ALiNK Internet, INC.

Business Details

Operates the specialized weather forecast media "tenki.jp" and "tenki.jp Mountain Weather" as a joint business with the Japan Weather Association (a general incorporated foundation). The majority of revenue is composed of programmatic advertising (ad network), with advertising revenue collected and consolidated by the Japan Weather Association and then distributed to the company as a revenue share. The company is primarily responsible for site/app design, system operation and maintenance, and advertising trading desk operations. Starting this fiscal period, the company is promoting a shift toward an LTV model, setting paid membership metrics and per-user revenue metrics as KPIs.

Recent Overview

Both revenue and profit declined year-on-year, but the shift to the LTV model is progressing as planned

In the first quarter of FY2027 (ending February 2027) (March to May 2026), the tenki.jp Business posted revenue of ¥139 million (down 5.5% year-on-year) and segment profit of ¥60 million (down 8.4% year-on-year). Total PV count declined slightly to 1.38 billion PV (95.2% year-on-year). Meanwhile, continued improvement in rankings on major search engines led tenki.jp's standalone PV count to exceed plan. On the cost side, the company is promoting the acquisition of new personnel, expanded use of AI, and in-house production through reduced outsourcing. Both the paid membership metric and per-user revenue metric are tracking according to plan, and the transition to the LTV model is progressing steadily.

Key Products

Growth Drivers

• Transition of the revenue structure toward an LTV model centered on a paid membership base built around "tenki.jp Membership" (with paid membership metrics and per-user revenue metrics set as KPIs)
• tenki.jp's standalone PV count exceeding plan due to continued improvement in rankings on major search engines
• Continued expansion of the programmatic advertising market (Japan's domestic internet advertising expenditure in 2024 reached ¥3,651.7 billion (Note: figure represents ¥3,651,700 million), up 109.6% year-on-year)
• Ad tuning at the 0.01 yen level through an in-house trading desk for ad network advertising
• Improvement of cost structure through full-scale AI utilization for operational efficiency and a shift toward in-house production with reduced outsourcing
• Development of new services leveraging AI and big data based on the "Weather 3.0" concept

Risks

• Structural decline in search-driven traffic due to the rise of AI search and weather data displays built into search engines and browsers (a decline in PV per user was confirmed again this period)
• Risk of fluctuation in PV count depending on weather conditions such as precipitation and the number of typhoons
• Risk of delayed response to rapid changes in ad network technology and new ad tech developments
• Dependency risk related to revenue sharing and business decision-making arising from the joint business structure with the Japan Weather Association
• Risk of revenue concentration with Google LLC (accounting for 35.2% of revenue in the results for FY2025 ending February 2025)
• Risk of short-term profit pressure from upfront investment (talent acquisition, AI utilization) associated with the transition to the LTV model