Institute to analyze what makes something an otaku megahit to make new hits

In mid-March, the leading Japanese advertising firm Dentsu is establishing a think tank dedicated to researching passionate fans of idols, anime, and other interests — in other words, otaku. According to the news source Sankei , this is the industry's first research institute on otaku.

The think tank will analyze what becomes a megahit among otaku in order to develop new hits. Sankei's source at Dentsu said that if Dentsu can outline and categorize otaku "tastes," it can develop and anticipate "Made-in-Japan" hits both at home and throughout the world.

According to Dentsu, the stigma attached to the label "otaku" has diminished. A Dentsu survey asked people if they are otaku, and 38% said "I think so" or "I've been called that." The Yano Research Institute posted a report on the Japanese "otaku marketplace" with similar results last year. Sankei cited the examples of the idol group AKB48 with six million-selling CDs and Natsumi Iwasaki's hit business/baseball novel Moshi Kōkō Yakyū no Joshi Manager ga Drucker no "Management" o Yondara (Moshidora).

Dentsu once owned Geneon Entertainment until it transfered its majority ownership to NBC Universal's Universal Pictures International Entertainmnent (UPIE) in 2008. It has sponsored many anime titles over the years, and its recently established Dentsu Entertainment USA subsidiary is now pitching Monsuno and Level 5's Little Battlers eXperience (Danbōru Senki).

Source: Sankei via 0takomu

Update: Typo fixed. Thanks, StormSky92.