New York-based FilmRise has picked up North American streaming rights to the popular anime brand Yu-Gi-Oh! for its AVOD network.
In a deal with distributor and Yu-Gi-Oh! brand manager Konami Cross Media NY, FilmRise now holds the AVOD streaming rights to multiple shows in the Yu-Gi-Oh! cannon, and plans to launch them on its branded apps and OTT channels.
FilmRise has acquired 808 episodes from a variety of Yu-Gi-Oh! series in English, and 541 episodes in Spanish. The deal includes Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (pictured, 236 x 30 minutes), Yu-Gi-Oh! GX (155 x 30 minutes), Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s (123 x 30 minutes), Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL (146 x 30 minutes) and Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V (148 x 30 minutes).
FilmRise, which has been expanding its kids catalogue with acquisitions from Scholastic and WildBrain lately, picked up the Yu-Gi-Oh! titles to broaden its existing anime offering, according to a release.
Anime is one of the most popular genres worldwide, and demand for it has been growing. In August 2021, anime ranked as the third most in-demand sub-genre globally, according to insights firm Parrot Analytics.