×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

Forum - View topic
NEWS: Anime Network Streams GetBackers, Pet Shop of Horrors


Goto page Previous  1, 2

 Note: this is the discussion thread for this article
Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
bglassbrook



Joined: 29 Aug 2006
Posts: 1243
Location: Gaithersburg, MD
PostPosted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 12:31 am Reply with quote
Sven Viking wrote:
I've been an advocate of digital distribution for anime for a long time, but I never expected everyone to just start giving away whole series for free (including brand-new series in several cases). I was thinking of some modest fee. I wonder, are they really making enough off advertising to make it worthwhile? Or are they thinking that giving things away on the Internet boosts sales through marketing power alone?

Actually the articles says that is for their SVOD ... which makes it the ppv side of the selections. Though hopefully they will continue their practice of releasing some episodes (usually 2-4+) on the free side so everybody can sample and make purchasing decisions.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
kokuryu



Joined: 07 Apr 2007
Posts: 915
PostPosted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 5:10 am Reply with quote
As usual, the TAN player cant play back a full episode before crashing and burning. Couldnt even watch 1/2 of the first Get Backers episode yet. Crash, crash, crash, crash, crash - its nuts! Finally it wouldnt even play anything back anymore. That and every 2 or 3 seconds it keeps trying to buffer something - with that stupid visible buffer message in the center of the screen. They need to fix their player and their distribution network before they attempt to push more on people. They should have given it to Crunchyroll instead.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
BigHurtBrad



Joined: 05 Jul 2005
Posts: 9
PostPosted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 5:09 am Reply with quote
Sven Viking wrote:
I've been an advocate of digital distribution for anime for a long time, but I never expected everyone to just start giving away whole series for free (including brand-new series in several cases). I was thinking of some modest fee. I wonder, are they really making enough off advertising to make it worthwhile? Or are they thinking that giving things away on the Internet boosts sales through marketing power alone? Pretty amazing, either way! If someone had said a couple of years ago that this was going to happen, I would have thought they were mad Razz.

More companies could do with offering fee-based high-quality downloads in addition to the free streams, though, imho. I was happy to pay for the Tower of Druaga episode downloads, but it was vaguely disappointing to know that fansubbed versions would have had higher video quality.


Edit: I see that the particular streams mentioned in this article are restricted to the US. Understandable since they're old series and the licenses won't allow for worldwide streaming, but I hope we'll see less of this as time goes on. Regional restrictions are annoying.

I'd say it has to do with them trying to combat the fan-subbers. The anime liscensers, whether they want to admit it or not, needed those fansubs to bring attention to the series. Let's face it, it's a lot to ask somebody to invest in a series that they haven't seen before. Come on, you think most of the initial sales (I.e. Before being marked down) for Movies and American TV series on DVD are from people who haven't seen the movie or at least part of the series before? I'd wager no.

What Funimation's started to realize, though, is that they can make money off of ad revenue by liscensing shows before they air in Japan and showing the subbed episodes before dubbing on the series is done. They don't want to charge for these because that defeats the whole purpose - Viewers will just watch the fansubs. As for the older series, I'd say it's ad revenue and also an attempt to get some additional sales for older series

One thing I'd like to see from Funimation, and I use them because their VOD service is fantastic and they're pretty much the man right now when it comes to anime liscensing in the U.S., is an expansion to have at least a couple eps of every series they have the rights to. That's the one thing that I'm surprised about - You'd think they'd be using the site more as an intro for their series instead of offering entire series (Outside of the subbed series, and even those they could take older episodes down after awhile).

That's something that you'll notice if you go to Hulu - most of the series (Non anime) they offer they're limited on what they can offer because the license holder doesn't want it to be a replacement for buying the DVDs, both for older series and series currently airing.

So in the end, I have an idea why Funimation's site is at is, but there are still a few things that I'm curious about.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Goto page Previous  1, 2
Page 2 of 2

 


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group