Cinedigm Feb. 5 announced the acquisition of video-on-demand service Viewster and its subsidiary Viewster Anime, in a deal that bolsters Cinedigm’s extensive OTT content portfolio.
The Los Angeles-based home entertainment distributor immediately takes over ownership and management of all Viewster and Viewster Anime content, augmenting the platforms’ roster of offerings into Cinedigm’s library of channels and content, with select programming debuting on the latter’s lifestyle network CONtv.
Cinedigm will also overseeing operation of all content, applications and social assets belonging to both platforms. Ad sales will be handled in-house and through Cinedigm’s network of partners.
Viewster Anime will continue to exist as a subscription channel on Amazon Channels as well as on The Roku Channel. Cinedigm also plans to bring ad-supported, linear and subscription offerings of Viewster to additional OEM, cable, telco and digital partners over the next several quarters.
“Viewster and Viewster Anime are perfect complements to our growing base of premium content networks,” Erick Opeka, president of Cinedigm Digital Networks, said in a statement. “The acquisition of Viewster strengthens our market position in the fandom space, dramatically increases our global footprint, and greatly accelerates our plans to grow our ad-supported businesses.”
Founded in Zurich, Switzerland in 2007, Viewster has emerged as a competitive force in the global VOD industry — delivering digital content, and establishing a branded presence in more than 30 international markets, a combined 256,000 subscribers across YouTube and Amazon Prime Video, as well as more than 1.1 million monthly active viewers globally.
The acquisition expands Cinedigm’s OTT video customer base, which achieved over 370% year-over-year growth in ad-supported user base across linear and ad-supported VOD platforms in 2018 alone.
Cinedigm will continue to distribute Viewster Anime as a standalone brand, featuring films and series from Japan.
Acquired content includes movies such as Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade, Fist Of The North Star, and Galaxy Express 999, Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie and Night On The Galactic Railroad, as well as series such as “Street Fighter II: The Animated Series,” “Mazinger Edition Z: The Impact!,” “Gunslinger Girl,” “GATE,” and “Food Wars,” among many others.