Sony Music to Become GungHo's Top Shareholder; Chiikawa Hits 1M Fandom [Weekly News: Sep 4, 2026]
Here is our roundup of notable corporate oshikatsu (fan support activities) marketing and fan business news from the week of August 28 to September 3, 2026.
The complete edition covering all 19 stories is available on note in “Weekly Oshikatsu News: September 4, 2026 Issue (in Japanese).” This article is the highlight edition.
This Week’s Highlights
The defining theme of the week was putting intellectual property (IP) and fandom to work as cross-industry growth assets.
Sony Music Entertainment plans to invest approximately 28.6 billion yen to become the largest shareholder in GungHo Online Entertainment, holding 23.29% of its voting rights. This investment is a move to leverage the IP, development capabilities, and fan touchpoints of both the music and gaming sectors on a shared business foundation.
Meanwhile, growth was discussed through the lens of active “oshi fan populations,” with Chiikawa reaching the 1-million mark and the boy group M!LK reaching roughly 782,000 fans. It was a week that clearly showed how companies are capturing fan enthusiasm in concrete numbers and turning that data into a basis for decisions across investment, experiences, merchandise, and operations.
- ¥28.6B
- Sony Music Entertainment's planned investment in GungHo (23.29% voting rights)
- 1M
- Scale of Chiikawa's fandom analyzed via GEM Partners survey data
- 782,000
- People naming M!LK as their oshi in July 2026 (up 2.6x in 5 months)
- ¥3,900
- Approximate monthly oshikatsu budget gap between solo residents (¥16,928) and those living with their parents (¥12,991)
Source: The Oshi Lab's summary of the article
Cross-Industry Investments Spanning Music and Gaming Expand Fan Touchpoints
Sony Music x GungHo — Becoming the Top Shareholder for Roughly 28.6 Billion Yen
Sony Music Entertainment (SME) has entered into an agreement to acquire shares in GungHo Online Entertainment. SME will acquire 12,006,500 common shares for a total of approximately 28.6 billion yen, bringing its post-acquisition voting rights ratio to 23.29%. Subject to regulatory approvals and other conditions, SME plans to complete the share transfer on December 30, 2026 (Sony Music Entertainment official announcement (in Japanese)).
The two companies announced that they will combine GungHo’s game development capabilities and IP with the Sony Music Group’s expertise across musical artists, anime, and live events. In addition to collaborations within existing titles, they announced plans to explore joint game development for smartphones, home consoles, and PCs.
The Oshi Lab Note: Fans do not enjoy music, games, and anime neatly separated by industry boundaries. Rather than trying to lock fans solely into their own proprietary channels, partnering on both capital and development with companies that hold spaces where fans can engage with IP over the long term represents the next frontier of growth investment for businesses. Reading our guide to the relationship between IP and fans alongside this news makes it easier to map out the strategic intent behind this deal.
Sony x PANDORA — Expanding XR Concerts into Retail Experiences
PANDORA and Sony have jointly launched a production committee for content utilizing extended reality (XR). Their first project is a solo live concert by “Saikyo Muteki Rengo” (Unbeatable Alliance), an influencer agency with over 3 million total followers across social media. The concert will be held on January 2, 2027, at SGC Hall in Ariake, Tokyo (PANDORA official announcement (in Japanese)).
According to the plan, the concert will incorporate interactive staging that allows fans to participate in real time during the show, and from the second installment onward, these systems will also be applied to promotional experiences at retail stores and events. Rather than simply making a single performance look flashy, the vision is to take participatory mechanics honed in live entertainment and bring them onto the retail sales floor.
The Oshi Lab Note: New technology is much easier to translate into practical business operations when you evaluate it not by “what can we display to people,” but by “how can we feed fan reactions back into the experience.” If you start with the premise of testing interactive mechanics at live concerts and reusing them in retail stores, you also multiply the avenues for recouping your technology investments.
Capturing Fandom in Numbers to Guide Your Next Strategic Move
Chiikawa — Designing Empathy That Grew into a 1-Million-Person Fandom
Nikkei Cross Trend analyzed how Chiikawa built a fandom on the scale of 1 million people, drawing on survey data from GEM Partners. The article traced Chiikawa’s beginnings to work posted on X (formerly Twitter) in 2017. From there, it interpreted the series’ growth as driven not only by cuteness, but by a worldview that incorporates the harsh realities of everyday life—such as labor and wages—which broadened its empathetic appeal among adults (Nikkei Cross Trend (in Japanese)).
Because that emotional resonance has accumulated over a long period, the meaning of the work for fans remains intact even when the touchpoint shifts across merchandise, movies, or railway collaborations. Companies need to look at both the numerical scale of a fandom and where specifically fans see themselves reflected in the work.
The Oshi Lab Note: When selecting an IP for collaboration, try putting into words not only its follower count, but also “what kind of emotions fans feel the work validates for them.” The more naturally a product connects with those underlying feelings, the less likely a campaign is to fizzle out as short-lived buzz.
M!LK — Dedicated Fan Population Grows 2.6x in Five Months
According to monthly surveys by GEM Partners, the number of people naming the vocal and dance group M!LK as their oshi (the favorite they actively support) stood at approximately 301,000 in February 2026. By July, that figure had grown to roughly 782,000. That represents a 2.6-fold increase over five months, and more than 80% of those fans had been supporting the group for less than a year (Nikkei Cross Trend (in Japanese)).
Alongside CD sales and social media follower counts, tracking “who respondents name as their oshi” and how long they have been a fan on a regular basis offers a distinct analytical lens. With this approach, companies can separate whether an upward surge is driven by an influx of brand-new fans or the reactivation of existing ones.
The Oshi Lab Note: When evaluating candidates for tie-up campaigns, look at the growth rate and length of fandom tenure alongside current headcount. For a segment that has just experienced a sudden surge in newcomers, preparing approachable products and clear onboarding pathways where first-time participants won’t feel lost—while designing separate initiatives tailored to long-time veterans—helps reduce missed opportunities.
Transforming Sales Venues into Participatory Experience Spaces
Nike x ONE PIECE — Creating Takeaways Beyond a Purchase
“Dr. B’s RESEARCH LAB,” a limited-time event uniting Nike and ONE PIECE, was held in Harajuku from September 4 to September 6. Venue admission and merchandise purchases were organized via advance lottery. Inside the venue, visitors could experience three immersive exhibitions, a photo booth where they could create their own custom wanted poster, capsule toy machines (gacha), and an interactive body-movement attraction (FASHIONSNAP (in Japanese)).
While limiting the sales window to three days, the event was structured so that attendees could bring home their own photos and memories regardless of whether they were able to buy merchandise. Rather than treating product sales as the sole measure of success, the organizers built pathways directly into the venue that turned participants into active sharers.
The Oshi Lab Note: To ensure visitors still leave satisfied even after limited-edition items sell out, it is vital to prepare at least one participatory takeaway that does not require a purchase. Outputs that put the fan at the center—such as photo spots, personality quizzes, or voting boards—become a vehicle for carrying the experience beyond the venue walls. This approach connects directly to the core concepts in our guide to oshikatsu marketing design principles.
Pokémon Masters EX — Turning Transit Ads into Destinations Worth Visiting
“FANDOM AGENT” by Minto produced transit advertisements timed to the seventh anniversary of the global launch of the mobile game Pokémon Masters EX. It was announced that the ads would be displayed outside the North Ticket Gate at JR Ikebukuro Station from August 31 to September 6, and inside train cars on the Saikyo Line and Rinkai Line until September 13 (gamebiz (in Japanese)).
The advertisements centered on depictions of the Trainer and Pokémon pairings (sync pairs) that fans have grown deeply attached to within the game. Rather than merely showing ads to the general passing public, the campaign used stations and train interiors as touchpoints that fans would actively want to visit to take photos.
The Oshi Lab Note: If you choose transit advertising locations solely by foot traffic volume, the campaign ends at basic brand awareness. When you also consider whether a location gives fans a meaningful reason to visit, and whether the timing and traffic flow make it easy to photograph, an advertisement transforms from a short-term display into a participatory fan event.
Adapting to Living Conditions and Streaming Workflows Sustains Long-Term Fan Relationships
Solo-Living Survey — A Roughly 3,900-Yen Gap in Monthly Oshikatsu Budgets
The “Solo-Living Research Institute” (Hitorigurashi Kenkyujo) at Able & Partners surveyed 1,501 men and women aged 18 to 49 across Japan. The percentage of respondents actively engaging in oshikatsu was 69.8% among those living alone and 60.6% among those living with their parents. Their average monthly oshikatsu budgets were 16,928 yen and 12,991 yen respectively—a difference of roughly 3,900 yen (Solo-Living Research Institute (in Japanese)).
Furthermore, the survey found that among solo residents, oshikatsu spending tended to rise in step with higher household income. By contrast, among those living with their parents, spending brackets tended not to shift significantly even when income increased. Even within the same oshikatsu demographic, how fans set their budgets differs depending on their living arrangements.
The Oshi Lab Note: Rather than uniformly pushing high-priced merchandise to everyone, there is room to vary pricing and storage footprints to match how fans live. Design your product lineup with real-life living constraints in mind—such as offering premium-tier plans for solo residents, while providing compact items, practical everyday goods, or split-purchase options for fans living with family.
REALITY Studios — Moving into 3D Streaming in Everyday Clothes
REALITY Studios has introduced “Captury,” a markerless motion-capture system. Captury uses multiple cameras to capture full-body and finger movements without markers. It requires no specialized motion-capture suits, no marker attachment, and no finicky advance calibration, and it can capture multiple performers simultaneously (REALITY Studios official announcement (in Japanese)).
Because the system reduces the headcount needed for setup and operations, 3D streams become much easier to run as part of everyday programming rather than being reserved only for special occasions like anniversaries. This implementation was a capital investment aimed not just at making individual broadcasts more lavish, but at increasing the frequency of contact with fans.
The Oshi Lab Note: When comparing production technologies, measure not only peak visual quality, but also the preparation time and staff headcount required per session. Having a workflow that a small team can repeat reliably allows you to increase the number of broadcasts per year and maintain a lasting relationship with your fanbase.
IP & Fandom as Growth Assets
- Cross-Industry Capital & Dev (Sony Music x GungHo)Combining music, anime, and live know-how with game IP and development
- Live-to-Retail XR Systems (Sony x PANDORA)Reusing real-time concert participation mechanics in store promotions
- Empathy & Tenure Tracking (Chiikawa, M!LK)Pairing fandom size and growth rate with emotional resonance and fan tenure
- Participatory Venues & Ads (Nike x ONE PIECE, Pokémon Masters EX)Designing non-purchase takeaways and destination-worthy transit spots
- Lifestyle-Aligned Products (Solo-Living Survey)Adjusting price tiers and storage size to match living arrangements
- High-Frequency 3D Ops (REALITY Studios)Cutting setup time and crew size via markerless capture for regular streams
Source: The Oshi Lab's summary of the article
Editorial Reflections on the Week
Connecting the dots across this week’s news, we can see that IP and fandom are evolving from mere promotional materials into core business assets used to guide investment decisions. Companies have begun measuring fan populations and living arrangements, and applying those findings directly to capital alliances, venue design, and streaming infrastructure.
However, numbers alone do not move fans’ hearts. As seen in the everyday empathy of Chiikawa, the participatory takeaways at the ONE PIECE event, and the beloved Trainer-and-Pokémon pairings in Pokémon Masters EX, the essential prerequisite is never misreading what fans truly cherish. The companies that can continually cycle between quantitative measurement and qualitative understanding will be the ones that nurture long-lasting relationships with IP.
When organizing your own company’s initiatives, please also take a look at our guide to the fundamentals of fan marketing.
Weekly Oshikatsu News brings you a weekly roundup of the intersection between oshikatsu and business. The complete 19-story edition is available now on note (in Japanese). You can browse past issues in our Oshikatsu x News category.
