2022 has been a very busy year for influencer marketing in Japan. In this article, we introduce the top 10 most viewed paid content in Japan for 2022. Here, you can understand how Japanese companies promote their services and what kind of influencers they collaborate with on YouTube. You can also get a sense of what kind of paid content can get views, so it’ll help you think of ways to raise awareness of your service. If you’re wondering how to market your products in Japan, this is an unmissable article.
1. Knives Out
Views: 61 Million
Category: Gaming
‘Knives out’ is one of the most popular battle royale games in Japan, developed and run by etEaseGames. This campaign used popular Japanese gaming influencers such Hajime, also known as はじめしゃちょー. This influencer who has 2.8 Million Subscribers is very popular among gamers in their 20s. This successful paid content was run in a long format (from 10-20 mins) which works well for gaming fans.
2. Code: D-blood
Views: 15 Million
Category: Gaming
Code: D-Blood is a multiplayer online role-playing game with movie-like performances and an interesting storyline. In promoting the service, the company used gaming influencers who broadcast their gaming experience. For example, Hayato, an 800K subscribed Youtuber, explained the attractive points of the game and the characters.
3. Qoo 10 Netshopping
Views: 13 Million
Category: Shopping
Qoo 10 Net Shopping is E-Bay Japan’s online shopping site, where you can get everything from fashion to cosmetics, home appliances, food, and household goods. What was interesting was that they used both micro and macro influencers in promoting the site. As the site sells various products, the target audience was wide-ranging. This campaign was effective and used well-known actors like Haruna Kawaguchi.
4. Simeji
Views: 10.9 Million
Category: Utility
Shimeji is a free Japanese keyboard app that comes with a skinnable keyboard and cute emojis. The company used various Japanese YouTubers from tech content creators to teen influencers so that they can appeal to a wide range of audiences. They had flexible and different approaches for each creator, making sure they appealed to the viewers, from giving how-to-use guides to prank videos using the Shimeji keyboard.
5. Uniqlo
Views: 10.1 Million
Category: Fashion
Uniqlo is a Japanese casual wear designer, manufacturer and retailer owned by Fast Retailing. Often in their promotional videos, the influencer shows an example of real-life coordination in a HAUL (Many items) style. This shows what they actually bought and casually introduces the clothes. Uniqlo succeeded in using many influencers which matched their target audience. Their campaigns are well worth checking out.
6. Rakuten SuperPointScreen
Views: 10 Million
Category: Utility
SuperPointScreen, a service run by Rakuten. allows you to collect points by watching advertisements, As many people have no idea what kind of service this is and how it works, the company used influencers to share tips. The fun how-to-use guides encouraged users to try using the app.
7. Sugar Closet
Views: 8.7 Million
Category: Household goods
Sugar Closet is a cute bath salt with a doll inside, this is so kids can enjoy collecting them. As it is targeted at kids, the promotion was done using young influencers who have the same target audience. Noenon, a lifestyle YouTuber, showed how to use it and this made many Japanese people interested in buying the product.
8. Botanist
Views: 8.3 Million
Category: Household goods
Botanist is a Japanese hair and skincare brand. Although it’s often common to use well-known influencers when promoting hair products, Botanist used cosmetic researchers. By focusing on the effects and the scientific reviews of the product, this marketing was able to gain the trust of the audience.
9. Fifth
Views: 8 Million
Category: Fashion
FIfth is a Japanese fashion site with over 40M visits every month. Its official YouTube channel has about 65K views and gives useful fashion tips. In appealing to their target audience, which is mainly women, they tried to use both tall and short influencers. This is so that viewers can get a sense of what they would look if they were to wear the items. This kind of inclusive campaign and looking from an audience perspective led to marketing success.
10. Softbank student discount campaign
Views: 7.8 Million
Category: Utility
Softbank is a Japanese multinational company which offers cellular service in Japan. As the cellular service is competitive, they have used well-known actors like Okada Junichi who have a wide audience to appeal to the wide age group. As the cellular service is essential to essentially everyone in Japan, using a famous influencer is more effective than using a micro-influencer to raise awareness.
Successful influencer campaigns in Japan
So there we have a selection of the top 10 viewed paid content for 2022 in Japan. The more you analyse an influencer audience, the more effective your marketing campaign can be. By choosing the right influencer and followers, you can effectively reach your target audience.
JapanBuzz offers Japanese Influencer marketing, so if you help in the future please let us know. We work with people like Vimeo, UN, NIKE, Intel, HelloFresh and more. Please feel free to get in touch.
