Forum - View topicNEWS: Newspaper: Funimation Sales Down More Than Half Since 2004
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_V_
 Posts: 619 |
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Well let me clarify: the "peak" everyone talks about was 2003-2004, though that was riding a wave of several years. 2005-2006 was....a bizarre plateau-period when anyone in-the-know would or should have realized there were massive problems on the horizon (and people actually working AT Geneon would know things were terrible)....that's when Musicland/Sam Goody shut down, that should have been the real warning. Still, things were still..."coasting along" well enough that the casual fan or investor might think it was just a small slowdown, not a trend... ....I just use "crash of 2007" as a convenient monicker because the collapse of Geneon in September 2007 was like a nuke going off which no one could ignore. Then all the lies and wishful thinking and self-delusion shattered like a dropped glass. Of course I think of "the crash year" as extending from September 2007 to fall 2008 when the dust settled....2008 was just one crazy week of news after another. |
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_V_
Posts: 619 |
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1 - I have no faith in Bandai surviving, and Media Blasters has lots of problems. Viz had trouble expanding beyond some core titles, but at least it has core titles. Section 23 is sort of a wild card...in the sense that I never even thought they'd get this far but was pleasantly surprised that they did....hey in a time when *months* can pass with Bandai pushing back the street date of a single title over and over again, at least Section 23 is *doing* something.
2 - "embracing digital distribution" has been fitful, but at least FUNimation and Section 23 have the infrastructure for that now; FUNimation's in-house web player and S23's Anime Network website (i.e. actually streaming a popular series like High School of the Dead as it comes out in Japan). I don't know if that's enough to turn the tide, though, for the smaller ones. Viz just piggybacked onto Hulu. 3 - the underlying problem of course is that the actual product coming out in Japan has been going through something of a brain drain; year after year of repetitive, pandering shows. On the one hand I think "waiting around for the next Pokemon" is not "a plan", but they need a new big hit on the scale we haven't seen since Fullmetal Alchemist hit. I'd hoped this would be Rebuild of Evangelion....and that *has* been the best selling title for FUNimation of th e past year...but that alone isn't big enough. I also think a lot of time and energy got sunk into Summer Wars, which was *amazingly good* and a new tent-pole flagship title, and it *would* have gotten more exposure if it got an Oscar nomination, I agree they should have tried....but it didn't work out. Oh listen to what I'm saying, as if Summer Wars was yesterday's news: I saw an advanced theatrical screening, and that hasn't even come out on DVD yet. |
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Eri94
 Posts: 220 |
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Honestly, while misinformation is probably due to a lot of the decline (thinking anime=kids), I believe the fudge-tons of pirating is also to blame. Sure I don't believe all of them would have bought the show if they had no other choice. But when you can get all of it free so easily, why should you be assed to support the industry with your money? Sure you could say because you like it and you want more of it, but then you wouldn't be pirating in the first place. Maybe they don't like it as much as they think.
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matrixdude
Posts: 71 |
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Somehow it's just not shocking, people don't have as much discretionary income to spend on anime anymore. In terms of a market, it's returning to a small market, something nobody has recognized for years. There may be bigger conventions, but in terms of actual market base, it is smaller than the pre-boom days.
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Ryujin99
 Posts: 193 |
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Actually, the street release date for Summer Wars was yesterday. So technically speaking, it has been released. But we'll just have to wait and see how it goes.
I'm hoping that it does really well, because I enjoyed it so much. Hooray for pre-order 
But an Oscar nomination or something like that would have certainly helped sales a lot too. I think it certainly was good enough to earn such an award. |
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Jaymie
Posts: 915 |
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I don't see the big deal. 10 million is still a very respectable net profit for such a niche industry. And there's no judging when the next boom will be, either.
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vulcanraven01
Posts: 677 |
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Not a huge shock.
FUNimation tends to license ALOT of stuff, and dub ALL of it. I know they want to reach the widest audience as possible, but in times like this, perhaps they would best taking a leaf out of Sentai's book and start doing sub-only releases of the lesser titles they license. Either that or just not pursue such licenses. Quality is better than quantity. I'd hate to think what would happen if FUNi went the Geneon route. I know it's hard to see, but the way they are going, this could very well happen... |
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GATSU
Posts: 15338 |
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Jaymie: I agree I don't really see why this story is so dire. I mean, most indie distributors, and some mini-majors, would love to see those sale numbers, given the declining market share for non-streaming home video in general. Sure, these aren't the same profit margins as they were before the bubble, but compared to, say 4Kids, FUNi's still pretty far in the black. And frankly, companies like Navarre don't know shit about the home video business in general. They're just in it to boost their own stock and then trade the distributors when they make bad decisions. I also find it hard to believe that FUNi is somehow now "worthless", when it has the highest market penetration of a particular demo after companies like Disney. Gawd, is it any wonder we have these wretched economic situations, when you can be devalued, just for how much you don't make, rather than how much you do make?
AnimeCornerStore:
Yeah, because those idiots who gave millions to Uwe Boll had the inside track on what's hot. 
Kougeru: Foreign films have a larger audience, and better WOM. V: Bandai's propped up by its Japanese owners, so it'll be here for a while. But I'm hoping Dream Machine will hit one out of the park where Summer Wars couldn't. Last edited by GATSU on Thu Feb 17, 2011 2:28 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Ryujin99
Posts: 193 |
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I've been on the fence about people downloading series, but nowadays I'm more opposed to it than I used to be.
Until recently, internet streaming was practically unheard of, and there were a lot of series that people wanted to see, and would be more than willing to buy, but that hadn't been licensed. In the era of VHS tapes, and now more and more in the age of Blu-Ray, people could import the Japanese releases, but during the DVD media age, people couldn't do that. So what's one to do when there's a series they hear a lot about and can't watch? A lot of people who download series for reasons like this are the same people that pre-order those same series 6 months from the release date once something's been licensed. ...However... the flip side of the issue is that many people, especially adolescents and young adults, have developed a mind set that leads them to believe that there is nothing wrong with downloading something illegally, so they'll download anything and everything at the drop of a hat. This sort of mindset is frustrating to say the least. But people with a mindset are undoubtedly the larger threat to the industry than those who merely downloaded series because it was the only way to watch it. Now there are several legal sites that together are hosting a massive number of series that people can either watch for free or for a fairly small monthly fee. And these sites aren't hosting just anything. Sites like Crunchyroll, the Anime Network, and Funimation's video portal are hosting a massive amount of anime that are currently airing in Japan! With opportunities like this emerging, there's not nearly as much reason for people to be downloading series. Honestly it's a shame the case against the One Piece pirates fell through, even if they were just going to be scapegoats. Maybe people will eventually come to respect sites like Crunchyroll more and take advantage of the services they offer, but for the time being that's just another problem for the industry to deal with. But despite all this, personally I don't think that downloads are a major proponent of sales loss. They certainly are not helping the problem, but I am still of the opinion that the biggest problem facing the industry is America and it's people. Too few people are willing to see animation as any more than a "kiddy thing" and there aren't enough people stepping up to show them not only that they're wrong and, more importantly, that animation in general is a respectable form of entertainment just like any other. In short, I suspect the largest proponent for the drop in sales over the past several years is plain and simple ignorance. |
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mangamuscle
Posts: 2658 Location: Mexico |
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ho hum. You speak like if piracy is some kind of 21st century phenomenon. There was piracy back when videotapes were the only means of distribution of anime in the USA, there was piracy before the so called "anime market crash" and I dare to say there will be piracy when GiTS technology becomes common. Yet people are still trying to return the genie to the bottle, to close the pandora box so that the utopia can dawn on us -_- |
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everydaygamer
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I'm still waiting for that day when funimation is finally able to get there foot in the door and get some more anime back on tv like in the good old days.
til that happens the sales aren't that big of surprise since the only people buying anime are the same people online watching the stuff. |
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Hectotane
Posts: 16 |
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You all know where all that money's going, right? 
It's to FUNi's PR machine that loves to shove franchises down everyone's throat. If it's not about Dragonball, Summer Wars, Fullmetal Alchemist, on down; then it's about how they're going after "1337" hackers. Their money should've gone to licensing anime and shows people WILL buy. (Not just that "otaku inner-circle.") Freezing is one of the few. Black Butler "sold out at distributor level." (The same can be said about Sacred Blacksmith.) Seriously. I haven't heard this level of financial "whining" from the people behind the Transformers franchise. Takasbromy (Takara-Hasbro-Tomy) loves everybody, unlike 90% of the anime industry.  
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jmaeshawn
 Posts: 170 |
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I don't really mind either way what happens to Funimation, since I'm one of the few who both "pirates" and supports the industry.
In my mind, it's better to support the actual creators of the anime, rather than the ones who just bought a license to translate it. Especially since I'm not convinced the animation studios in Japan make a whole lot from the R1 licenses anyway. What I do is buy an import DVD or Blu-ray from Japan, then watch the fansubs or now, rips from places like Crunchyroll. This way, my money goes directly to the studios (who can use it to make more anime) rather than a place like Funimation (who will just waste it on another license not many people care about.) I guess my way of doing things is a kind of a "grey-line" situation. |
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Youkai Warrior
 Posts: 505 Location: Sarayashiki |
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As someone who works in an anime store, you know exactly what you are talking about. I've noticed this too, and it's no surprise to me either. After 2005, I noticed the big boom wasn't going to last. But, hey those of us still into anime can still party, right?  Anyway, I like your explanation, it made sense and I know what's going on a little better now.
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Deviant_scarlet
Posts: 21 |
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Ever since the dawn of the High-Speed Internet, the popularity of Anime has dramatically increased. Therefore, it went from "niche" to "midstream." However, with many websites on stream Anime(with most of them illegal), the sales of Anime have plummeted. Additionally, since most companies in Japan were inept to take advantage of the popularity of the medium(and not to mention, being told hundreds of times by international distributors/publishers of how valuable their export really is), the Anime/Manga market was left for the most part untapped until a few Japanese companies(Aniplex, Kondansha, and several aligned with Crunchyroll)decided to finally experiment with the Western market. Of course, by that time, it was too late. Also we are in a great recession, so naturally, this industry was going to take a huge decline.
In corporate America, there is no room for small/middle-sized businesses like FUNimation. Established media conglomerates such as News Corp., Walt Disney, VIacom, Warner Bros. etc have a monopoly on American entertainment and squeeze out any small competitors/distributors/indie producers(once again, such as ADV, FUNimation, The Anime Network, etc) from competing against them. Mainstream retailers(such as Walmart, Kmart, and Target) will always store titles from the above mentioned giants but will almost never include titles from any small independent distributor/media chains(you can at most expect FUNimation's Dragoball/Full Metall Alchemist Franchise, or Viz Media's Bleach/Naruto but that's it). Yes, the above media giants may all have distributed Anime in some part of their lifetime(such as Walt Disney's distribution of Gilibi Studio titles or Warner Bros. marketing of Yugioh) but they didn't contribute to the popularity of Anime. It was the fansubbers who brought about the popularity of Anime in the early 80's/90's, not franchises such as Pokemon or Yugioh(which of course, most who grew up with these franchises finally realized they were Anime with the introduction of DSL/Broadband Internet). Here are a few websites that information as to how giant media really hurts everyone(you, me, FUNimation, everyone). http://www.creativevoices.us/ http://www.creativevoices.us/php-bin/news/showArticle.php?id=206 (This is an example of how Giant media is squizing out Indie producers.) http://www.stopbigmedia.com/ Last edited by Deviant_scarlet on Wed Feb 16, 2011 9:31 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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