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Answerman - Why Do Japanese Companies Block Trailers From Other Countries?


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Greed1914



Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4410
PostPosted: Mon Dec 19, 2016 1:10 pm Reply with quote
Region locking trailers definitely seemed like an odd choice to me. If anything, allowing wider access might help somebody reach a decision whether licensing something was worthwhile in their region. Like Justin said, negotiations are going on before episode one even airs in Japan, so a positive or negative reaction from a more international audience might help with the final decision whether to license.
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thekingsdinner



Joined: 25 Sep 2010
Posts: 1067
Location: Geertruidenberg, Netherlands
PostPosted: Mon Dec 19, 2016 1:16 pm Reply with quote
Meanwhile Funimation also regions locks clips from new dubs and whatnot outside america. I know it's easy to get around said region locking, but I've always wondered what the point is.
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Nodz



Joined: 29 Dec 2013
Posts: 523
PostPosted: Mon Dec 19, 2016 1:21 pm Reply with quote
thekingsdinner wrote:
Meanwhile Funimation also regions locks clips from new dubs and whatnot outside america. I know it's easy to get around said region locking, but I've always wondered what the point is.


Exactly.
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Mr. Oshawott



Joined: 12 Mar 2012
Posts: 6773
PostPosted: Mon Dec 19, 2016 1:23 pm Reply with quote
I just can't fathom why region-locked trailers are still a thing even in the ever-evolving world of the Internet... Perhaps some Japanese companies just aren't quite warmed up to worldwide exposure yet...?
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Shiroi Hane
Encyclopedia Editor


Joined: 25 Oct 2003
Posts: 7578
Location: Wales
PostPosted: Mon Dec 19, 2016 1:38 pm Reply with quote
I'm assuming the question submitter is American because I assure you it is not only Japan.

One of Funimation's most recent YouTube uploads is "Fairy Tail - Part 22 - Official Clip - Erza vs Kyoka!" and it says "The uploader has not made this video available in your country" because the only allowed regions are CA and US.

Note that not only have Funimation had the UK rights to Fairy Tail for years (and they still have some full episodes available to watch on YouTube, uploaded back when they locked to the regions they actually now, not just defaulting to US/CA), they have just started distributing in the UK directly through Anime Limited and have in fact just this month released Fairy Tail Part 10 (we have a lot of catching up to do),and the very same episodes from Part 22 are available to watch on funimationnow.uk.

Funimation have created a "Funimation UK & Ireland" playlist. It is almost entirely populated by Dubbletalk videos.

[Ninja'd; when I started typing there were no replies]
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Zin5ki



Joined: 06 Jan 2008
Posts: 6680
Location: London, UK
PostPosted: Mon Dec 19, 2016 1:54 pm Reply with quote
Could analytics be of relevance here? That is to say, might those who upload the trailers wish to gauge only the domestic interest in their product, and thereby wish for the number of trailer views to only reflect such a market? Aside what Justin mentioned, that is all I can conjure that would approach explaining the practice.
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Hardgear





PostPosted: Mon Dec 19, 2016 2:12 pm Reply with quote
Trying to region lock anything in this day and age just shows how technologically illiterate these people are. After all, we are living in the days of one-click VPN browser plugins. Something not available in your region? Just change regions with a few mouse clicks... Or as was already stated, there is always piracy and mirrored uploads.
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D00dleB0Y



Joined: 08 May 2015
Posts: 120
PostPosted: Mon Dec 19, 2016 2:41 pm Reply with quote
Funimation claims they region lock their videos due to rights issues. Japan, however, has complete ownership of the rights when they release their trailers. So while Funimation has some BS excuse, there is none for the Japanese companies who have literally no reason to region block them.
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Snakebit1995



Joined: 25 Apr 2015
Posts: 842
PostPosted: Mon Dec 19, 2016 2:45 pm Reply with quote
thekingsdinner wrote:
Meanwhile Funimation also regions locks clips from new dubs and whatnot outside America. I know it's easy to get around said region locking, but I've always wondered what the point is.


This seems like a clear cut "Probably just a quirk of the licensing agreements" thing if I've ever seen one. If Japan rarely makes their trailers available outside of Japan i doubt they want Funi advertising to the other markets either.
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Kimiko_0



Joined: 31 Aug 2008
Posts: 1796
Location: Leiden, NL, EU
PostPosted: Mon Dec 19, 2016 2:56 pm Reply with quote
For the longest time Funimation's website was even region-locked. I can understand not showing some videos if the Japanese side requires that, but not even allowing people to visit your website is just nonsense. Good thing online retailers aren't as paranoid or Funimation releases wouldn't be a significant portion of my collection.
I don't know what's up with Funimation nowadays because they've hidden themselves behind one of those captcha thingies that never work for me.
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TheAncientOne



Joined: 06 Oct 2010
Posts: 1868
Location: USA (mid-south)
PostPosted: Mon Dec 19, 2016 3:25 pm Reply with quote
As to the question, couldn't some of this videos be restricted to Japan due to music rights issues? If that is the case, promos that don't have the same issues are probably doing it out of habit or a "better safe than sorry" approach.

thekingsdinner wrote:
Meanwhile Funimation also regions locks clips from new dubs and whatnot outside america. I know it's easy to get around said region locking, but I've always wondered what the point is.

They certainly can't offer the clips in a countries they don't have rights to. (That would be a clear violation of their licensing contract). As to why they don't offer them in "spillover" regions they might have the rights to, it is probably down to the trouble of managing those vs. the benefit to Funimation.

The user is asking the question, "Why don't they?", while the companies are asking the question, "Why should we (i.e., how does it benefit our bottom line)?".
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Hardgear





PostPosted: Mon Dec 19, 2016 3:31 pm Reply with quote
Kimiko_0 wrote:
I don't know what's up with Funimation nowadays because they've hidden themselves behind one of those captcha thingies that never work for me.


Dude I feel your pain. These days I'm questioning my own humanity, as I'm sure bots MUST have a higher success rate at these things than I do. After my 5th failed attempt, I usually have to stop and think if whatever is on the other side of that captcha is worth my time after all...
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BringBackUzume



Joined: 01 Jun 2013
Posts: 161
PostPosted: Mon Dec 19, 2016 4:06 pm Reply with quote
Kimiko_0 wrote:
For the longest time Funimation's website was even region-locked. I can understand not showing some videos if the Japanese side requires that, but not even allowing people to visit your website is just nonsense. Good thing online retailers aren't as paranoid or Funimation releases wouldn't be a significant portion of my collection.
I don't know what's up with Funimation nowadays because they've hidden themselves behind one of those captcha thingies that never work for me.


Maybe you're just a robot?
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GATSU



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 15279
PostPosted: Mon Dec 19, 2016 4:28 pm Reply with quote
It's not just Japan. I've seen them block music videos which should be for American audiences for Europe.
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Hoppy800



Joined: 09 Aug 2013
Posts: 3331
PostPosted: Mon Dec 19, 2016 7:25 pm Reply with quote
It's odd because video games very rarely do this. Music scene does this quite a bit though especially with the advent of YT Red which is why I only watch trailers of idol singles and albums on NND these days.
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