Sluggish Paid-Content Revenue Due to Declining Membership and the Absence of a Major Hit Content Offering

「主力のデジタルコンテンツ及びLINEチャット占いの低迷により減収。新たな制作基盤の運用開始が遅延し、新規コンテンツの梃入れが遅延していること、個人アプリ開発者によるAI占いが代替サービス化し、相談件数が減少。」

「For the fiscal year ended August 2026, revenue fell 13.9% from the previous fiscal year to approximately ¥1.6 billion, as poor performance in the fortune-telling business coincided with higher upfront investment costs.」

「Efforts to revive the new content were insufficient. As a result, the impact on content under operation was also limited, and both revenue and earnings declined year on year.」

「However, in addition to weak usage trends for our core fortune-telling content and chat fortune-telling services, expenses came ahead of revenue due to higher recruitment and personnel expenses associated with hiring to strengthen the Data and Technology Business, as well as higher outsourcing expenses related to system development.」

「As new horoscopes content failed to produce hits, recruitment and personnel expenses increased as the Company built the necessary structure, resulting in year-on-year declines in both revenue and earnings.」

「Revenue from telephone and chat horoscopes and the Company's own media increased, but revenue declined year on year during the interim consolidated accounting period because establishing a system for producing one new title each month took longer than expected.」

「The Company's own media performed well, and revenue from telephone and chat horoscopes, which had temporarily shown a downward trend, recovered following a review of operations. However, although the Company reduced the number of new releases per year from 12 to 5 and worked to establish a production structure that would improve the quality of each site, the new content failed to produce hits, resulting in a year-on-year decline in revenue.」

「Although new content performed poorly, the Company's own media performed well, while a review of operations, including the introduction of consulting services, restored revenue from telephone and chat horoscopes. As a result, revenue was flat year on year.」

「New content and the one-to-one horoscopes service by telephone and chat, which had increased revenue for several years, were somewhat weak during the cumulative second quarter. However, strong performance from the Company's own media and efforts to strengthen the operation of profitable digital content for each distribution channel resulted in a slight year-on-year increase in revenue.」

「Efforts to strengthen the operation of profitable content, together with stable revenue from one-to-one horoscopes services by telephone and chat, resulted in a year-on-year increase in revenue.」

「However, new horoscopes content failed to become a hit and was unable to offset the impact of ISPs suspending or otherwise reducing distribution of horoscopes content」

「During the cumulative second quarter of the fiscal year, revenue was affected by ISPs' suspension or reduction of horoscopes content distribution, weak performance from new content, and a declining revenue trend associated with the long-term operation of existing content.」

「Several new titles became moderate hits, while thorough efforts to strengthen and improve the efficiency of the operating structure, centered on hit content from the previous fiscal year, extended content lifecycles compared with the past. As a result, revenue and earnings increased year on year, mainly for content aimed at mobile carriers.」

「Revenue declined on some distribution platforms due to ISPs' policies of reducing distribution of horoscopes content. However, several new titles released during the third quarter became moderate hits, and efforts to strengthen operations resulted in year-on-year increases in revenue and earnings, mainly for content aimed at mobile carriers.」

「Efforts to strengthen content operations extended content lifecycles, resulting in a year-on-year increase in revenue.」

「Efforts to strengthen content operations began to extend the lifecycle of each hit title, while traffic directed from the Company's own media also contributed, resulting in a year-on-year increase in revenue.」

「Efforts to recruit prominent and highly appealing fortune-tellers led to the creation of hit content from the third quarter onward, led by content featuring the clairvoyant comedian Sequence Hayatomo, resulting in a year-on-year increase in revenue.」

「Content supervised by a prominent and highly appealing fortune-teller became a hit, while the expansion of paid content on the Company's own website also proved effective, resulting in a slight year-on-year increase in revenue.」

「Revenue declined because no hit content was produced among the new content, which is an important part of the business's revenue model, and this weakness was compounded by other factors.」

「The horoscopes content service introduced measures including enhanced recommendation functions and a common points program, and secured a certain level of profit through thorough daily analysis and operations. However, both revenue and earnings declined year on year.」

「The horoscopes content service secured a certain level of profit through thorough daily analysis and operating measures, but revenue declined year on year, resulting in a decline in earnings as well.」

「The decline in members for Web browser content led to a year-on-year decrease in revenue, while earnings were flat.」

「In the horoscopes content service, the Company continued to implement measures to improve usability, including developing and implementing recommendation functions. However, the decline in members and shorter content lifespans continued to weigh on results, and both revenue and earnings declined.」

「During the fiscal year, the Company remained heavily reliant on ISPs and carriers, and revenue declined due to the decrease in members and other factors. The sales downturn appears to be bottoming out」

「The Company is developing systems and adding functions to improve user retention and accessibility to various services. Although these initiatives have not yet contributed to revenue, the downturn in sales appears to be bottoming out.」

「The recovery in revenue from the horoscopes content business was slower than expected. Together with a decline in the number of titles operated by subsidiary ルイスファクトリー and lower profitability resulting from the long-term operation of content, this caused the Group's revenue to decline year on year.」

「Revenue from the One to One Marketing business, including direct telephone consultations, and from the media business increased year on year. However, the Group's revenue declined year on year due to sluggish growth in members and usage-based charging rates in the horoscopes content business, as well as a decline in the number of titles operated by subsidiary ルイスファクトリー.」

「The One to One Marketing business generated continuous and stable revenue growth, centered on direct telephone consultations. In addition, measures aimed at improving cost efficiency in advertising for the horoscopes content business and improving retention among existing users, primarily through diversifying payment methods, proved effective, resulting in increases in both revenue and earnings.」

「The latter continued to generate stable revenue growth. The former, however, posted lower revenue and earnings because the content market as a whole continued to shift toward freemium models, resulting in a gradual but ongoing decline in membership fees and usage-based charges for monthly subscription content, while increased advertising expenses failed to produce results during the cumulative second quarter of the fiscal year.」

「However, monthly subscription content, whose main source of revenue is membership fees, continued to be affected by the decline in members, resulting in lower revenue and earnings for the horoscopes content business as a whole.」

「For the current consolidated fiscal year, revenue and earnings fell below the previous year due to declining membership and sluggish customer acquisition for existing fortune-telling content, as well as the shortened life cycles of IP collaboration apps resulting from changes in advertising placement rules under carrier policies. Sales in the Group's fortune-telling content business were ¥1,755 million, down 4.8% year on year, and operating profit was ¥500 million, down 18.0%.」

「Recovery in sales from restructuring the customer acquisition model and earnings structure did not materialise during the first three quarters of the current consolidated cumulative period. In addition to declining membership and flat customer acquisition for existing fortune-telling content, the shortened life cycles of IP collaboration apps due to changes in advertising placement rules under carrier policies resulted in lower sales and lower profit.」

「In existing fortune-telling content, the decline in sales resulting from customer acquisition falling below expectations exceeded the sales increase from telephone fortune-telling and collaboration apps with other companies' IP, resulting in lower sales and lower profit for the fortune-telling content business as a whole.」

「As a result, sales in the fortune-telling content business during the first quarter of the current consolidated cumulative period were ¥429 million, down 10.9% year on year, and operating profit was ¥146 million, down 13.7%.」

「Due to the decline in membership and the absence of a major hit, sales fell significantly below the initial forecast, resulting in lower sales and lower profit.」

「Subscription revenue was weak due to a decline in membership in subscription-based content and the absence of a major hit, resulting in lower sales and lower profit.」