Forum - View topicThe Future State of North American Anime
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10円
Posts: 605 |
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From what I've been reading the North American anime market has apparently been shrinking for years now. That's right, shrinking. We still get a lot of titles, but they're just not making as much money as they once did. Fair enough, I'm sure the anime market will begin to compensate. And compensate it has. First to adjust is apparently BVUSA. But, as we all know, that announcement drew almost nothing but incensed condemnation by most anime fans with many predicting an eventual retreat from their new pricing structure, the region one market, or even dissolution. So then, what do you think will happen if profits continue to fall while licensing and publishing costs continue to rise? Will the costs to the consumer eventually increase or will the availability decrease? Some retailers like Best Buy have been reducing shelf space for anime while others such as Suncoast (owned by Best Buy) and Borders charge near MSRP prices for many titles whenever they're not on sale or otherwise discounted. It doesn't really seem like a very rosy picture to me and yet everyone still seems to wet their pants every time there's a major new region one licensing announcement, as though actual profitability was a distant afterthought or non-consideration. If these trends continue then presumably the gravy train will eventually stop and we'll be forced to kiss our massive selection or our heavy discounts goodbye.
Which one are you willing to give up? |
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fighterholic
Posts: 9193 |
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I think that's a hard choice to make, but hopefully I won't be living here when that happens.
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Randall Miyashiro
 Posts: 2451 Location: A block away from Golden Gate Park |
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If I understand correctly the root of the problem is the higher licensing costs. The main results that I see is that smaller companies that are based in the States like Animeigo and USMC can no longer afford titles. I wouldn't be surprised if all the smaller companies (I hope Manga pulls through) are gone next year. I don't think the high licensing fees are not worth it for marginally known titles that are not going to sell well, and since the smaller companies can't afford the lucrative titles, like the ones aired on CN, they are in a bind.
It is nice to see industry giant Bandai Entertainment drop many of their titles to $25 and even Geneon and Funimation seem to be having higher episode counts these days. This seems to be the trend over the past couple of years, which is one that we all hope will continue. I believe there has also been an increase of releases with multiple versions. When Funimation first released their LE digipak Gonzo titles I assumed it was an experiment to see how much the fans were willing to pay and how much money they have. I was under the assumption that if an overwhelming number of fans bought the LE, they would naturally up the prices on all their releases and include better extras. From what I gather these were fairly popular, and a few volumes sold out quickly. Despite these results many of the newer Funimation releases lack a booklet (like the FMA, Samurai 7 and Burst Angel ones) and don't even have a reversible cover which was standard for Funimation at the time. On the other hand they have packed a high episode count (Solty vol 1 has 6 episodes) and not raised their prices. I love those digipak releases and wouldn't mind seeing more of them (along with those nice booklets) if it meant spending a few dollars more. Because of this I believe that their intention was not to test the market, but to make a few more dollars from those fans willing to spend more because of the higher license fee. I think this is also the case with Geneon and their Black Lagoon and Hellsing releases. They know that a percentage of fans have the money for LE but don't want to lose a sale to those who can't afford it. This is smart in my book, and I thought BVUSA were going to follow suit with their Patlabor movies as an example. I see this as the future of R1 anime since the best answer is to market two or more versions of a film. In the 80s and 90s many of us bought LDs for insane prices. The major studios knew that they could get away with it since fans can be intense, yet they knew it would be stupid not to market a VHS version for the masses for a fraction of this price. I also see this as the state of HD formats versus SD formats in the coming years. I'm now convinced that Blu-Ray will not replace standard DVD, but will be the LD type format for enthusiasts. Maybe eventually this will be the case with anime once more titles are released in high definition. Although it will not cost much more to manufacture the HD counterparts the studios can charge much more to accommodate the fans who are eager to waste their money. Subsidized licensing is how I see the future of anime. |
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ikillchicken
 Posts: 7272 Location: Vancouver |
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Im not neccisarily saying this is false or that I dont believe you, but is there actual proof of this? Is it widely accepted fact that such things are occuring? |
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Zalis116
Moderator
 Posts: 6883 Location: Kazune City |
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KyuuA4
 Posts: 1361 Location: America, where anime and manga can be made |
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Hmm... does anyone know of sources regarding the cost analysis of bringing anime from Japan through the standard licensing and distribution process? I'd look for it myself - but I'll figure someone here knows of a place.
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10円
Posts: 605 |
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From what I understand, legitimate anime only gets more expensive outside of R1. Also doesn't R2 anime go out of print quicker than R1?
I think it goes beyond the licensing and technological issues, but that was still a very interesting read Randall. It will be interesting to see if multiple edition releases at various price points across multiple formats eventually become the order of the day.
I'm no expert but virtually everything I've been reading for the past couple years has been making similar claims. Total viewers may in fact be on the rise, but actual profits appear to be on the decline for some time now.
This is ANN, I think we can go beyond the pep rally atmosphere and dig into the meat of the larger issues. No, we're not experts on the anime market, but we don't need to be just to have a discussion on the subject of future profitability and how it might impact our future options. It would appear to me that ADV is making a serious gamble with this, a gamble that may not pay off. CPM and Manga Entertainment presumably knew a hell of a lot more about the anime market than I ever will, but that still didn't save them from a fate bordering death. We may be powerless to impact the future anime market, but I don't see why we can't speculate about it. |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18275 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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It's curious how often threads in this forum seem to mirror recent "Ask John" columns over at Anime Nation. Check this one out for some interesting comments on the subject from someone who's heavily involved with a major online retailer, and thus probably has a better perspective on the issue than the average fan.
For my own comments, a simple look at the number of titles licensed and released over the last couple of years shows that the numbers are down substantially from their 2004 peak. This is a reflection not of a contracting market but, I think, one that has topped out. As John says in the above link, it's entirely possible that anime's market penetration potential has reached its limit. I have not noticed local retailers reducing their shelf space for anime at all, so it must still be at least holding its own on sales numbers. I do think the explosive growth of the hobby in the early 2000s may have given some the false impression that such growth could continue until anime became mainstream, however. Beyond a handful of titles like Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Dragonball, and Naruto, it's still a niche market and always will be. As for Bandai Visual's "new" marketing techniques (especially with regard to Gunbuster 2), that looks to be more a case of BV acting out of ignorance about the way the American market works compared to the Japanese market rather than a sign of a new trend. It will be interesting to see how well they do with their subbed-only releases for niche market titles, however. That could be a wave of the future for titles which would inherently lack broad appeal (even within the fan community) anyway. |
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one3rd
 Posts: 1818 Location: アメリカ |
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Bandai Visual isn't adjusting to American market trends at all. They have stated that their primary concern in their pricing scheme is to prevent reverse importation. In other words, they're mostly concerned about their R2 sales in Japan and the American market is just some extra money on the side. |
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Richard J.
 Posts: 3367 Location: Sic Semper Tyrannis. |
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 )
I know a lot of people don't have moutains of disposable income, but then I don't either but I can still aford a lot of anime. Moving on to more pressing concerns, I think a big part of what's hurting the anime industry is bootleg DVDs. Not necessarily fansubs, although I think they're becoming more of a problem than they once were, but the bootleg DVDs are out of control. eBay is crawling with them, often listed as "official" releases from overseas. I think a lot of people are buying them because these are cheap subbed versions on eBay. Worse still, a lot of the bootlegs are starting to include the English dub too, so even more people are picking them up. (And even bringing them to conventions to be signed!  )
The anime industry needs to counter this problem first since it's got to be easier than dealing with fansubs. I think just removing the bootlegs from eBay would help sales. |
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naruto fan 09812
 Posts: 499 |
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Keep in mind that Anime is a niche/hobby and business. So,they are bound to lost some kind of money in the process. I have nothing to base this on but I think that regular animation and cartoons are suffering the same kind of loss. So,I do not see the big deal and I do not have a problem of them raising DVDs to recoup that kind of loss.
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Zalis116
Moderator
Posts: 6883 Location: Kazune City |
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TheVok
Posts: 613 Location: North York, Ontario, Canada |
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Good point. Right now the best-selling home video game system in the world isn't the PlayStation 3, the Wii or the Xbox 360 ... it's the PlayStation 2. And I'd guess the main reasons are bargain price and huge game catalogue. |
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ikillchicken
Posts: 7272 Location: Vancouver |
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Idunno, Im gonna wait until we see more definite proof before I panic. Even if Anime companies are making less money, you may need to put that in perspective. Maybe its due to a lack of "mainstream" Anime. Pokemon, DBZ, Sailor Moon. What shows do we have today that compare to them? naruto is fairly big, but its nothin compared to some of those massive hits. Anime marketed to major Anime fans may be doing as well as ever.
Idunno, maybe this is true, maybe not. The point is, its tough to really say for sure. Economics is a tricky thing. |
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hentai4me
 Posts: 1313 Location: England. Robin is so Cute! |
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Especially when you get a decent statistician to collaborate with a spin doctor...you can make anything look like whatever you want. A company declaring itself bankrupt? Actually it's profits this quarter are higher than any other in its history! |
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