How Anime Can Increase Profits And Stop Piracy
How can anime production companies and anime distributors increase their profits while decreasing piracy at the same time? It would take something huge like government legislation right? Not really. I think the answer is simple, direct and effective. Unfortunately, it will also never happen.
Over on FanaticSpace I recently wrote up some of my opinions about making online TV workable. The more I thought about it, the more I’m convinced that it would work for anime. Anime would be the perfect type of TV show to make it work. Everything is already in place. There are already people that can make it happen, and I’d bet they would be very happy to do it.
Official Fansubs and Revenue Streaming
The idea is simple. If you want to get rid of piracy you need to replace it with something. In the case of anime, official anime streaming sites. Have an official, and legal, version of the anime available. The official one can make money in a number of ways. A subscription service might work, but then you still have to compete with pirates providing it for free. I believe the targeted commercials I talked about in my other post would work best. This means the service is free to the viewer, but the companies would still make money.
Timing is Key
Unofficial fansub groups have an advantage over companies like ADV and Viz that license anime. Time. A fansub group can have an English translated version of a show on the net a week or two after the show airs in Japan. That’s months faster than most licensed anime and years faster than some. Fansubs are available to the fans first. That’s quite an advantage.
This method would work to make money for both the production companies and the licensing companies. The licensing companies would work like fansub groups. Take the original show and add a translated subtitle. If they work closely with the anime production companies they could have subtitles versions ready by the time the anime show hits the air in Japan. That’s quicker than even the fastest fansub group can do it. The official version hits the net first, so fansubs no longer have the advantage of an early release date.
That’s a replacement for the fansubs, but how do you get rid of them? That answer is the simplest of all.
Hire Fansub Groups
You heard me. Hire the fansub groups to do the official translations. They’re experienced and some of them do a great job. That kills two birds with one stone. Fansub groups are a workforce waiting for a job. If you hire them then they no longer compete with you.
I’m not saying fansubbers should replace the translators already working in an official capacity. I’m saying that additional translators would be needed, and fansubbers already know how to do the job. If this were ever implemented there would be a huge amount of new anime to translate. That’s great for the fans. Its also great for the companies, because now they’re making money from fansubs instead of competing with them.
I would really like to hear your thoughts about this. Do you think it would work? Can you think of any improvements?
Anime, Online, Opinion, Fan Sub, Fansubs, Streaming Anime, Piracy, Anime Piracy, Stop Piracy, Free Anime, TV, Online TV
November 8th, 2007 at 8:21 am
I think the idea makes sense - in a way - but I think it’s one of those things where you can never fully fix the problem. No matter what they do to stop pirating of movies and music, it still happens. I’m afraid that this will happen no matter what we do.
November 8th, 2007 at 9:42 am
I definitely agree! The main problem with companies these days is that they’re so illogical, I mean everything you’ve said is so blatant, why can’t the companies just think of it too! Anime is expensive, especially if you live in a country where it’s hard to get hold of, so providing it to willing fans is better than letting them keep on getting it illegally. I would love to support the anime I watch, and I always buy DVD’s of the stuff I watch when I can afford it, but being free would help so much! I can’t buy everything… what’s a few lil adverts?
Fansubs are perfectly fine in most cases, not to mention fast, and there are quite a few pretty good groups out there.
Randi - I agree that piracy will always be there, and while it’s not fixable, why not provide those of us who do want to help with a legal but cheap method of getting our anime? There are a lot of people who want to assist the anime companies, especially if they’re being threatened by bankruptsy as many of them are. After all, we wouldn’t want our favourite shows to suddenly disappear cause they can’t afford it any more.
November 8th, 2007 at 7:33 pm
Very interesting I must say.
Anime being allotted to this computer medium culture by many a persons means that revenue streaming could be highly effective. However, As you have acknowledged the probability of this ever happening is slim in the visible future (as of far).
On the Idea of Hiring Fansub groups I highly approve, as this could be a chance for talented individuals to “Strut” their talent in a field that could greatly benefit from.
This Has quipped my interest, so I will be thinking about it for a while.
November 8th, 2007 at 10:07 pm
Let’s ready the scripts to automate downloading an episode, stripping commercials, then reencoding it, so it’s ready to watch after a long day at work
My preferred method would be a pay-for service which allows the money to go to the producing company of the downloaded episode/series. This would ensure the shows being watched are the ones earning the income and in turn are the ones whose producers are collecting the money to produce more shows people will want to watch.
Unfortunately, if they could get fansub groups on board fansubbing these pay-for downloads, there would either be new groups of fansubbers who sub TV rips so people still do not have to pay, or people passing around the paid-for subs freely so people can use them with TV rips.
Does Japan not know the concept of “venture capital”? Where are the people handing out money for a company to put together the infrustructure for a VOD (video-on-demand) service which animation companies could use? Maybe something like Magnatune for video. (I wonder how Magnatune’s pricing model would work for VOD.)
Also, DRM (digital rights management) would have to be addressed. When it takes me over nine hours just to be able to watch an episode of a series via a VOD service (iMBC), this is not good. And this is using Windows Vista. If my laptop didn’t come with Windows, I’d be out of luck, as I run Linux on everything, and iMBC’s service requires 1) Microsoft Windows, 2) Windows Media Player, 3) Internet Explorer, 4) Active X.
All I ask with such a service is that I can download episodes to watch on my laptop on my work commutes (1 to 1.5 hours, each way). iMBC, for example, does not allow this, as every time I try to watch a VOD episode (which is supposed to be watched streamed, although I used a downloader to download the streams), Windows Media Player calls home to reauthenticate (maybe this is a bug where it constantly wants to reauthenticate for me?) That, and I watch to watch in Linux, so my laptop doesn’t slug along at slow speeds.
I wouldn’t mind seeing advertisments at commercial points if the downloads were free, ads such as “Buy this series on DVD! Regionless! Decent price!” Then again, that sounds like a bootleg =P Then there can be commercials for other series by the company, as well as commercials for similair-genre series from other companies who’ve paid to get the exposure for their own series.
So many wonderful ideas, and not a single company willing to implement them? Sheesh.
November 9th, 2007 at 2:37 am
Randi >> You’re right, piracy can’t be completely stopped. I do think this would stop a massive amount of it though. I’m talking multi-billions of dollars worth of piracy stopped dead.
Christopher Fritz >> You make some very good points. A subscription service is an option, and one I’d gladly pay for. I also agree that there would be some technical specifications to work out. I don’t think that’s a major obstacle to overcome though.
I firmly believe that given a choice between an official free version with commercials and fansubs as they are now that the majority would choose the official version. Of those, I believe that the percentage of people stripping the commercials or using scripts to get around them would be very very small.
Why do I think that? Because I believe that everyone who watches fansubs on a regular basis would rather support the people making anime. If they had the option of a free/cheap service like that online they would take it.
November 16th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
This could be a good idea in a way.
Why?
If the anime industry made something like youtube. Low quality versions for free, as they released in japan, they could see what to release on dvd. The site could also generate traffic, which means more money.
If they released sub only dvds at reduced price, I would own alot more anime. Why? English dubs mostly suck. A few good ones awhile back, but none now.
Key points. Cheaper, faster, better.
And at this:
Jason Says: You’re right, piracy can’t be completely stopped. I do think this would stop a massive amount of it though. I’m talking multi-billions of dollars worth of piracy stopped dead.
Nine out of ten anime I have ever purchased, I had already downloaded. Nothing is more effective selling point than a show itself. Back in the days of dial-up you had to rent things, which made no money for the anime industry. But fansubbers give life to some shows that would have never got released here. Azumanga daioh wasn’t going to be released stateside, until people saw how much it got around on the internet.
Bit torrent Is a blessing and a curse.
We, the real fans of anime only pirate, because it’s the only way to get some of the shows.
November 18th, 2007 at 8:00 am
Aka Zero –> If they released sub only dvds at reduced price, I would own alot more anime. Why? English dubs mostly suck. A few good ones awhile back, but none now.
Damn right! The dubs are usually awful! I would rather watch a subbed version anyday!
November 19th, 2007 at 9:10 am
Aka Zero >> I agree with a lot of your points. I believe that a service like that would help the distributors decide what to bring over. Not only would they make more money, the amount that they lose to poor sales would go down.
I don’t think that all dubs are bad, but a cheaper sub only DVD option would be great.
Thanks for commenting.
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February 22nd, 2008 at 6:22 am
I really think TV stations and networks should get on top of online broadcasting. Not just because Im lazy and I don’t like leaving my room to watch TV, but because it is ten times more convenient and people are willing to pay for it.
Honestly, most networks don’t realize the potential for online broadcasts. You would hit a demographic larger than any you can on television… the entire world.
I would pay for any online channel, merely because it would be more convenient, and I could record/go back and watch old episodes of what I missed (with, as was said, commercials included). The internet has been ready for a service like this for the better part of 5 years now, and we are still waiting for it.
The first person to do this will probably be the smartest out there. Although this will not happen for at least another 2-10 years sadly.
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