COMPANY · SINCE 1995
Freed Inc. - 30 years of Japan TV research, in one Tokyo office.
Freed Inc. is a Tokyo-based Japan TV research company founded in 1995. Long-standing relationships with NHK, Japan's commercial broadcasters, ad agencies and brand owners. Five specialist desks plus AI research.
Founder's message
"Japan TV research is not search. It is conversation. We have been making that case since 1995."
For 30 years, Freed has been a research partner for the people who make Japanese television. We were on the ground when satellite eclipsed terrestrial, when streaming eclipsed satellite, and when AI started writing first drafts of research notes. Through every one of those shifts, what mattered was the same: a researcher in a room with a person, listening hard, taking notes, going back. Producing the trail of evidence that ends up on screen.
AI helps. We use it. But the research stack we sell is built on 30 years of field work, 3,847+ interviews on file, and a habit of going back to the source.
Akihiro Kimura
Representative Director, Freed Inc.
Company profile
| Company name | Freed Inc. (株式会社フリード) |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1995 |
| Representative Director | Akihiro Kimura (木村 明弘) |
| Headquarters | Bureau Kagurazaka, Kagurazaka 6-65, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-0825, Japan |
| Phone | +81-3-5226-8855 |
| Business | Japan TV research, production research, talent casting, fixer / coordinator services, AI research and applied AI for media production |
| Banking | Available on request |
| Information security | Operations aligned with ISO/IEC 27001 |
| Working languages | Japanese, English, French, Mandarin, Korean, Spanish, German |
History
- 1995Founded in Tokyo. First wave of TV programme research contracts with national broadcasters.
- 2002People-research desk formalised. Centenarian-interview practice begins.
- 2008Medical-supervisor network reaches 200 names.
- 2014International coordination desk opens. First English-only briefs accepted.
- 201853+ country coordinator network milestone.
- 2022Freed Lab launches - applied AI research for media production.
- 20242,400+ programmes supported lifetime to date.
- 2026Corporate site renewed; international form launched.
Selected clients
NHK; Japan's national commercial broadcasters (TBS, Fuji TV, NTV, TV Asahi, TV Tokyo); leading ad agencies; brand owners across consumer goods, finance, healthcare and manufacturing; international public broadcasters and streaming studios.
Specific names available under NDA.
Get in touch
For Japan TV research briefs, fixer requests or international coordination, send a brief through the international form. We respond within 24 hours JST.