16 PM | 15 Comments

Asahi Broadcasting Group Holdings (ABC Group Holdings) announced on Monday that it has acquired the Tokyo-based animation studio Silver Link. as a subsidiary. The acquisition comes a month after Silver Link. merged with its own subsidiary studio Connect. The studio will be newly established under ABC Group Holdings as a wholly owned subsidiary effective October 1.

Asahi Broadcasting Group also announced on Monday that it had incurred a deficit of 353 million yen (approximately US$3.3 million) during the April–June period this year, compared to a surplus of 486 million yen (approximately US$4.5 million) last year during the same period. The company saw a decline in broadcasting sales as television spot income decreased.

Silver Link. was founded by Hayato Kaneko in December of 2007 and assisted other studios in titles such as Nodame Cantabile: Paris-hen, ef: A Tale of Melodies. (ef - a tale of melodies.), and Higashi no Eden (Eden of the East). In 2009, the studio produced its first television anime, Tayutama: Kiss on My Deity.

The studio is known for titles such as Kokoro Connect, Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry (Chivalry of a Failed Knight), Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu (Baka & Test - Summon the Beasts), and Non Non Biyori.

Founded in 1949, Asahi Broadcasting Group began as a radio station in Osaka, officially debuting in 1951. In 1955, the company moved into television as well and began running their own television channel. Asahi Broadcasting Group established its animation production company ABC Animation in 2016.

Source: Animation Business Journal, Press Release, Nikkei

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15 Comments Recent Comments

MSAtlos said:
So is silver link dead?

No. They just have a parent company now.

Aug 4, 2020 11:49 PM by brzzcode

So is silver link dead?

Aug 4, 2020 8:21 AM by Atlos

deg said:

Korishi said:

If you do a quick read they bought DLE Inc. for nearly 3billion yen last year https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2019-05-11/asahi-broadcasting-group-holdings-acquires-anime-studio-dle/.146605

and also established a CG animation company just now in June
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2020-06-29/abc-animation-establishes-cg-anime-studio/.161188

makes sense to me as CG projects are getting popular now

3DCG is still more expensive to make than 2D anime though so im scratching my head more as to why if that is case https://twitter.com/Divinenega/status/1162816661503860739

it's quicker returns so maybe that's why

Aug 4, 2020 6:56 AM by removed-user

todd2580 said:

deg said:
this is weird a close to bankruptcy TV station buys an anime studio when anime is a niche market in japan especially late night anime shows?

also i read somewhere forgot where that anime is more expensive than lets say a talk show or drama TV show there in japan

it happened before with Actas and Seven Arcs so it isn't a weird thing

also where you read that anime don't cost that much and almost all anime being produced have the same budget whether it's having a good or decent or a tight schedule.

here

The TV networks also drastically cut the number of shows they're willing to spend money on, since most anime don't bring in ratings, and it's far cheaper for them to just make another cheap talk show.
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/2012-03-05

Aug 4, 2020 6:31 AM by deg

Aug 4, 2020 6:28 AM by todd2580

Korishi said:

deg said:
this is weird a close to bankruptcy TV station buys an anime studio when anime is a niche market in japan especially late night anime shows?

3DCG is still more expensive to make than 2D anime though so im scratching my head more as to why if that is case https://twitter.com/Divinenega/status/1162816661503860739

Aug 4, 2020 5:33 AM by deg

deg said:
this is weird a close to bankruptcy TV station buys an anime studio when anime is a niche market in japan especially late night anime shows?

Aug 4, 2020 3:36 AM by removed-user

Nodqfan said:
I wonder if we could see more of this along with some studios shutting down to financial problems.

I do have a question though Are most Japanese animation studio's independent or are they subsidiaries of larger companies?

As it waqs said abiove, it depends. A bunch of previosly independent or owned by small holdings studios were bought by TV networks or large companies like Bandai in last 10 years (i.e. Madhouse, 7arcs or Actas, for example), and a few larger studios were founded by such companies from the start (i.e. Sunrise or A1, for excampler). But there ios still a bunch of studios that ca be considered independent as most of their stock is owned the stuidio head or some independent holding (i.e. Kyouto Animation or P.A. Works, for example).

Aug 4, 2020 3:36 AM by Nachtwandler_21

I.. cannot conclude if it's a good thing or a bad thing... Silver link produced some anime that i like, so i do hope it will survive tho..

Aug 3, 2020 8:52 PM by Meira_Eve

this is weird a close to bankruptcy TV station buys an anime studio when anime is a niche market in japan especially late night anime shows?

also i read somewhere forgot where that anime is more expensive than lets say a talk show or drama TV show there in japan

Aug 3, 2020 6:21 PM by deg

It depends. Quite a few are subsidiaries of larger companies. For example, Sunrise is entirely owned by Bandai Namco (holdings). Heck, IIRC about 30% of Toei Animation is owned by Bandai Namco holdings as well. Some others are independent though, but that could be untrue.

Aug 3, 2020 6:10 PM by ChartTopper60

Well i for sure did not see that coming.

Aug 3, 2020 4:25 PM by DBX

Seems to be quite the thing these days studios get into deep shit fianicially and bigger companies or networks aquires them to save them from bankruptcy in exchange for being their tools.

Aug 3, 2020 3:36 PM by Disapeared_Ghost

I wonder if we could see more of this along with some studios shutting down to financial problems.

I do have a question though Are most Japanese animation studio's independent or are they subsidiaries of larger companies?

Aug 3, 2020 3:25 PM by Nodqfan

So...it's good news or bad news ?

Aug 3, 2020 2:51 PM by Damuzen