Forum - View topicNew media, new horizons, and a new video player
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Mohawk52
 Posts: 8202 Location: England, UK |
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Not to make this out as some sort of competition in any way, but I must say our Anime UK Newsdoes a fair job of keeping us in the UK well informed and it even has a correspondent in Tokyo that gives reports and answers questions if he can. It has a few UK company reps that give us the news of what their company is releasing, or clearing a few misconceptions. Sometimes they even scoop a few things that ANN hasn't heard about, or reports a few days later. But being mostly for the UK I suppose they can't boost that they are probably best in the world, but being also on the World Wide Web, and when placed side by side, they are not far behind and sometimes are neck & neck, and mostly every parent is proud of their own child. Nothing wrong in that. 
Last edited by Mohawk52 on Sat Jul 05, 2008 7:28 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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samuelp
Industry Insider
Posts: 2235 Location: San Antonio, USA |
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Did anyone notice the dig at ANN's new video service from Gen at the Funimation panel:
(from bayob's liveblog:)
Guess you're just one of those "other" sites... It's a catch 22, of course. Can't get ad support without content, but can't get content without ad support. Ah well. |
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 7912 Location: Anime News Network Technodrome |
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That wasn't a dig. |
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samuelp
Industry Insider
Posts: 2235 Location: San Antonio, USA |
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So you admit you're not a "huge major site with mass appeal"? It's good to see some humility in this business 
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jsevakis
Former ANN Editor in Chief
 Posts: 1684 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
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Yeah, although we're a large site, I think it's pretty obvious to everybody that we're not a gigantic mega site like YouTube or the like. Our base is made almost entirely of hardcore fans, not the "mainstream". It would make perfect sense for a company like Funimation to want to transcend that limited market.
However, being small has its advantages as well. We can (and have) tailored our site to the specific needs of anime licensors, which are not the same as UGC sites or Hollywood studios. We still think we have plenty to offer... and, as online licensing is seldom exclusive, we can hopefully serve some needs unmet by larger sites. |
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vtnwesley
Posts: 171 Location: Natrona Heights, PA |
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As I've mentioned, I honestly believe ANN to be the only real options with long term viability for both archival and premium "first run" streaming without fees involved. iTunes will always be great. UGC sites however horrify me. The more I think about "shows you want to watch but don't necessarily want to own"... the more I think "Yeah, I'll watch 8 minutes of ads to get free Hidamari Sketch legally". Not to mention some of the issues with the recent Tower of Druaga run on UGC/pirate sites. For example, rather than using a fair means of advertising, they had one third the screen blanked out with a Crunchyroll ad on one of the episodes. They also seemed to have neglected to run one of them all together. Wanna guess what people did the second the "legit youtube channel" stopped working for them? Yeah, they used the not-so-legit ones. ANN is "self-controllable" enough I see nothing but potential in this. I will breath a sigh of anime-fanboy-relief when under the video tag I someday see an "episode archive" and "episode circulation" sections. All of the other streaming sites and UGC partnerships have thus far been somewhere between slightly poor to terrible. With ANN at the helm, who knows. |
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samuelp
Industry Insider
Posts: 2235 Location: San Antonio, USA |
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Actually, if you look at the source code, you'll see a commented out link to animenewsnetwork.com/video/anime too bad there's nothing there yet .
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar  Posts: 16941 |
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Well those of us who have subscribed knew this was coming for a while so I am glad the day has finally come. I've been personally waiting for this to see exactly where ANN goes in the future and how adding the video content will evolve the site. And kudos to the staff, former and present, for managing this site for a whole decade now. I know personally the site and it's information has been an invaluable tool in staying current with anime news and what's going on with the industry.
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Richard J.
 Posts: 3367 Location: Sic Semper Tyrannis. |
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I think we all know Funimation won't ignore ANN. They just want to try to get some non-otaku interested for a change. (And since so many hardcore anime fans are addicted to fansubs, that's a winning strategy.)
When I get to a better computer, I'm going to have to fully explore how this service works. Some streaming video just plain doesn't work on my computer for some reason. (Hence why I never got into it. Though now I have a real good reason to start addicting myself to it!) |
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vtnwesley
Posts: 171 Location: Natrona Heights, PA |
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Whether anyone is ready to go or not, I'd imagine they have a lot in place and ready to go. I just wish some companies would try getting onboard sooner than later. I believe experience with the internet is being overlooked here. Is there any way to let some of these companies know I won't take them seriously on some of those other sites and that this is genuinely important to me? Edit: Does ANN Video have a way to focus advertising or will it be generic? i.e. If you run Sketckbook Fullcolor can you advertise art supplies without necessarily having those specific ads show up on other videos? Will there be any oversight on ads to make sure they are alright? Many ads on semi-legit things link directly to pirate and bootleg sites. I wouldn't want that. |
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mokuhazushi
 Posts: 95 Location: Atlanta |
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I am so happy to see this. I think it's great when good guys who care about what they do and do a good job get rewarded. And somebody really needed to do it.
Here's hoping that you can eventually move towards streaming series (subbed) that are currently airing in Japan. I know that this would be more challenging (have to arrange translation and subbing as well as licensing) and that it makes sense to start with NA-released shows, but I hope it's a long-term goal. I would certainly be a customer. |
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vtnwesley
Posts: 171 Location: Natrona Heights, PA |
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The whole "timeliness" and "counterthesis to pirate fansubbing" is very important and I'd imagine that is on some people's minds. I suspect the proof of concept might be in the older archive stuff. Shows that have already made their money and are just sitting there. I am not a legal or marketting expert or anything, but wouldn't companies be less anal about those types of properties? I'd like some of that kind of stuff too though. Newer American releases and maybe some "new to Japanese TV" kinda stuff. Might Japanese TV be easier to run a-la fansub if you start with smaller shows? Not to over use the same example, but Hidamari Sketch doesn't strike me as a tradional choice for American release. If you prove yourself on those kinds of shows, maybe you can convince someone that the next DBZ or Naruto (etc) might have a home here too? Especially concidering fansubbers are going to do whatever they want anyway. You can put them out of business by being better than them perhaps. |
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Dorcas_Aurelia
 Posts: 5344 Location: Philly |
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Yeah, slice-of-life school-based comedies always bomb with US audiences. [/sarcasm] Or were you refering to shows of that genre done specifically by SHAFT? [/more sarcasm] But on to that bit about being an antithesis to pirate fansubbing; how does hosting fansubs accomplish that? |
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vtnwesley
Posts: 171 Location: Natrona Heights, PA |
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Last I checked, slice-of-life anime has never hit Naruto-like status. Azumanga Daioh (not that I have numbers or anything) seems to have done pretty well for itself, but I have yet to hear of the anime community go terribly nuts over any others (not counting the 3 major anime by Key of course). Regardless, ANN seems a good method to give us "no cost anime" and help circulate the shows that don't end up on TV. Hitting TV seems to be a major goal for most shows to go beyond the hardcore anime fans. ANN could be the next best thing, as I doubt Cartoon Network is running anything that isn't Naruto, Bleach, Death Note, etc (see: "the usual faces). Fansubs are successful solely for time reasons. There is little quality most of the time, and even when there is, it's still illegal. By getting Japanese and/or american companies involved, ANN could potentially run fast-tracked Japanese anime subtitled right here. By working with companies, and putting up their official subs, and pay for them via ads or whatever else, it could put fansubbers out of business. Fansubbers won't do that kind of crazy work if ANN is beating them to the punch, no less with BETTER translations and higher quality video. Not to mention, I bet at least some people who partake in fansubs might stop if they had a legal alternative to do something similar and/or the same. As someone who has admittedly caught the occasional youtube'd anime, I can say it will also be nice for these users to get their media in a way where it won't be pulled away from them after becoming committed. Gonzo tried to do a similar thing, but as I stated previously, I don't like the way they did it. I'm glad they tried either way though. They put up legally distributed video of their own volition with subs (presumably their own subs) on UGC and Crunchyroll. Aside from some rather discouraging missteps, working with pirates only vindicates them. UGC has the issue of competing with the kids who post 800 OTHER copies of the same material concurrently with their own. We have a LEGAL and focused outlet as of July 4th. Concidering they already ran on all those sites, I at least expect Gonzo's 2 digitally shared anime to hit ANN rather quickly, lest I lose faith in Gonzo's business sense. Basically, I am excited. I see a great outlet for anime with no visible downside. Maybe I can knit pick when we have some ad-supported content and the ad system has the same flaws other sites have, but til then, this is win win for anyone. post shows, advertise, let the mainstream in, profit... |
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Zalis116
Moderator
 Posts: 6874 Location: Kazune City |
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