Best Video Production Companies in Tokyo (2026)

10 Tokyo video production companies making commercials and branded films in 2026, from listed groups and agency-owned houses to private studios


Introduction

Tokyo’s commercial production market is led by a small group of long-established companies, and the 10 below are the ones with the strongest recent record in commercials and branded film. Many of them work on briefs from Dentsu, Hakuhodo and other agencies, and several also make films, series and music videos.

The past two years brought changes in ownership and structure. Dentsu Creative X and Dentsu Creative Cube merged in January 2025 to form Dentsu Creative Pictures. KANAMEL, the holding company for AOI Pro. and TYO, announced in March 2026 that it was joining the Nippon Television group, after Carlyle bought the business in 2021. At the 66th ACC Tokyo Creativity Awards in October 2026, the Film Grand Prix went to Dentsu Creative Pictures for Kao’s Merit and to Geek Pictures for McDonald’s Japan, and GMO ENGINE took the Film Craft Grand Prix for Zebra.

Every company here has an active Tokyo office in 2026. They were chosen for recent work and for 2025 and 2026 recognition, with post-production houses left to a separate list. The list is unranked, since the right choice depends on the brief, the budget and how a project is commissioned.

The best video production companies in Tokyo

1. Tohokushinsha

Listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange · Akasaka · tfc.co.jp

Tohokushinsha Film Corporation is a broad creative production group whose work runs from commercials and graphics to film, television, dubbing, subtitling and broadcasting. Its group, including Soda Communications, took three Golds, three Silvers and six Bronzes at the 2026 ACC awards.

Recent commercials include “Mac, Mikke. Winter Drive” for McDonald’s Japan, which won a Film Gold, and Honda’s Super-ONE spot. Its Marketing Effectiveness Gold for Kao’s “THE ANSWER” was a joint credit with other production partners. The group also includes Omnibus Japan, so a single supplier can cover much of the finishing and localisation.

2. AOI Pro.

KANAMEL, joining the Nippon Television group · Minato · aoi-pro.com

AOI Pro., founded in 1963, makes about 1,000 advertising films a year and had 401 staff at the end of 2024. Its head office is in Kaigan, Minato, with further sites in Nakameguro and Daikanyama. It won a 2025 ACC Film Grand Prix for Otsuka Pharmaceutical’s Body Mente, “THE DAY #C105”, with Hakuhodo.

Recent advertising work includes Kirin Tanrei Green Label and KDDI’s au. It also co-finances and produces films and makes Netflix titles, so ask how much of the team’s attention is on advertising during your shoot. Clients listed in its 2026 recruitment material include Shiseido, along with agencies such as Dentsu, Hakuhodo and ADK Creative One.

3. TYO

KANAMEL, joining the Nippon Television group · Akasaka · tyo.co.jp

TYO started in 1982 as a television commercial producer and takes its name from Tokyo’s IATA city code. It joined AOI Pro. under a shared holding company in 2017, and the two remain separate companies in the KANAMEL group. In 2021 its advertising business was split into the present TYO Inc.

Its 2026 activity includes corporate communication and new formats. It signed a partnership with Dai Nippon Printing in June 2026 for video-based stakeholder communication, and it released a second AI short film in its “TOKYO STORIES” series at ARTE TOKYO. It also runs the TYO Student Movie Award, now in its seventh year.

4. Taiyo Kikaku

Privately held · Shinbashi · taiyokikaku.com

Taiyo Kikaku was founded in 1968 and describes craft as the centre of its work, covering television commercials, stop-motion, CG and VR/AR content. It runs in-house units including Tech Lab and has two affiliated companies, Parasol and Taiyo Service.

It reported a long list of 2026 ACC results, including Silvers for McDonald’s Japan and Yoshimoto Kogyo and a Bronze for Kirin Ichiban Shibori. Director Takeshi Izumida’s work on the McDonald’s “Mac, Mikke” film made it three straight years of Golds for commercials he directed. The company names Kao, Shiseido, Panasonic, Honda and Uniqlo among its major clients.

5. GMO ENGINE

GMO Internet Group · Shibuya · group.gmo

GMO ENGINE, formerly ENGINE, plans and produces commercials and other video, web and graphic work from the Cerulean Tower in Shibuya. It sits within GMO Internet Group, and commercials have been its main focus.

It won the 2026 ACC Film Craft Grand Prix for Zebra’s brand film “Kaku, Sono Saki no Koto”, through Dentsu. The company has also said it plans to expand into original content and AI-driven video production, and it released the film “We are Gurung” in 2024.

6. P.I.C.S.

IMAGICA GROUP affiliate · Ebisu · pics.tokyo

P.I.C.S., founded in 2000, works across advertising, music video, broadcast, live and out-of-home, and also manages creators. Its past awards include the ACC Grand Prix for Netflix’s “Ningen Marudashi” in 2020 and a Gold at CLIO Sports 2024 for Nissan Formula E’s “VOICE CHARGE”. It reported wins at MTV VMAJ 2026, and its P.I.C.S. TECH team showed a premiere at Ars Electronica 2026.

Recent work includes Otsuka’s Pocari Sweat, Toyota’s Century, POLA and Calbee, with a long run of music videos for artists such as Creepy Nuts, Number_i and Kyary Pamyu Pamyu.

7. Spoon.

Privately held · Jingumae · spoon-inc.co.jp

Spoon. was founded in 1988 and makes commercials alongside films, from an office in Jingumae near Gaienmae station. It reported wins at the 49th Japan Academy Film Prize in January 2026 for “5 Centimeters per Second”, a film it worked on.

At the 2025 ACC awards it took Silvers for JR East’s Suica films in both Film and Film Craft, plus a Film Craft Silver for Tomoaki Baba’s “PRIME”. Its current commercials include Suntory’s Kinmugi and Kewpie’s Tasty Dressing, and it has also worked on Otsuka’s Pocari Sweat.

8. Geek Pictures

Privately held · Aoyama · geekpictures.co.jp

Geek Pictures, founded in 2007, runs commercials, films, dramas, music videos, event production and creator management from Kita-Aoyama, with group companies covering CG, art direction and management. It took nine awards at the 2026 ACC event, including the Grand Prix in Film for McDonald’s Japan’s Tsukimi Burger campaign, a set of vertical shorts and a music video.

Other 2026 ACC winners were Uniqlo and Otsuka Pharmaceutical in Film and Kodansha’s “LIGHT HOLE” in Film Craft, which also won Gold for animation at the CICLOPE Awards. It has offices in Bangkok and India, which may help on regional shoots.

9. Dentsu Creative Pictures

Dentsu Group · Shiodome · dentsu-crp.co.jp

Dentsu Creative Pictures was formed in January 2025 by merging Dentsu Creative X and Dentsu Creative Cube, and had 471 staff at the start of 2026. It traces its roots to Dentsu’s early film unit, which it credits with Japan’s first commercial, and it also has a Kansai office in Osaka. Its services include camera, lighting and studio operations as well as commercial production.

It won the 2026 ACC Grand Prix in Film (TV commercial) for Kao’s Merit, “The Day I First Cooked” and “The Day We Held Hands”. Its work comes mainly through Dentsu and it has no sales team of its own, so most clients reach it through a Dentsu account.

10. ROBOT

IMAGICA GROUP · Ebisu · robot.co.jp

ROBOT Communications marked its 40th anniversary in June 2026. Its shareholder is IMAGICA GROUP, and it works across television commercials, film, CG, animation, web and graphic design, with a management arm for creators.

Its current commercial work includes Suntory’s NOPE, and its long-running “NO MORE Eiga Dorobo” cinema spot remains on screens. On the entertainment side it lists “Godzilla Minus Zero” for TOHO and Netflix’s “Alice in Borderland” season three. In July 2026 it published a statement on shooting-time limits under JAC guidelines, which is useful context when planning a schedule.

What to look for in a Tokyo video production company

Start with how the job will be commissioned. Much of Tokyo’s commercial output comes through agencies, and some producers rely on them almost entirely: Dentsu Creative Pictures, for example, gets most of its work from Dentsu. A brand buying directly should ask early whether the company takes direct briefs and has a team set up for them.

Look at the producer and production manager as closely as the director. Japanese production companies often hold these roles in-house and build careers around them, and they run the budget, schedule and supplier relationships. ACC’s 2025 and 2026 results included producer and production manager awards, which offer a useful starting point.

Check where the work is shot and finished. Some firms have studio, camera and editing resources in the group, while others bring in outside partners for CG, grade and sound. Ask which parts are in-house and whether shooting-hour guidelines affect the schedule. ROBOT’s 2026 statement on JAC guidelines shows this is an active issue for producers.

Overseas clients should also ask who will be their day-to-day contact in English, and how notes will reach the crew. Review rounds across languages and time zones go more smoothly when cuts, comments and approvals are all in one place, with each version clearly labelled.

How Fabric helps video production teams

Fabric gives a production company one workspace for its footage, documents and client feedback. Commercials teams juggle treatments, boards, rushes and cut versions across several jobs at once, and the page for commercials teams shows how that work fits into one place.

Rushes and project files sit in Fabric’s cloud drive, where files stream on demand and take no local disk space. Editors can open heavy files without a full download, and shared team folders hold the latest versions.

Interviews, reference films and recorded meetings can be transcribed with clickable timestamps. Search then works by meaning across documents, images and transcribed media, and results jump to the right timestamp, which helps when someone is looking for one line in a day’s footage.

Client review works through shared links. Share a cut with the client as a commenter, and they can leave timestamped comments on video and audio without signing up, add a drawing on a video frame to mark up a shot, or draw on stills and attach a comment. The team marks each comment completed as it is dealt with, so a round of notes works like a checklist. There is more on this in the review and approval use case.

Finished work can be published as a web page, which is view-only with optional download. Link analytics shows when each named recipient opened a link, how many times and for how long.

Link analytics is included on Pro and Team plans. See plans for teams.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best video production company in Tokyo?

The right company depends on the brief. On 2026 recognition, Dentsu Creative Pictures and Geek Pictures won the ACC Film Grand Prix, GMO ENGINE won the Film Craft Grand Prix, and both the Tohokushinsha group and KANAMEL (the parent of AOI Pro. and TYO) reported several Golds.

What happened to Dentsu Creative X?

Dentsu Creative X merged with Dentsu Creative Cube in January 2025, and the combined company now operates as Dentsu Creative Pictures. It is wholly owned by Dentsu Group and based in the Dentsu head office building in Higashi-Shimbashi.

What happened to AOI TYO Holdings?

AOI TYO Holdings changed its name to KANAMEL in April 2024. AOI Pro. and TYO continue as separate companies under it, and KANAMEL announced in March 2026 that it was joining the Nippon Television group.

Can a brand hire a Tokyo production company directly?

Yes, for many of them, though much commercial work is still placed through agencies. Dentsu Creative Pictures takes most of its work through Dentsu, so it is the clearest exception on this list. Ask at the first conversation how the company prefers to work.

Do these companies also handle post-production?

Several have editing, CG or sound resources in their groups, and Tohokushinsha works with Omnibus Japan within its group. For specialist finishing, see our list of post-production companies in Tokyo.

Related lists

Video production in other cities: New York · London · Los Angeles · Chicago · Toronto

More in Tokyo: Creative agencies · Advertising agencies · Post-production · Editing · Animation · VFX

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