Forum - View topicNEWS: Amazon U.S. Launches Anime Strike Paid Streaming Service
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Ambimunch
 Posts: 2012 |
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I am confused, is this service for a wide variety of anime or just the ones Amazon owns the rights to?
(so many streaming services these days, hard to keep track) |
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TheAncientOne
 Posts: 1871 Location: USA (mid-south) |
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It currently appears to include 51 titles, some of which are available only via the service (at least here in the US), but most which are available from various other legal sources (Hulu, The Anime Network, Funimation, Crunchryoll). |
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yuna49
 Posts: 3804 |
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While that could be their motivation, licensing shows like Fune wo Amu hardly seems the best way to go about it. If the goal is to reach homes with no anime exposure, I'd load the service with shows for kids. Trying to get previously unexposed American adults to watch anime seems a pretty hopeless task to me, particularly if we're talking about shows that focus on subjects like publishing a dictionary. I'd start by licensing Dennou Coil and the first season of Chi's Sweet Home, which are available only on disc in the US. Hell, I'd try and cut a deal with Nintendo to stream Pokemon even though it's on pokemon.com without commercials. Plus, to be honest, who outside of anime fans knows anything about noitaminA? If that's supposed to be a selling point for Strike, isn't that likely to appeal only to current anime viewers? If we look at the rest of the offerings outside of the exclusives, there is considerable overlap with Netflix and Hulu, which I'd bet a lot of people like me with a Prime account also have, as well as the niche services from CR and Funi. If Amazon wants to reach adults, why not reach back into the noitaminA catalogue and license some shows like Nodame Cantabile, Hataraki Man, or Sarai-ya Goyou? Or dig deeper into the array of more mature works like Bartender, Planetes, or Otona Joshi no Anime Time that aren't streamed anywhere? Or rescue Monster and Cross Game from the pit of obscurity into which they were thrown by Viz? What about including some feature films in the service like Miss Hokusai or even Shin Godzilla? Even if I didn't know anything about CR and Funi, but subscribed to Hulu and/or Netflix, I'd see very few offerings that I can't already watch on those services. I'll admit I watched Fune wo Amu via torrents when Amazon refused to show it to Prime subscribers like me, and I'm not going to pay extra to watch future noitaminA offerings either. Especially when I know that people with Prime memberships outside the US can watch these shows in real-time at no extra charge. |
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Zoneflare
 Posts: 521 |
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Wish the question about home media releases would have been asked.
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zawa113
 Posts: 7358 |
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Wait, $5 extra? per month? So that's $60 extra dollars a year to watch anime on Amazon. And Prime already costs, what, $99 a year as is? So for an anime fan to get anime through Amazon for a year, it would cost $159, since you need to have Prime to begin with.
Crunchyroll costs $59.95 if you get the year plan (or $6.95 monthly) FunimationNow Premium costs $59.99 for a year's sub (or $5.99 monthly) Netflix is $7.99 per month and $95.88 per year (for the cheaper plan) Hulu also costs $7.99 per month or $95.88 a year. Also, Funi and Crunchy still let people watch older things in lower res with ads for free, I don't think you can watch Amazon video without paying, either for Prime or per video. Hulu lets you watch some free things too. And every shares Netflix accounts, so paying a friend $20 to let you use their password for a year is feasible. I don't think you can really share Prime outside of one household very easily. So I guess it's not that Amazon is charging significantly more if they were only charging people for anime, but charging people an additional $100 on top of it is simply ridiculous. And that's not even counting the other $60 per year things they've tried to tack onto people. Perhaps they should have Prime be "here's a bunch of stuff, you choose 4 for free, any additional one costs more" and that way, people could tailor it to them to some degree without Amazon seeming like such a money grubbing crazy house. Last edited by zawa113 on Sat Jan 14, 2017 12:02 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Random Name
Posts: 644 |
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Anyone else think that interview really didn't answer any questions? I mean what was the point of it....
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zrnzle500
 Posts: 3767 |
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Yeah some of the answers seemed evasive. It's not terribly reassuring. Hopefully they can expand their catalog so it seems worth it to more people, especially if they can get licenses no one else can get, but they don't seem to be familiar with the needs and wants of the community. I hope we can change that.
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Megiddo
 Posts: 8360 Location: IL |
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Oh wow. The interview didn't ask why is it that they are only charging $5/month to view exclusive anime in the United States. That was the single question that I wanted answered.
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gabuhaha
 Posts: 136 |
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Wow, that interview....really, Amazon? You are going to make anime into a essentially a premium channel on the basic prime service. You feel justified in doing this because of things like PBS kids and HBO, neither of which have a community built around it like anime does. The customer base is completely different. Anime watchers tend to be heavily concentrated on people in their 20's which is when they have the least money to spend. And yet, you claim you are granting the wishes of the community when all the evidence is to the contrary. I'd like to know who was in those focus groups that told you this is what the community wants (or that Anime Strike was a good, name...
 ) Anime watchers tend to be ahead of the technology game. Many were some of the first people to drop cable and yet you want to drag people back to that outdated model. I was kinda meh when I first heard but yea, now I want his to fail miserably.
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Oneeyedjacks
 Posts: 307 |
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Yeah, really disappointed with this interview. When asked the obvious question of charging people twice for the Anime Strike service, the guy basically just rolls out the tired and cliche answer of 'giving fans what they want'. Yeah, Crunchyroll, Funimation, and Sentai already do that and they don't charge fans twice for their service.
What concerns me though is the fact that Amazon is a monster compared to the other players in this industry and could easily license most, if not all, shows in a given season, which would basically force everyone to use their defective and expensive service. |
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zrnzle500
Posts: 3767 |
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Given Netflix has never really gone too heavily after titles for simulcast, I think Amazon won't grab too many simulcasts. Though they did have two this season (not counting Sentai's which they also have) which is more than Netflix ever had I think, but I can't imagine they will have anymore than single digits for a while at least, and likely will never have as many as CR-Funi. And people were worried about them monopolizing the market. If anything this makes CR-Funi look like heros in comparison, so they are probably one of the few thanking Amazon for AS.
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DmonHiro
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Never in my life have I been so happy I don't have to rely on services like this to get my anime. Not only do you need Prime, but you have to pay more after... wow...
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mgosdin
 Posts: 1302 Location: Kissimmee, Florida, USA |
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I'm in this same boat, I've already got Hulu and Netflix, have had them for years, and I don't really see myself spending any additional money with Amazon, where I've been a customer for 12 years, over what I've already spent on Prime. The interview with Mr. Paull sounded much like someone trying to do damage control where they hadn't really expected to. Lots of happy talk without real substance or any real understanding of what has gone wrong. I hope that the feedback sent to Amazon, directly and thru the various forums, percolates thru to Mr. Paull and he realizes that yes Anime fans are passionate and no you really don't want to upset them. So, for now, I'm going to say that for me it's Anime Strike-Out. Mark Gosdin |
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Heishi
 Posts: 1320 |
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Personally, I think I'll stick to CR for the time being...
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CostlyAxis
 Posts: 20 |
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I will not for the foreseeable future be taking my business to Amazon for anime if it's going to cost me additional fees on top of my Prime membership. I already have a subscription to Crunchyroll and FUNimation. The responses in the interview further unsettle me to how Amazon perceives us. I may have expendable income, but there is a limit to how many "services" I want, and answers like those in the interview just put me off further.
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