Forum - View topicNEWS: Amazon U.S. Launches Anime Strike Paid Streaming Service
|
Goto page Previous 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Stampeed Valkyrie
 Posts: 834 Location: PA |
|
|||
|
Wow,
yea I can't say this is worth it in the slightest. You get prime... then have to pay more for this channel. I predict this goes the way of the dodo pretty quickly. I like Amazon.. but seriously guys.. FAIL |
||||
|
||||
Cait
 Posts: 503 |
|
|||
|
This interview was unsatisfying. Despite Zac's best efforts this guy was clearly giving very corporate PR answers. Things I'd like clarified:
Is this service ad-free (I'm sure someone here who has started a free trial knows)? I know there were still ads on the videos when the anime offered through Amazon Prime video were available without this extra pay tier. If there are still ads on the videos after you pay another $5/month on top of a Prime subscription they're dreaming that people will be willing to put up with it. Even if they do offer ad-free video through this service, do they not understand one of the main attributes of almost all other anime streaming services is that anime fans have come to expect a certain tier of content for free? People are paying for premium subscriptions because they get ad-free, up-res same-day content, while the rest can still get lower resolution videos a week later. A free option (relatively) for Prime members with week-delayed simulcasts and ads (as we expected last year when Amazon announced they were entering the streaming market) would make more sense. If they aren't willing to offer this kind of choice to anime fans who literally expect it, can we really believe they did their due research? I mean, even Hulu figured out eventually that some people wanted an ad-free video streaming option and created more pay tiers. Netflix doesn't do simulcast, but the base cost for their service is much lower than Amazon is asking for here and includes all their streaming video, not just anime or anime as an add-on cost. And what does their exclusive catalog realistically look like? How many titles offered through this service aren't available on other services? Do they really think people are willing to pay $5/month on top of a Prime subscription for 2 simulcasts each season and a handful of older exclusive streaming titles when their simulcast competitors have literally dozens of shows each season and huge back catalogs? Are they really prepared to start a simulcast department that has to work around the clock to release same-day episodes for the number of series they will need to offer to entice anime fans to subscribe? Do they really think competitors like Crunchyroll/Funimation are going to bring them content and cut into their own profits? How do they think they can do that? Also, what do their exclusive licenses look like? Did they end up with home video licenses rolled into their streaming licenses? Are they considering becoming a home video producer/distributor like Crunchyroll eventually did to put out the titles they ended up with? Rightstuf as a retailer entered the licensing/distribution market, but they carved their own little niche by licensing primarily older titles with name recognition, like Utena, and sub-only releases that everyone else passed on, like Big Windup season 2. And finally, do they not understand how anime communities are organized? Anime fans expect a certain level of community to be built into their streaming services. Crunchyroll, for example, not only has its own forums, but you can comment on each individual video and write reviews for series. Amazon has never really had a good community set-up beyond amazon reviews, nothing that reaches the significance that anime fandom demands, anyway. I can't see anyone who isn't already a Prime member even considering signing up with Amazon for this service, so they aren't drawing new customers with this bid, and even Prime members who are also anime fans (there is nothing here for casual/non fans to justify paying for it), myself included, don't seem too interested in giving it more than a shot with the free trial at the end of this season so we can at least marathon the couple shows they have that we can't get anywhere else without stealing them. Realistically, what part of the anime fandom market do they think they're serving that was not served already? What do they actually think they are bringing to the market that will make it successful? It feels like Amazon came at this service from a perspective that they had a captive audience. They seemingly believed anime fans would come to them and they could somehow entice or coerce other anime content providers to come to them regardless of the cost. They seem to lack an understanding that because anime fans were such an under-served market for so long that they found ways (illegal though they might be) to get the content they wanted and they aren't about to start paying for a service that even on the surface appears to be unfair. It's clear they still have a lot to learn about this market and its fans if they want to truly be competitive with other anime content providers. |
||||
|
||||
zrnzle500
 Posts: 3767 |
|
|||
|
^Unless they don't have ads just on the roku app, Amazon video has been ad free since I started using it last spring.
As has been said before, the exclusive catalog is small. For simulcasts, in addition to their two exclusives also have Sentai's simulcasts, which as after BanG dream starts on the 21st will bring it up to 4. Not that that and Urara will draw many more people than their other two. |
||||
|
||||
|
Cait
Posts: 503 |
|
|||
Huh. I could have sworn there were ads when I tried it out last year. I just never bothered to watch any of their shows because there were so few and it was inconvenient loading yet another service to watch anime when the shows they had weren't really of interest to me anyway. They could still offer an ad version of videos for people who don't want to pay for an extra subscription. Or have an ad tier for non-Prime members.
So they have 4 simulcast exclusives, which is practically nothing. What about the other catalog titles? I know Kabaneri is still available without this extra service if you have Prime, so what is in this pay service that isn't available to regular Prime members and isn't on other streaming services? |
||||
|
||||
|
zrnzle500
Posts: 3767 |
|
|||
|
^I'd have to check when I get home to see exactly what but it isn't a huge amount. The Great Passage at least is probably the most notable.
4 isn't huge but it's more than TAN, Daisuki, and Netflix have. Frankly I don't want them to have many. I would like them to suck up Hulu's so I can get rid off that subscription. |
||||
|
||||
TheAncientOne
 Posts: 1874 Location: USA (mid-south) |
|
|||
I know in the past they had offered some shows free with ads (to non-Prime members), but as a Prime subscriber, I've never seen an ad in anything I've viewed. |
||||
|
||||
|
Cait
Posts: 503 |
|
|||
Maybe I was logged out at the time, then. It was quite a while ago and I don't have the best memory. |
||||
|
||||
yuna49
 Posts: 3804 |
|
|||
|
There have never been ads on Amazon videos, both those available through a Prime subscription and those available via pay-per-view. There are no "free" videos anywhere on the site. Amazon, like Netflix, streams programming without advertising to people who either subscribe to Prime or purchase individual episodes on-demand. I doubt they have any intention of dealing with advertisers.
Personally I much prefer paying a small monthly fee like the $7 I send to Crunchyroll to avoid ads entirely. I wonder how much money CR earns from advertising. Most of the people I see at places like MAL who refuse to pay for fee-based services just pirate what they watch through illegal video sites or torrents. As for some of your other questions, you could have answered them in the time it took you to write that long posting. Most non-exclusive shows are also carried by other providers like Hulu and Funimation. Amazon does have discussion forums, but the anime one has been more or less defunct for about a year. (I've tried to resuscitate it a couple of times now but am giving up.) Forums don't really matter if you don't offer the option to stream episodes as they are released. Amazon, like Netflix, is taking the route of only releasing their exclusive shows when they are complete. Also there are plenty of opportunities to discuss shows elsewhere like here, AnimeSuki, and MAL. I doubt having a forum would add much to Amazon's offering. I agree that Amazon seems pretty clueless when it comes to the anime audience. Not streaming episodes in real-time is the biggest offender in my mind. If you haven't read this entire thread, I suggest you go back and look at samuelp's posting and my response. |
||||
|
||||
|
Cait
Posts: 503 |
|
|||
|
Ok, well, thanks for the info. I don't necessarily appreciate your tone, but you cleared up a few things for me. I'm clearly mis-remembering my experience with the Amazon video player.
|
||||
|
||||
|
zrnzle500
Posts: 3767 |
|
|||
No the ones under the Anime Strike subscription are being streamed as they air. Hence the coverage of Scum's Wish and Onihei on this site. Unfortunately The Great Passage was delayed but going forward it looks like their exclusives are being simulcast. There is plenty to complain about Anime Strike, as is readily apparent, but aside from The Great Passage, latecasting like Netflix isn't one of them. |
||||
|
||||
|
yuna49
Posts: 3804 |
|
|||
|
Ah, I see. I missed that Amazon changed its policy for the current exclusives. Still not enough to get me to subscribe to Strike though. I wonder if these shows will be available on regular Prime once they are complete.
|
||||
|
||||
|
mangamuscle
Posts: 2658 Location: Mexico |
|
|||
My bet is that they will remove any anime they still have in prime (maybe even going as far as removing anime-like shows like avatar) and add them to strike. |
||||
|
||||
|
TheAncientOne
Posts: 1874 Location: USA (mid-south) |
|
|||
https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Video-Free-Ads/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=n%3A2858778011%2Cp_n_ways_to_watch%3A12007868011 If you have Prime, make certain you are signed out. Then click through to any of the videos listed in that result and you'll see a green "Free with ads" button. |
||||
|
||||
|
yuna49
Posts: 3804 |
|
|||
I stand corrected. It does require you to have an Amazon account to watch them, so if I logged back in it would give me Prime access again. I've had a Prime account for just about as long as they have existed. I got it for the free two-day shipping. The video service was added a couple of years after I subscribed. So all my experience with streaming video at Amazon was with a Prime subscription. |
||||
|
||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group