‘Epic Meal Time’ Picked up by Japan

You would think a country that maintained a foreign policy of isolationalism until the 1850s, which most likely played no small part in that country’s seemingly less-than-conventional (at least by Western standards) dietary habits and entertainment programming would be the birth place of an entertainment series about gonzo food pornographers who create meat-based gastronomic abominations and then devour them on camera. You would think some former substitute high school teacher in Japan and his friends would’ve created Epic Meal Time and then imported the property to American audiences. You would think that, but you’d be wrong. In fact, it’s the exact opposite.

Marc Graser at Variety reports Japanese media conglomerate Yoshimoto Kogyo has partnered with Next Time Productions to bring its uber-popular YouTube cooking show Epic meal Time to Asian audiences. Epic Meal Time Japan will begin production in April and be distributed on digital platforms, while Epic Meal Time host Harley Morenstein and company at Next Time Productions will work with Yoshimoto Kogyo on developing other original properties (to be distributed on the web and TV) for international audiences.

The deal could add some serious revenue streams to Next Time Productions’ accounting books. Currently, the company makes most of its cash by way of its massive YouTube audience (which has accounted for more than 330 million views since Epic Meal Time debuted in September 2010) and partnership with new media studio Revision3 (which is responsible for orchestrating many Epic Meal Time sponsorship deals, including developing the show’s own line of bacon-flavored food products).

This also isn’t the first American and/or Canadian property Yoshimoto Kogyo has brought to Japanese audiences. Graser notes the media company’s partners include IAC’s Notional and Lorne Michaels’ Broadway Video, from which Yoshimoto Kogyo recently imported a Japanese version of Saturday Night Live.