Forum - View topicINTEREST: Southeast Asia, India Fans Disproportionately Affected by Pirate Site KissAnime Closure
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roxybudgy
Posts: 132 Location: Western Australia |
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I wonder if it's a cultural thing...
I was born in Malaysia, and while I didn't live there for long, the impression I got was that noone really bats an eye at piracy (or corruption for that matter) and it's just something that everyone does. Pirate VCDs were on display in plain sight at nigh bazaars, and even my financially-well-off relatives opted to purchase these illegal discs over the much more expensive legit releases. My dad still has shelves full of bootleg movies, TV shows and software that he purchased in Malaysia (we now live in Australia, and prior to COVID he would frequently return to visit). Whereas in Australia, we did have some Asians sell bootleg discs at flea markets, but it was policed more thoroughly and the sellers had a real risk of being caught and charged. Or look at how gold-selling and cheating seems much more rampant amongst gamers from certain countries... The article touches on how the respondents from India and South-East Asia skew towards the younger end of the scale. It reminds me of when I used to play MapleStory and the impression I got from the community is that they are much more accepting of buying gold from gold-sellers, it just wasn't looked down on, whereas the communities for just about any other MMO I've played general hate gold sellers. I think this has to do with MapleStory's players being younger. I've said it many times before whenever the topic of piracy comes up, but I find it super cringe when people try and justify their piracy by making lame excuses about things not being licenced in their country, or legit releases are too expensive, or not liking the format or way something is translated... Be honest, the reason you pirate is because it's easy and there are practically no consequences for it, that's why I do it. Anime is not a human right, you are not entitled to it, noone owes it to you. |
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TarsTarkas
 Posts: 5945 Location: Virginia, United States |
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I wouldn't apply lazy, cheap, or entitled, to certain countries where the titles are not licensed in them. It's like saying you can't watch Star Wars, Star Trek, or the Avengers because it is not licensed in their country. One answer does not work for every nation. For some western nations you are most certainly correct. But it isn't fair to paint every other nation with the same brush. The anime have-nots will most certainly view the anime haves as being 'holier than thou' in this situation. |
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H. Guderian
Posts: 1255 |
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Seems like I case of "I got mine, so why don't people just move to where I am?" Didn't the leader in the Philippines are one point get angry that Voltes V existed? When an actual dictator is squashing access to foreign media and some suburbanites don't care because they want everyone to do as they do.
This is simple. Do you, as a fan, financially support the industry? Do you enjoy fanart but not fansubs? The idea of having a single subscription and constantly cancel it to have one sub at a time is still trying to cheat the creators on money and maximize consumption. Some people who pirate one or two items wind up giving more money to the industry and don't get all haughty about it. |
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Dragon_Kaiser
Posts: 119 |
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I really hate this type of argument anime is a luxury not a necessity if you’re currently in a position where your finances have took a serious hit because of this pandemic or for some other reason. Or you just have a job that isn’t well paying and you’re mad or sad that some pirate site was taken down and you can’t afford to pay for a streaming service. Then you really need to take a look at yourself and get your priorities straight and that’s not being elitist that’s giving genuine advice. How about instead of making this about you and taking some weird moral high ground about pirating when you’re not on any high ground and are just making excuses as to why you pirate and will continue to pirate because some random person on the internet is hurting my feeling because I use pirate sites. What a load of bull how about you just own up to pirating and stop making excuses just own it like a lot of other people do. Because not matter what the people you say that shame people who pirate are still going to judge regardless of what you say, so stop trying to justify it by making excuses, but I know you’ll keep making excuses like I’m going to keep pirating because random Internet person hurt my feelings. |
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar  Posts: 16966 |
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So it's elitism to expect people to pay for something if it is available to them? I don't disagree times are tough for many. I don't disagree that even just the $235 a year is a decent amount. However, to be perfectly blunt my personal opinion is deal with it. The fact is these companies are making a product. A product that needs to make money so the company can in turn make more of that product. Just because you want something does not mean you are entitled to it. THAT is the elitism. Thinking that just because you like anime you are entitled to watch all that you want for free, and when you want it, is elitism. I want a Ferrari, but I can't afford it. I guess I should go to them and just take one right? I want that super fancy gem stone D20 set for my D&D campaign. I can't afford it though because I gotta pay my cell phone bill. I'l just go take it for free though because I like D&D. This is no different and never has been. Just because you want something does mean you automatically get it. It's called the real world. In it you have to work and balance your funds to be able to pay bills and have extra for hobbies and luxury items. You also have to balance which hobbies you put money into on any given month. Maybe this month it's anime and manga, next month it's models or snowboarding equipment. Even more so when funds are limited, like now. I'm sorry but if you've lost a job or wages due to covid or other things then buying anime or any other hobby should not be your priority. It should be paying bills and keeping yourself going. That's how it works for most people here in the real world. We'll ignore the rich and famous 2% of the world. Is it always fair? Nope. Does it suck? Sure. But oh well that's life. If the people who use this sort of excuse to pirate anime, or any other digital based product, tried that with a physical product they would be arrested for theft. If you tried that excuse at Best Buy or the grocery store or anywhere else with a physical location you best run out the door real fast before the cops show up. The idea that because it's a digital medium it is somehow not theft, or it's excusable, is just ignorant. People worked to make that product and once again you're back at the concept that for a company to keep making more of it they have to make a profit to be able to pay people, and buy materials, equipment, etc. to make more. Just because you live in an area where you have no real access to legal means of watching anime does not mean you're entitled to steal it and watch it either. That is still not a valid justification. Again, just because you like something or want it that does not mean you're entitled to it. Now for me personally yes I do think it is more understandable, compared to those of us who do clearly have legal options available to us. I can at least understand it without condoning it. The simple fact is however that the majority of anime fans live in areas where legal means are available. Trying to claim pirating helps companies or any other such argument (when you do have the legal means to watch and obtain anime) is just window dressing to excuse the fact you don't want to pay for it. |
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GVman
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I have the bone to pick with the whole, "Anime isn't a right," argument. As a librarian, I feel everyone has a right to entertainment. I don't blame people for not necessarily thinking of their local library (or maybe even going as far as to assume the field is dying out); that's because y'all make enough to live decent. As such, you never really need to visit the library for anything. My clientele doesn't get to do that. While upper-crust cities and neighborhoods are trying to figure out how to use their libraries in new, inventive ways, my library gets used for:
1. Entertainment. 2. Internet/Computer Access 3. Printing. 4. Air Conditioning Work isn't the only valuable thing to do with one's time; play's huge, too. Many patrons still visit us for our ever-expanding DVD collection. Why? They don't have money for Netflix. A lot of playin' cost money these days, and we're here to try and help with that. Also, I can't sling too much crap at the piracy sites that aren't out there trying to make money, especially when the costs for digital content in the library field is just asinine. Publishers hate that we exist and share the books we buy, as they feel like library checkouts are lost sales. (Just look at what Macmillan has been trying to do here recently.) You can't view library checkouts that way, especially not when many patrons barely have money to feed and clothe themselves. Anyhow, the line of thinking that every use without a purchase is theft has led to some interesting developments. Content services like OverDrive have ridiculous prices on the library end. eBooks run anywhere from $40-$80, and eaudiobooks tend to run $100+ for us. For physical content, we pay roughly 50% MSRP on average because we buy from wholesalers. You'd think digital would be cheaper, but you'd be absolutely incorrect. And don't even get me started on pay-as-you-go services... And we own none of this. If the publisher decides to take something down from OverDrive, we lose it even though we paid for it. Ain't digital content grand? It's one of the biggest damn scams that exists these days, and we're chained to it because of a small but every growing group of patrons that prefers digital content. Pirating licensed stuff isn't great at all, but I can't help but feel like I have more in common with those folks than the publishers. Much like a library checkout, you can't equate pirated digital copies with lost sales. Just because someone pirates something doesn't mean they care to ever pay for it. I've tried to make this as coherent as possible, but it's late for me and I couldn't sleep last night. Anyhow, to put a pin in this, I don't know if there'll ever be a good answer to digital piracy. EDIT: It doesn't do the companies amd creators any good, but it's not something you can really call theft, either. *I think this goes without saying, but none of what I said is meant to apply to those ad-fueled shithole pirate streaming sites. **After a good night's sleep, I realized some people might think that I'm referring to some anime and manga publishers in my complaints, and I'm not. While we buy a good bit of manga and a little bit of anime for the collection, most of the econtent I refer to is big name stuff from the huge publishers in the US. Last edited by GVman on Fri Aug 21, 2020 7:54 am; edited 2 times in total |
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Cutiebunny
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Do you say the same thing to people that are looking for better quality housing, school districts, food and things of that nature? Because I could easily argue that better location, better schools and better food are also luxuries as well; Nobody really needs to live in a low crime area when you can lock your doors, nobody needs to be able to easily enroll in all top tier schools nor do they need organic, minimally processed foods in order to survive. And if you do believe that only the best should go to those that can afford it, then your blunt opinion, as you've called it, is incredibly callous. And if you decide to argue that certain things, like better food, are necessities, I'd be more than happy to point out that no one really, ever, needs kombucha....although some brands are certainly tasty 
I don't argue that we live in an economy where money is used to purchase goods and services and that people use their funds as they choose. But I do argue that shaming people for their choices is not how you motivate them to change, especially in a case like this when, albeit legally dubious, ways of watching anime, network programing, movies, listening to newly released music, etc. exist. Comparing this to the inability to purchase a Ferrari is not a fair comparison. Most people aren't breaking into car dealerships and wealthy homes to steal cars. Stealing a luxury car is grand theft whereas, for 99.9% of the people who do consume pirated media, no charges will ever be filed.
The big difference between cars and pirated media is that one is a tangible object and the other is not. If I go into a car dealership and drive off in a car, I am physically stealing an object that is worth well more than the price of one (or ten) illegally downloaded media. Comparatively, if I steal a box of crackers from a grocery store, it may be equivalent in price to the piece of entertainment I stole, but if I were stealing the crackers out of necessity, few courts in the US would convict someone who was doing it out of hunger. In short, the difference is that I would be charged with grand theft if I stole a car. I can't think of any recent cases off the top of my head where anyone was charged for illegally downloading a movie, song or episode in any quantity. And if we're going to accept that real people are being hurt by illegally downloaded media and should therefore be held accountable for that damage, then we also need to hold those that steal food accountable because real people worked hard to make that food, and stealing it, regardless of hunger, still hurts those that produce and sell food. This is quite the slippery slope.. Now, you can argue that just because downloading illegally obtained media content is not frowned upon by the law or society in general, that that does not make it right. And you're right. Crime is crime, though I'm sure you would probably accept that certain crimes are more serious than others. But I can't see things being as black and white as you'd like them to be. Maybe they were unaware that they were hurting the industry. Maybe they were a minor at the time they watched an illegal copy. Maybe they watched fansubs during the "Send a tape to a fansubber for a VHS tape full of anime goodness" days in the 1990s. Holding it against them, even years down the road, strikes me as the wrong way to go about changing things. Advertisement, education and even just plain support of the notion of supporting the industry as much as you're able to support it should be encouraged.
You are basing this assumption on what, exactly? Sales? The amount of people that log in to this website? And to what extent do you consider 'legal means are available' - A handful of localized dubs of popular favorites like Pokémon and Saint Seiya? I feel that it is more accurate to say the opposite - The vast majority of the world, apart from North America, Australia and certain Asian & European countries, might have some legally available titles, but that does not mean that it has even a fraction of the legally available titles that those in countries like Japan have. The fact of the matter is that there is no data from regions like Africa, the Middle East, etc. regarding the amount of anime fans there nor how much media they consume. So, to say that the vast majority of anime fans have access to the same amount of anime/manga is extremely misleading. I get that this is an anime centered website and that your bills are being paid by companies peddling their localized media, so the chances of you even publicly agreeing with me are slim. And, that's fine. But, I don't think things are as black and white as you are painting them to be. And I'll let the person who has never, whether knowingly or not, used illegally distributed content be the judge. |
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Alan45
 Village Elder Posts: 10033 Location: Virginia |
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Cutiebunny Wrote:
Moderators are volunteers and receive no money from ANN. |
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
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For starters I visit my library weekly. My mother worked, among other jobs, for the county library system where we live. So I know a bunch of librarians and am familiar with library systems as an organization. As for the idea of everyone having a right to entertainment, I would agree actually. However, your own post proves that downloading or pirating anime are not required to have said entertainment. People can still watch regular tv. If they don't have that, or internet access, there is the library. Many use my local branch for internet service or to borrow dvds. There are options out there to get "entertainment" for little or no cost. The issue is that's not the entertainment they WANT. They WANT what the library for example probably does not have. Or not much of at least. That again goes back to the idea of it being a luxury item. There is need, and there is want. I NEED food. I do not need super expensive lobster tails or steak every day. You can get quality food for much less despite what others might think. I NEED transportation to get to work to make money. I WANT the fast sports car. Same thing applies here. People should be able to have very cheap or free entertainment. It does enrich people's lives and provides balance between work and other things. A life with just work is not fun or enriching. However, that doesn't mean you simply get anything you want for free. There are also county run events. Local events. Free museums. Parks. Etc. The point being there are other forms of free, or super low cost, "entertainment" out there beyond the specific item you simply want.
You're comparing apples to oranges here. Anime is a luxury item. It is entertainment. it is not a necessity. You're trying to equate social issues, or necessities to live, to an entertainment item. Sorry but that just doesn't work. Food is a necessity, anime is not. Better school districts or a lower crime area are also not entertainment items.
My bills are paid by a full time job, not from being a moderator. We don't get paid anything. Don't even get a Christmas card. We're barely considered "staff" to be honest. We're volunteers who have to take time away from our actual personal lives to do this. Instead of playing a game with my gf, watching a movie, or doing something fun I have to make time to wade through reports, shitty posts, and spambots. I also personally couldn't give 2 shits about who does or does not advertise here, or is/is not a sponsor. My opinions are my opinions simple as that. I can say with 100% guarantee though that such things as sponsors or advertisers don't influence news articles or columnists/reviewer opinions either. There has never been some sort of agenda here in any facet. Despite what some like to say over and over. Normally just because they don't like the opinion of someone else so obviously that other person has to be a paid shill. As for being more black and white or not, you can agree or not that's your choice. Doesn't affect me either way. |
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FilthyCasual
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a_Bear_in_Bearcave
Posts: 550 Location: Poland |
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Exactly. The comparison with stealing from grocery is obvious nonsense, since piracy doesn't steal a copy of the movie from anyone. The cost in is a lost potential purchase: if we compare a world without piracy and with piracy, would the pirate purchase it in first world? If probably yes, then the act of piracy may have caused a lost purchase and therefore a loss to the copyright owners. Obviously people who can't legally watch can't cause a lost purchase, and neither can people without money, though many people who pirate can easily afford computer and internet connection, so the claim can be doubtful, especially since in US you have plenty of options for temporary or free watching. Still, for people who lost jobs and have to quarantine alone while pinching pennies, I can see this as a mental health issue I also disagree with the argument about libraries, that other free entertainment options means anime is luxury. Most libraries have every classic or famous book available. A library with only 200 cheap romance books would be still acceptable according to the Psycho 101 definition, because you still have some options and Dostoyevsky is just a luxury. You could close every museum and park except one, and it still would be ok. The goal for libraries, and Linux and other free software, and free museums, is the - somewhat socialist I guess - goal of providing people with as much as possible for no cost to them. In that sense, if theoretically we could have ensure anyone in the world who could and would afford to buy a copy of certain movie would buy it, we then could broadcast this movie for everyone in the world and this would be both fair to creators and great for humanity. This is where I agree with GVman post as I understand it - ideally everyone, even people without means, should have option to watch anime, just as everyone should be able to read a given book in the library, even if they can't afford books. If someone honestly pirates due to lack of money, there is no moral supremacy in refraining from watching for free something you can't buy anyway. Still, as a Pole, most of the people in the US don't know how good they have and I bet could pirate less. We pay for Crunchyroll, Netflix, and Amazon Prime for our household and I still have to pirate half of the shows I want to watch, while many Americans can use free Crunchyroll account to view probably more shows than I can for hard cash. |
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AkumaChef
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I think the real compicating factor with discussing piracy of digital media is that we honestly don't know what the effect of piracy is on the industry.
I think that we can all probably agree that the notion of 1 download = 1 lost sale is completely ludicrous as there are plenty of people who pirate anime (or music, movies, games, etc.) who would not purchase the work if they were unable to pirate. Yet on the other hand I think we also probably agree that there are people who would purchase a work if piracy wasn't so easy and the chance of being caught or punished is minuscule. There's also people who use piracy as a means to check out new titles before deciding to buy them. I know that I used VHS fansubs and later, torrents, for this purpose before modern streaming became a thing. I own hundreds of LDs imported from Japan for megabucks simply because a friend showed me the fansubs, I loved the show, and importing expensive Japanese media was the only option for getting a high-quality copy back in those days. I can say the same for hundreds of physical CDs and LPs I tracked down after pirating the MP3s on my college campus network. On the other hand, I pirated plenty of PS1 games while purchasing relatively few because I simply wasn't all that big into gaming, so I can certainly see both sides. The problem is that I don't think anyone has numbers on which of these groups dominate. Obviously pirate sites get tons of traffic, but does anyone know how many of those people end up buying the works, or merch, because of that piracy? Until there is some kind of study done the topic will be forever muddied because of this. I agree 100% with Pyscho that piracy is, in fact, a form of stealing and it's wrong. That said, I fully understand why people do it as I've done it myself, and the fact that piracy has some benefits in addition to its negatives make it a topic that will be endlessly debated. |
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Zalis116
Moderator
 Posts: 6902 Location: Kazune City |
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So basically, not only does much of the world expect / rely on US businesses to serve them legally, they rely on the English-language piracy scene to fill their needs as well. Perhaps these long-standing and growing communities would find it a worthy investment to create streaming sites in their own languages -- such sites wouldn't interfere with English-speaking markets that have plenty of legal options, and they'd be more able to fly under the radar of anti-piracy enforcement. I know Russia has a pretty robust translation scene, whether it's directly from Japanese or retranslating from English. Certain subtitle script archives tend to have Russian subs for almost anything that's been translated in English, aside from a few less-popular Magical Girl series like Tomorrow's Nadja. If there is so much unmet demand for anime in these underserved areas, why don't we see legitimate companies that're actually IN those areas forming to meet that demand? Is there truly demand for anime as a paid-for, commercial product, or is it just demand for anime as low-risk free entertainment? Again, if these other languages/regions had their own pirate streaming sites, they could potentially take the same path CR did and go legal. I don't begrudge anime viewers in underserved areas for pirating what isn't legally available to them, but at the same time, if they want more content to be available to them legally, they need to support whatever options do exist, whether that's local services trying to get off the ground, or US companies offering some titles in their region. After all, CR didn't have a thousand titles for the US when it first went legal -- it was able to expand its offerings because people supported them and bought into the service. If US companies see viable paying audiences in other regions, they're more likely to bring more titles there in the future. If all they see are a bunch of pirates who hate them, they're rightly not going to bother. |
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
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I'm going to expand on my previous posts and opinions. For starters I fully admit I watched bootleg vhs tapes back in the day. Probably before most of you even knew what anime was. That was the only way to see it. So that's why I said I can understand, without condoning, the situation for many people globally where anime and manga is not available legally. Or at least barely at all. I get it. Now when that changes and you do have the availability...well then it's on you whether or not you're going to choose to support it financially. We can debate the actual impact piracy has and the true effect until the cows come home. How many downloads actually equals lost revenue? What is the likelihood those who download will buy later? All of those topics can be debated. The simple truth is if you're downloading it illegally, yes you are stealing it. There is no debating that. Anyone who says otherwise is simply in denial. Look up the definition of theft. That is black and white. Now all of these other mitigating factors, that is the grey area. To me however they are all secondary to one big important question; "Can you legally access anime and manga but choose not to?" That is what it boils down to for me. What bugs me the most is the entitlement attitude many fans have, and the sheer inability to just admit what you are doing. No, they instead want to justify it and try and turn it around onto how it's the industry's fault, or this company's fault. No. it's YOUR choice to download and not pay. Period. Just own it. Stop pretending, making excuses, or trying to somehow blame others for why you have to. This is again directed at those who have the means to legally watch anime or read manga. I will even clarify a bit more and say it's based on those who have AMPLE means to watch or read anime/manga. Not just a small handful in your country that has 5 shows available. Those that have ample access to the majority of anime or manga released. Which outside of Japan the largest place for that is North America, and more specifically here in the US. When fans here try and justify it I find it to be nothing more than empty lip service and disingenuous excuses. Does it cost money? Could your means to buy and/or watch all that you want be limited due to your financial situation? Yes. That's how life works. Once again, just because you want something or like it does not mean you are entitled to it. A company makes a product. You buy said product. The company makes money and then can in return make more of said product. Without that financial gain there's no more funds to make more of said product. Not unless you wanna keep operating in the red and be in massive debt anyways. We can debate the overall impact of piracy and where exactly the profit margin is all day. The fact remains that downloading a series is stealing it. You obtained a product that was not actually free. A product that was supposed to be paid for. Now, through this action did it lead you to buy more? That is back to the grey area that we can debate all day and night. I personally have very little faith in the people who try and justify piracy (as in for their own use) when they do have ample means to legally obtain it. I don't have faith that they in return support the industry by buying anime or manga. By signing up to streaming services like Crunchy, Funi, or Hi-Dive. You can call my cynical all you like, but I have seen far too many cases where those who advocate for piracy, when they have the means personally to get it legally, simply don't want to. They're not going to bother to do so. Sites like KA and KM are some of the worst because not only are they taking the anime and manga and allowing people to pirate it, they're making a personal profit doing so. Any site that does that to me is trash and should be shut down. |
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xxmsxx
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I knew this was coming. I didn't think I needed to explain this, but here we go. I am not American, so perhaps I am misunderstanding your viewpoint, but I will give it a go. It appears to me that you think all the anime fans around the world are leeching off US businesses. Has it occurred to you that maybe these US businesses are very successful at capturing a market outside of the US, simply because they are in English? A fan's ability to speak English is a pre-existing advantage for an English anime streaming service (doesn't have to US-based). A company licenses a show, translates / dubs it into English and release it to US and Canada. Boom! Right there, targets two audiences with one go. A company has EVERY incentive to release it to as many audiences as possible to bring in the viewership count. Having a great deal of English-speakers in so many countries means an English streaming service can scoop up a decent market share regardless the region. In fact, it can even steal market share from a local language streaming service by providing a wider catalogue and better service (interactive space).
Doesn't it sound so easy when you put it this way? Just meet the demand and go legal. Anime licenses cost an incredible amount of money to obtain and maintain. High demand for paid commercial product will not change how much licenses cost. It may actually increase the cost as the Japanese side evaluate the profitability of one license versus another. So can local language streaming services be viable and turn a profit? I remember visiting Finland and talking to anime fans there. It was pointed out to me that it is not in any company's interest to make a Finish streaming service because it cannot target non-Finish speakers. As robust as the fandom is in Finland, a Finish stream will not turn a profit regardless how the community comes together to "support". This applies to any minor language groups. In this token, a more major language streaming service would be able to grow and compete with an English stream. The Hungarian fan I spoke with actually speaks German too. I even asked this person about accessing European legal streams in French or German. The reason behind my question was precisely because I originally believed that the French-speaking and German-speaking anime community would be profitable enough to support ongoing expansion of their legal anime streaming sites. Alas, I got the "there aren't many titles" again for German streams. This is a sign that they don't have the money to acquire licenses. Turning a profit and staying afloat is possible, fans do go out of their way to support them, but sustained competition with English streams is not something just can be achieved even for more major language streaming services. French streaming services are doing better, but faces similar concerns. A country like India or the Philippines has a high percentage of their population as English speakers. I have seen anime subbed or dubbed in Hindi and Tagalog, but suffice to say, these countries are so diverse linguistically, what does "local" even mean when there are 500 languages around? If an Indian or Filipino company wants to stream legal anime, a risk-averse decision would be made to include English translation on top of local languages. This would put it immediately in competition with pre-existing English streams and jeopardize its viability. A little side note, when Weathering With You was getting its theatrical release around the world, Indian fans submitted a petition to have it released in India. Eventually, Shinkai personally announced the release in India. What would have happened if the petition wasn't organized? I don't think the demand would just evaporate, it would still be there. Demand has been high for anime for years. But without the collective action of fans (and some flooding of Shinkai's Twitter account), this would not have happened. For Americans, getting an anime film maybe a given, others have to fight hard for it, even if it is Weathering With You. Brazilian-Portuguese speakers and Turkish speakers has the best chance to follow the Russian route you mentioned by building a local language streaming service because there is a larger base of non-English speakers. While I would not praise the Russian services the way you do, I am highly aware of its healthy robust nature. However, I cannot say how non-competitive English is in their market. Is it class-based? Region-based? Generation-based? I simply don't have the data. If a Brazilian or Turkish company do not research the data and just jump straight in, it will be difficult to survive let alone thrive. Some Asian anime communities have achieved robust local language legal streaming services, namely South Korea and China. Many Koreans and Chinese anime fan can speak English, but there is a minuscule of them speak it to the level where an English sub or dub would be viable on a regular basis. English streams are non-competitive in these markets. This is particularly interesting because prominent piracy still exist in both places, quite obviously. But the internal circulation and non-competitiveness of English are key to these robust local language legal streaming services. On some level, the Japanese market is very much traditionally cornered through internal circulation and non-competitiveness of English too. But this is discussion for another time. Instead of a complex marketplace, not consuming anime at all will be a lot more easy. But that is not the response you are looking for, right? |
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