Japanese Companies Adapt to AI Advertising Revolution

Sep 15, 2025 | News On Japan

TOKYO - CyberAgent, Japan’s largest internet advertising agency, reported year-on-year declines in both revenue and profit in its third-quarter results for the fiscal year ending September 2025, announced in August. A revenue drop is unusual for the advertising business and underscores a turning point for the company.

Management is banking on an ‘AI-first’ approach, shifting from designer intuition to production guided by advanced AI analysis tools.

Behind the weakness is a growing move by major clients to bring ad operations in-house. The trend is accelerating globally as leading platforms such as Google and Meta strengthen AI-powered ad tools that make internal execution easier.

Competition in internet advertising has intensified. Dentsu Group’s internet ad revenue rose 14.3% year on year to 459.0 billion yen last year, putting it ahead of CyberAgent in the domestic market. Dentsu’s strength lies in proposals that integrate online and offline placements, as more advertisers run TV commercials alongside internet video ads on services such as YouTube and subscription streamers.

To regain momentum, CyberAgent is pushing ‘AI first’ in creative production. Monoclam, the unit that produces most of the company’s web ads, uses an in-house AI tool that predicts performance before delivery. Product image ads are split into layers—such as composition and background—and the AI scores multiple candidates, selecting high-scoring elements at each layer. The final ad combines the top-scoring parts.

This method focuses on measurable effectiveness rather than locking down a final look with the client at the outset. By optimizing for quick iteration, output per designer has jumped from about 30 pieces a month to roughly 220.

The approach now extends to video. At the Kiwami AI Odaiba Studio, opened in 2023, large screens and AI-generated backgrounds enable rapid shooting. After each cut, the system predicts performance versus currently running ads; if a score is low, the team adjusts backgrounds or camera work on the spot and stitches together only the high-scoring cuts for the finished spot.

Whether AI can consistently lift results remains the key question, but CyberAgent is wagering that speed, scale, and data-driven creative will be central to winning back advertisers.

Source: テレ東BIZ

Takaichi Gets 5 Hours Sleep for 'First Time in a While'

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has drawn criticism over a social media post describing five hours of sleep as a rare luxury, as the extended Diet session prepares to begin Upper House debate on a controversial bill to establish secondary capitals outside Tokyo.

Japan Introduces Stricter Penalties for Drunk Driving

Japan began applying a new numerical alcohol threshold for dangerous driving offenses on July 21, introducing a clearer standard for cases involving impaired driving that could lead to fatal accidents.

Mount Fuji Filmed From a Helicopter

Breathtaking 4K footage filmed from a helicopter offers a sweeping aerial view of Mount Fuji and its majestic surrounding landscape.

Japan Scrambles for Oil

A covert network of shuttle tankers is carrying crude through the increasingly dangerous Strait of Hormuz as renewed fighting between the United States and Iran disrupts shipping and raises concerns over how Japan will secure the oil it needs.

Russia Calls Japan-Ukraine Drone Cooperation a Clear Hostile Act

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko has criticized moves by Japanese and Ukrainian companies to cooperate on drone technology, warning that such ties would be regarded by Moscow as a "clear hostile act."

MEDIA CHANNELS

MORE Web3 NEWS

AI Reshapes Japan’s Job Market

Japan’s major companies are showing growing caution toward hiring new graduates as artificial intelligence begins replacing routine work, while survey results suggest that older employees, nonregular workers and even managers could also face mounting pressure by 2030.

Tokyo AI Festival Draws 40,000

More than 40,000 engineers, business leaders and technology enthusiasts gathered at Makuhari Messe in June for AWS Summit Japan 2026, one of Japan’s largest artificial intelligence events, where new systems included an AI platform that has cut the time FC Tokyo staff spend selecting match photographs to roughly one-third of the previous level.