Forum - View topicAny Chance of ANN Becoming a Distributor?
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 23769 |
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In a sense it already is, with offering premium streaming content for pay, but I was thinking in the sense of also releasing DVDs and BDs. Crunchyroll is taking tentative steps in that direction with 5 Centimeters Per Second (although sadly they, along with their partner the Bandai Store, have not been able to get it to the street, yet). Any chance that ANN might dip its toe in that pool at some point?
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Sanosuke_Inara
 Posts: 1662 |
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Wow. Never thought of that. Now that you've brought it to my attention, though, I'd actually like to know this as well, even though I already have an idea of what the answer will be.
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egoist
 Posts: 7762 |
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I was thinking about that recently. But if I recall correctly you either need huge funds or a partner willing to provide you with funds. Well, it should be cheaper to do that over there than over here, so that's a plus (what stalls most unpopular series from making it here is the obligatory age rating monopoly's price).
I'd imagine that depending on ANN's simulcasting success they could become a distributor in a few years. But do they want to? |
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The King of Harts
 Posts: 6712 Location: Mount Crawford, Virginia |
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I'd actually rather ANN stick to this Premium Purchase thing they have going on, focusing mainly on sub-only shows. If they could somehow strike up a deal with Section 23 to get some of their sub-only catalog and charge, like, $5-10 a show (with discounts on multiple purchases), I'd bite. This could be ANN's own little niche in the anime world since no other place has a plan like they do. Everywhere else is either charge for a membership and have you pay for shows you don't want to watch (Crunchyroll and TAN), pay per episode (Funimation and iTunes), or do that stupid rental streaming business on Youtube, but ANN is the first to actually get it right, in my opinion.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 23769 |
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But I don't see any contradiction between ANN becoming a physical distributor and what you want them to do. I'm sure it's a moot point since there are probably factors in play that make it impractical for ANN to be a physical distributor, but if they did, is it not possible revenue from that would make it possible for them to expand the licensing of streaming content as well? I'd love to see ANN become a physical distributor because I welcome any new entrants into the field. There are neglected titles like Zombie-Loan that a more niche operation might be tempted to pick up. Plus, the ANN hierarchy is much more accessible than a lot of the other existing distribs. |
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poilk92
 Posts: 433 Location: Long Beach California |
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I still don't see why the only business model not tried is buying digital copies of an entire season or series for a one time fee
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Sanosuke_Inara
Posts: 1662 |
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John Casey
 Posts: 1853 Location: In My Angry Center |
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Here's a bigger question: Does ANN even have a head office? Like, as in, a building? That isn't Zac's apartment?
If the answer is no, then the question answers itself. It's all about the monies. |
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jsevakis
Former ANN Editor in Chief
 Posts: 1684 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
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I suppose we never know what the future holds, but I can't think of a compelling business reason why we would ever wade into those waters. Physical media is already challenging enough for people who know that business way better than we do.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 23769 |
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No doubt. I just thought that ANN, at some point, might be able to establish a niche physical distribution operation: sub-only to keep it simpler. The ANN portal could be the "store" so all you'd need would be a warehouse if you didn't want to get into the b&m route. But yeah, doubtlessly the economics involved would make impractical. |
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Tempest
 I Run this place.ANN Publisher  Posts: 10420 Location: Do not message me for support. |
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Justin's answer is spot on. We never know what will happen in the future, but right now, not only is that something we're not considering, it's something we don't want to do.
There's a lot of romantic attraction to the idea, but business wise... First and foremost, ANN is an Internet company. We have no interest in leaving straying outside of that core business area. Expanding into things like simulcasting we see as expansion within our core-competency. Physical media, while we know it very well, is a completely different business. Secondly, I honestly feel that the anime DVD/BD market is currently saturated. Any new companies in the business wouldn't be growing the business, they'd be siphoning business from the existing companies. Hopefully this won't be the case in the future, but with the decline of physical media, even if the total anime business grows, the anime-DVD/BD market may never get much bigger. Thirdly, but particularly in light of the previous, we have no interest in competing with our business partners and sponsors. While TRSI is a perfect example of a company that's able to work with the other anime companies, and also release its own DVDs, its a careful juggling act, and we're in a very different situation as TRSI (The money flows in the opposite direction). Fourth, physical media is not a market to enter right now. Until a new equilibrium is reached, physical media companies will continue to falter. New startups are usually the first to go. I have many more reasons, but I think those would be the 4 biggest right now. |
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gartholamundi
 Posts: 316 Location: Gainesville, FL |
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Tempest, do you consider "digital downloads" like poilk92 suggested (for series or episodes) as "physical media," "internet," or something else? is it feasible you'd expand to digital downloading?
i guess i'm one of the old-school collectors ... i can imagine streaming a rare show here and there, but i'd far prefer to own a physical copy or else download a digital copy. for example, for several months now i've been a crunchyroll subscriber, but there's nothing i watch there. i did watch a couple shorts (la maison de petite cubes and Time of Eve), but now i just support them even though there's nothing there i'm interested in enough to watch on the computer -- mainly because i know my dollars are still going to artists. |
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 23769 |
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Thanks, tempest, all those reasons make sense to me. But ya can't blame a guy for hoping there'd be a new kid on the block.
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Tempest
I Run this place. ANN Publisher Posts: 10420 Location: Do not message me for support. |
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DTO is obviously online, but it's more akin to physical in many ways. It's also something that is more likely bundled with "all rights" than "streaming rights." If our licensing partners want to put their titles on iTunes, we'd be more than happy to help them, but we wouldn't do it ourselves a this point. In the future if we started licensing all rights, we'd definitely do DTO.
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Nephtis
 Posts: 138 Location: Australia |
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I just realised I still have yet to actually use my Crunchroll subscription. Good to see there's others out there that are happy to just send money to the creators. |
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