The platform Niconico, known as the "Japanese YouTube," is facing a subscriber crisis. Recently, the site recorded a staggering loss of 116,000 premium users in just one year.
The drop was mainly due to technical problems with international credit cards. Since May 2024, the platform has stopped accepting popular brands like Visa, thus preventing thousands of fans from renewing their monthly subscriptions. Currently, the number of paid subscribers has fallen to 954,000, breaking the historic barrier of one million members.
Despite this negative scenario for videos, the parent company Kadokawa still reports healthy profits. Sales growth reached 21.5% thanks to live events and Vocaloid; however, the site struggles to compete with giants like YouTube and TikTok. Meanwhile, management is trying to implement short videos to attract a younger audience and regain lost relevance.
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