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Forum - View topicNEWS: Funimation, YouTube Set Up Branded Online Channel
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marie-antoinette
 Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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I wonder what the availability for this channel will be. Hopefully it won't block out Canadians, which is something other channels do (Showtime was putting episodes of The Tudors up, but I couldn't watch them -_-)
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daxomni
 Posts: 2650 Location: Somewhere else. |
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You want some help finding a proxy? As for Funimation, what do they get out of this? They give away some random content. OK, and? Everyone who knows about Youtube probably knows about bittorrent and crunchy and whatever else. |
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braves
 Posts: 2309 Location: Puerto Rico (but living in Texas) |
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Sweet!
I was interested in Slayers, Mushishi and Blue Gender, but not enough to buy them without a preview. So this will perfect to see if they're worth it. |
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daxomni
Posts: 2650 Location: Somewhere else. |
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I thought previews were already online for most recent series, and maybe the old ones as well? Is this really that new? |
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here-and-faraway
 Posts: 1529 Location: Sunny California |
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Interesting!
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melonbread
Posts: 317 Location: UK (London) |
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I just don't care about youtube at all for watching full length anime - maybe the odd trailer...
This is all very good progress, but just not as much in the exact direction I want .... mwah |
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braves
Posts: 2309 Location: Puerto Rico (but living in Texas) |
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The only series from FUNimation that I know had legal full episode previews online was Shuffle. I've never heard of a preview being available for the series being mentioned in this article, aside from the trailers that FUNi uploads on YT. |
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Shiroi Hane
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 7584 Location: Wales |
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They get exposure, like they do for letting you watch the first couple of episodes of some titles on their site but without the bandwidth costs; they get free advertising, like they did for showing the first couple of episodes of some titles on Gaia Online; they presumably also get ad revenue from Youtube. If youtube is footing the bandwidth bills and sharing the ad revenue then it is win-win for FUNi really. |
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slickwataris
 Posts: 1334 Location: Carol Stream, Illinois |
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Richard J.
 Posts: 3367 Location: Sic Semper Tyrannis. |
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Once more I find myself on the same page as daxomni, I'm kind of uncertain what the tangible benefits are myself. Yes, Funimation puts out a little content but what do they get in return? Ad revenues? Do they expect the advertising trailers to get more buyers for their DVDs?
Aren't most of the people who use YouTube et al for anime more "we just download the fansubs of the gods" than "this is a preview and now I buy DVDs" to begin with? If they start showing full runs of shows, wouldn't that hurt their bottom line more? (Best way to encourage any behavior is to make it legal and acceptable.) I suppose they'd cut into that by showing the English dubbed versions of shows since purists react to them like Dracula to a garlic clad, ash stake armed, holy water drinking priest name Van Helsing. While I have long believed that the R1 companies need to usurp the hold fansubers have over fans, I'm not sure YouTube is the answer. Though I do suppose this could help to raise awareness of what titles they've licensed and are releasing. Hope they do some "how to spot bootleg" bits. A lot of people seem to be lacking in that skill. Then again, Funimation seems to be doing a lot of different things, so I guess this is just one more new idea for them to try. While your at it Funi, how about more Gunslinger Girl plushies? I'll need a Triela and a Claes to go with that new Rico coming out. (And an Elsa. Pretty please?) |
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fighterholic
Posts: 9193 |
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Well this is interesting. Although I've heard about this kind of thing before. I had a couple of Japanese friends over a couple of months ago and they went onto this one site to watch episodes of Slam Dunk. Which was amusing.
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rizuchan
 Posts: 980 Location: Kansas |
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I understand what they're going for, it's like having free sample mp3s to encourage people to buy CDs.
But the problem is, youtube anime watchers are already the lowest of the low on the anime pirate spectrum. Think about it, they're too lazy (or, face it, too unintelligent) to download their fansubs by bittorrent or IRC and seem perfectly content with their crappy unreadable subtitles, what would make them want to buy legit anime when they're happy with youtube, and often are under the mistaken impression that it's perfectly legal as well? Also, more on the 'too unintelligent' bit, the demographic of youtube anime viewers is (most likely, I have no statistics to prove it but I think this is a fair assumption) younger than the fans that generally purchase every DVD of their favorite show. On a $10 a week allowance the price of anime DVDs seems like a lot, and forget about saving up for a $70 boxset. Most of them will only get anime DVDs on special occasions like their birthday or Christmas. The ones in the 12 and under category (Which I can contest to is a large group of youtube anime watchers) will probably only get one or two of them that have their favorite episodes on them. While their seems to be a market for legal alternatives to piracy these days in music, I can't say that I see the same thing happening with anime watching, or cartoon watching in general, when finding episodes for free is so easy to do and so easy to get away with (moreso than downloading hollywood movies, for example). |
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samuelp
Industry Insider
Posts: 2251 Location: San Antonio, USA |
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Well if that's really the case, than it's a good move on their part. These people you describe are clearly not even going to buy a significant amount of DVDs so at least with a branded channel they get a small bit of ad-revenue from the streams. It's better than nothing at all, plus there is some word of mouth advertising benefit. Maybe these youtube watchers have friends that actually will pay for DVDs and they'll hear about awesome series X from their youtube watching friend. Maybe if they release episodes 1-X on youtube and then post an ad for the next DVD when it comes out they'll get people to buy it because, as you say, they are stupid and won't realize that someone will probably just illegally upload it later. I see little downside to this, outside of maybe pissing some people off if they do boneheaded moves like put in overlay ads or cut off the last 5 minutes of an episodes with "To see the rest, buy the DVD!" or something like that. |
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Joe Mello
 Posts: 2316 Location: Online Terminal |
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Looking at the titles, it seems like this is only for some of the older titles that have already seen releases, re-releases, TV airtime, Viridian re-releases, and everything else they could do for visibility. In essence, they're trying to get more traffic (and the ensuing money) from stuff most people would've already bought at least once. Plus, it gives them all the rights they need (as if they didn't need more) to sweep through and stamp out any illegal uploading.
It's really not as bad a proposition as it looks. At minimum, they get paid for showing series on someone else's dime. If a pair of wandering eyes just happens to like it enough to pick up the DVD's, it's a bonus. Obviously, the big Triple-A titles aren't going to be there, but there's plenty of interesting stuff to watch. I really do like how Funimation's business model is trying to adapt to the market. There's definitely risk in trying to incorporate all these different media, but I certainly hope it pays off. |
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mistress_reebi
Posts: 735 Location: Canada |
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I became an anime fan when I was 11 years old and I remember my friends and I would save our allowence money to buy VHS tapes, which were almost $35 for two-four episodes at the comic book store,which didn't have much of a selection. It wasn't until high school where I gave my mom money to buy me something online. Kids can also do that and there are pre-paid mastercards, gift cards younger anime fans can use to buy the shows that aren't in their movie store. Previewing eight years ago was watching anime on TV (very limited) or only reading brief summaries on fan sites. Now, kids can download the first two episodes and see if they like it which is a much better approch to buying a tape that looks nice with a good summary then ending up hating the show and wasting $35. There are people who refuse to buy anime and keep the episodes on their computer but watching the first episodes usually makes people want to buy the DVD for themselves. After all, computers crash and get viruses while DVDs are easier to maintain and last longer. I sample shows off of youtube or crunchyroll because downloading from a mystery place isn't safe. The shows I like I end up buying either the manga or anime. I think it's a great idea for Funimation since they are showing the older episodes. The DVDs prob aren't selling as well so might as well advertise them. It's like Samuelp said, people are just going to upload them so might as well promote Funimation in the series rather than the uploader or the fansub group. EDIT: Also, tapes had trailers before the show started but they were more like a AMV than an actual trailer. (They just had the theme song with clips from the show) |
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