The Abema TV of Bloomberg may have to restrict access to Japan's World Cup game at midnight Monday local time, as runaway demand is pushing the streaming service to its limits.
Over the weekend, viewers were advised that admission to watch the Japan-Croatia match may be restricted in order to ensure a stable service.
Abema holds the streaming rights to the Qatar tournament in Japan, and the unexpected progress of the national team has triggered a wave of interest and support. The youth-oriented Streaming network hit a new usage high on Friday after Japan's game against Spain, which was broadcast at 4 a.m. locally, according to CyberAgent President Susumu Fujita on Twitter.
The news of its investment in the loss-making service was good for the cyberAgent, which surged by 4% on the news. The share price fell by 1% on Monday.
Hideki Yasuda, an analyst at Toyo Securities said that the stock of CyberAgents is rising due to expectations that Abema will see its revenue from ads increase over the long-term.
CyberAgent is best known for its portfolio of video games, such as Uma Musume, which helped drive the stock to a record high amid the Pandemic. According to Jefferies analyst Hiroko Sato, it may have spent as much as 20 billion yen $150 million on securing the World Cup streaming rights for Abema. Its broadcasts also feature former national footballer Keisuke Honda as a commentator. Its service can be seen on phones, PCs and connected TVs. The live streams of Abema are free to watch, but analysts question how much of the surge the company will be able to convert into paying users. On Friday, Abema had more than 17 million viewers, according to CyberAgent. CyberAgent has added extra servers to handle World Cup demand and anticipates making a loss on the tournament, a spokesman said.
Most viewers who installed the app for the soccer games will delete it after the tournament ends and return to other TV and streaming services, such as Netflix and YouTube, according to Yasuda.