(DDT\NOAH) Aiming to be No.1 in the pro wrestling industry through commercialization and video distribution - why DDT and Noah participated in CyberAgent
Japan.cnet.com
"Wrestling is like a privately run store, it has to be commercialized to make it bigger".
"Operation was hard, and there was no choice but to continue the old fashioned produce"
"I will do it and take the number one position in the industry"
Sanshiro Takagi, the President of CyberFight and Narihiro Takeda, director of the same company, said this about carrying out the pro wrestling industry in the CyberAgent group.
CyberFight is expanding business with four pro wrestling promotions DDT Pro Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Noah, Tokyo Women's Pro-Wrestling and Ganbare ☆ Pro-Wrestling. DDT was launched in 1997 and features "in the street wrestling" which is performed in places other than an ordinary ring, and has developed a unique style with characteristic wrestlers. Noah is known as a promotion founded in August 2000 by Mitsuharu Misawa. DDT joined the CyberAgent group in September 2017, and Noah's operating company, Noah Global Entertainment, joined in January 2020. In September of the same year, DDT, CyberFight Entertainment and DDT Foods, who manage the food and drink division, merged to become CyberFight.
We asked Takagi and Takeda about the challenges and issues they encountered in terms of management and operation in pro wrestling, which has a long history in Japan, and about dealing with the changes since joining CyberAgent.
Takagi participated as a wrestler at the launch of DDT under the ring name of "Sanshiro Takagi", and later became the president of the company. Even now, he is active as a wrestler while balancing his active duties in the ring and management. Takeda has been involved in the management of pro wrestling promotions for many years, having been involved with the management of New Japan, All Japan and WRESTLE-1 which was launched by Keiji Mutoh. In 2019, he became the president of Noah Global Entertainment and became involved in their management.
"Commercialization for growth"
"Old fashioned and difficult to manage" - the issues faced by both.
Q: First of all, please tell us about DDT and Noah, and how you joined the CyberAgent group
TAKAGI: DDT originally had a very strong flavor as a privately owned store. In other words, there was the image of a small theatre troupe. There was a plan that commercialization would have to be done in order to make great progress from there. We held an event at the Saitama Super Arena in March 2017, but the background is that I felt a sense of crisis and regret becayse we did not reach the target number of attendees, and the result was poor in causing an impact. At that time I was considering various options such as joining a large company for capital and a business alliance, so I decided to join CyberAgent Group.
TAKEDA: Frankly speaking, for Noah there was a difficult business situation. When renewing a wrestlers contract in 2019, there was
situation where it could not be extended due to operational reasons. So, I consulted with Takagi about letting the wrestler who was leaving the contract be in the ring. At that time, we also talked about the difficult management and that is the background of what Takagi passed on to Fujita*.
Q: Incidentally, I think both of you have been engaged in the pro wrestling industry for a long time. You are both currently in the same company, but have you had any exchanges before?
TAKAGI: It's true we had a senior in common and we saw each other at a lot of gatheringes, but the reason we talked properly was at DDT'S show, "Muscle". There was an imaginary promotion called New Beijing Pro Wrestling, who had a logo very similar to New Japan, so Takeda, who was working here at that time, kindly contacted me and pointed it out (laughs). It went from there...
TAKEDA: It was like that (laughs). Kota Ibushi, who was signed to DDT at that time, appeared unexpectedly in the offices of New Japan. He said he wanted to go to "Super Juniors (Best of The Super Juniors)", and I did the handling of it.
TAKAGI: In the event, Ibushi was able to compete in New Japan, but it was Takeda who had dealt with it as the point of contact. After that, there was a connection with Takeda.
TAKEDA: I was involved in the operation of Wrestle-1, and there was also the event when Takagi was holding the post of CEO with DDT.
TAKAGI: There was a discussion asking Takeda about Wrestle-One's manager, who was virtually absent, he said he had been singled out because of the difficult circumstances. However, when it came to be handed over, we worked together. When there was another project called DNA (DDT NEW ATTITUDE), which was a project that was mainly for younger wrestlers, and I asked Takeda at that time to leave the operation to him.
Q: Returning to the story, Takeda, I would like to ask you about what was said that Noah's management was difficult, what kind of issues did you face?
TAKEDA: Simply put, it was still old-fashioned. Noah had no media content at all, and there was a high relative importance of the box office, but we weren't able to spread it. We had good matches, and the content of Noah wasn't bad, but there was no live-streaming or media, and we couldn't convey it's appeal. There was no money to maintain the video production, and I couldn't get a sense of speed with the media I had a relationship with at that time. The challenge was that we had no choice but to continue the old fashioned produce.
Q: Takagi became involved in the management of pro wrestling promotions, was there anything you felt was a challenge?
TAKAGI: I have been president of DDT since 2004, and at that time I knew that video content would be an asset to the company. However, in the past pro wrestling was broadcast on terrestrial television with the station owning the video management and the copyright. Therefore, there was a situation where promotions couldn't use the footage as they wanted. In today's world, online distribution is the same, and distributing videos through SNS is also becoming important. I feel that the efforts of promotions to have the footage rights are far behind the music industry, which holds live events.
Systemization for rapid progress, video distribution efforts to make a leap forward
Q: Looking at the news articles and press conferences, we find that the major domestic leader of the pro wrestling industry is recognized as New Japan. I think it has been smooth sailing for New Japan, but from your perspective, what do you think is the reason for the breakthrough so far?
TAKEDA: I wasn't part of New Japan at the time, but I personally think it was when it was acquired by Yukes in 2005, who worked on pro wrestling games. I think it was a big deal that they acquired them. Since Yuke's is a listed company, New Japan also became a business that met listing standards. I think they were able to carry out their business with a medium to long term vision because of the organizational structure of their management they were able to continue a large scale entertainment such as the Tokyo Dome even in difficult financial situations.
Q: After that, Bushiroad became the owners of New Japan, and since then I have the impression that they have made great strides by using various media and focusing on promotion and other publicity.
TAKEDA: That's true, but I don't think it's just the power of advertising. If the role of the business manager is to show the structure and unify the system, Kidani (Takaaki Kidani, currently the chairman on the board of directors at Bushiroad), clearly stated that the management standard was to "Bring out a feeling that pro wrestling is popular." They once carried out car advertising on the Yamanote Line, and rather than seeing the advert itself there was a vague effect of "New Japan advertising is impressive". I don't know what to do if I where to suddenly say to "increase sales", but if it is "Making it look trendy", there is something I can do and its easy to tap into. I think it was an easy-to-understand and clear vision that was presented, and I think it was because of how it was organized that each department was able to take action according to purpose.
Q: What did DDT do when it joined CyberAgent?
TAKAGI: One aim was to set up commercialization and systematization, and work towards that. Until now, we focused on the excitement of the moment on the box office, so when we joined we changed the structure. Also, we started broadcasting on ABEMA, and I feel that this has greatly increased awareness. As for where we have to start from now, is how to expand our media distribution, "WRESTLE UNIVERSE". There are still some things we don't understand about the subscription-type service, so we will consider the policy while in co-operation with CyberAgent. For future development, WRESTLE UNIVERSE will be one focal point to generate profits, and it will be indispensable for expending overseas, just as I think that the video distribution site "New Japan Pro Wrestling World" has been a breakthrough for them. There are about 100,000 subscribers and I've heard that nearly half of them have come from overseas, and that is a big expansion. We would like to expand on that scale while utilizing the resources of head office. ABEMA is being used to raise awareness in Japan, and regarding Noah it will be its focal point. DDT and Tokyo Joshi Pro are WRESTLE UNIVERSE, and what can be broadcast will also be distributed on ABEMA.
Q: For ABEMA, I think there are many young viewers who are known as "The Smartphone Generation", do you feel the influence of this?
TAKAGI: What I feel has had an impact on DDT is the increase in teenagers. When we asked why, everyone wrote, "I saw it on ABEMA". I think there are still some parts to work on, but there is no doubt that the young will be featured. Also, I feel that the number of young people are increasing at the venue as when you try and watch pro wrestling on TV, it's on at midnight. It's difficult to approach young people, especially junior and senior high school students, when there is a high threshold for a monthly subscription. So we will continue with ABEMA, and continue to utilize YouTube. Takeda also feels that ABEMA has made it possible to appeal to young people. When Noah ran a show at the Nippon Budokan in February, and when we shot the documentary there were quite a few people who said, "I came to see Noah for the first time after seeing ABEMA". ABEMA is the canvas for the Smartphone basis, and we can approach Smartphone users with various aspects.
Q: Regarding Noah, have there been any change in your efforts to distribute video on ABEMA?
TAKEDA: It is a territory that I haven't been able to work on so far, and so everything is fresh, although I am undecided in some places. The speed of the work of the ABEMA staff is often surprising, and the requirements are clear, so there are a lot of positive things to say. I feel that increasing the number of viewers on ABEMA has had a synergistic effect of increasing the number and quality of the shows.
Q: When you joined the group, did you feel any change in the wrestlers?
TAKAGI: There are parts where the awareness of the wrestlers has changed little by little, and I have the impression they are doing this without cares. Rather, when we joined the company which is a listed one, there were parts when I had to take a stand more than necessary. There is a wrestler called Danshoku Dino in DDT, and I wondered if his behavior would be a little over the line, but Fujita told me not to worry, and so he does what he wants.
TAKEDA: For the wrestlers having people getting to watch their matches raises their motivation, and leads to an increase in people recognizing them and it's rewarding. This is an environment where you can watch, and the more people watch, the more they grow.
Q: Some people still think that pro wrestling fans are mainly older make fans, but are there many younger fans overall?
TAKAGI: All over the industry, I feel that the number of young fans is increasing, and I think the number of women in their twenties and the number of people who watch with their families are increasing. But on the other hand, there are the roles of Mutoh and Jun Akiyama (note, in February Mutoh became the GHC Heavyweight Champion, and Akiyama became the DDT KO-D Openweight Champion), and when they announced at the same time that Mutoh would be joining Noah and Akiyama would be joining DDT, I feel that the people in their 40s and above are still deep rooted. However, I don't think that is a bad thing, and I think that the appeal of pro wrestling is that children, elderly people and men and women can enjoy it regardless of age.
BOLD: The "30 Minute Stare Off" match happened because there was no spectators.
Q: There have been varied effects due to the Coronavirus epidemic, but there seems to have been a positive impact on the whole for streaming services, but what about WRESTLE UNIVERSE?
TAKAGI: Streaming is more common than before. The number of WRESTLE UNIVERSE members has nearly doubled, and online shopping has increased 8 to 10 times. In addition, wrestlers have held online autograph sessions for both men and women's wrestling. Since I am involved in the restaurant business, I have done various activities using online distribution, such as online drinking parties.
Q: The events were held empty arena, but has there been a change in the content due to the environment being different from that of attended shows?
TAKAGI: There has been a memorable empty arena match. The GHC Heavyweight Championship held on March 29th 2020 between Kazuyuki Fujita and Go Shiozaki. At that time the venue was silent and they continued glaring at each other for 30 minutes. This is unlikely to apply with an audience. Wrestling has an aspect of entertaining the audience, and conversely, there is also the situation of the audience being placed in the palm of your hand. With a live audience, if you kept glaring at each other for 30 minutes then it wouldn't be strange for a heckler to shout out, "Hurry Up!". Wrestlers are only human, and so I think they would do something. However, in combat sports changing something creates a gap, and it's easy to enter into it, so it may be for the best that there is no movement. In somewhere where there was no heckler, it became a place of serious competition where you could imagine the "Battle of Ganryujima" and the duel between Musashi Miyamoto and Kojiro Sasaki. Originally, Fujita had also worked as a mixed martial artist, and I don't know if this was Fujita's strategy, but progressing at that pace was novel to him. This match was a development because there were no spectators.
Q: I hear that you check posts on social media in great detail. For what reason, and what kind of opinions do you see?
TAKAGI: I use it for marketing research. To be honest, it's hard to tell whether it is the right information or not. For example, if I see a negative opinion on Twitter that the "show is not interesting", I dig into that persons tweet and look at it. I investigate whether they like DDT or not, and whether they are someone who watches pro wrestling. I think I am the only one who does that (laughs). If you have the impression that people who like DDT are silly, then I think there is a problem somewhere, or otherwise you are not aware. I select various information. The reason for doing this is that DDT was originally a promotion that was not covered by the leading pro wrestling magazines and sports newspapers and therefore the reaction to the needs of the fans and the media to DDT was not something that was understood. So in the past I would check spectator recaps and in some cases I would make my own homepage and write a record to understand the needs of the fans. There was a time when I was investigating MIXI, GREE and Mobage on SNS on social media.
Consolidation of business compelled by Corona, the aim is still the number one position in the industry.
Q: As a pro wrestling company, CyberFight started due to business consolidation. Please tell me about the background.
TAKAGI: When Noah joined the group, it was in the position of a sister company, and I was vaguely wondering if I should consider business integration in the future, but I wasn't thinking about joining the companies together so soon and I had to pay attention to the emotions of the fans. However, the reason is that due to corona we needed to integrate the back office and other areas. However, that is only management and each promotion works independently.
Q: CyberFight also has Tokyo Women's Wrestling, so please tell us how you see the women's wrestling market.
TAKAGI: There are situations were professional and fighting sports by female athletes are attracting attention, and I have felt that this has been increasing for several years. I have a desire to continue to push that hard. At the event on January 4th, we broadcast it in English for the first time, and there was a tremendous response and based on this, I would like to continue to make strong appeals to overseas markets. I think that women's pro wrestling is a content that resonates all over the world, and to begin with, the promotion globally of women's pro wrestling is almost none. WWE has a woman's division, and AEW has women wrestlers among the men. Only in Japan are there many independent women's pro wrestling promotions, and I want this characteristic to appeal to the world. Pro Wrestling was originally born in Europe and the United States, and so I have a desire to spread women's pro wrestling there as well, and I think it is a good match for Southeast Asia. I think there is a high affinity as it has spread there.
Q: Finally, could you give us a summary of DDT and Noah in 2020, and talk about the future prospects?
TAKEDA: Regarding Noah, soon after we joined the group, we were forced to work under the influence of Corona, and I was impressed by the fact that ABEMA continued to be distributed free of charge. ABEMA also had the intention of increasing the content delivered as sporting events were cancelled one after the other, and as we obtained a venue we were able to perform various events. Since pro wrestling is a content that can only be created by the wrestlers who belong to it, we were able to develop a variety of content on ABEMA and empty arena shows while taking measures against the pandemic such as PCR tests. In 2020 we were able to develop that, and in December we worked on a PPV through ABEMA and profitability has been improved. I think it was a year in which we were able to bring out a new side.
TAKAGI: Regarding DDT, the Corona epidemic came when I was originally planning expansion measures in early 2020, but this proved to be an opportunity. I decided to devote myself to protection, not scaling down. DDT was rich in variety, pushing out its characteristic entertainment strongly. It can be widely appealed to in a variety of ways, and it always has the impact of doing something out of the ordinary. It was good and I have an image of it, but there was also the fact that the so called conflict was hard to retain. The wrestlers were fighting intensely, and there were parts where the image of the variety was superior, so I wanted to expand both the essence and the charm of the fight. For example, Dino gets his ass out (laughs) and wrestling on the street is more noticeable, but I also have desire to limit to it's own sphere. In that sense, Akiyama joining is an enhancement in the sense to appeal in the match, and I want to show it in a well balanced manner. I think that in that way showing the fight is part of the protection. Of course, we will take various measures for entertainment in the future, and the biggest one is in holding "CyberFight Festival 2021" at the Saitama Super Arena on June 6th. With the image of a pro wrestling version of a music festival DDT, Noah, Tokyo Girls and Ganbare ☆ pro wrestling will gather together for the show. It is the first time that the four promotions will get together, and I think it is rare to do this on this scale, but for the time being we will continue to have to entertain in a restrictive environment due to Corona. However, I think it is because of this situation that Mutoh and Akiyama have joined Noah and DDT. The difficult situation continues, but we will move forward and not stop. For a long time our goal has been for CyberFight to be number one in the industry, and there is no change in aiming for that.
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