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Jose Cruz
Joined: 20 Nov 2012
Posts: 1773
Location: South America
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 Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2017 7:37 pm
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| Marzan wrote: | | My big question is if this model is economically viable for Netflix in the long run? How many people are watching anime on their platform? Are non-anime watchers 'tuning in' or are they expecting hardcore anime public to become their customers? |
Netflix is essentially a super efficient way to connect the consumer with the producer. It means that Netflix by-passes everything and it able to get billions of dollars from consumers directly to studios. Hence, over time, I think this type of system will eventually replace all the old forms of producing film. Anime will enormously benefit because it has a massive potential audience since anime looks pretty generic, that is, it is very accessible to non-Japanese people, but it lacks a good distribution channel. Now, Netflix is able to bring anime to viewers all over the world at a very low cost for the viewers and hence it is multiplying the number of people into animation all over the world. In Brazil, lots of people got their introduction to more diverse forms of anime besides DBZ, Saint Seya and Pokemon, from Netflix.
Of course, now anime will probably start to change: the size of the international market is 20 times the size of the Japanese market. Hence, if the whole world consumes anime soon the Japanese market will matter little (still, 83% of anime studio revenues still came from the Japanese market in 2015 (http://aja.gr.jp/english/japan-anime-data), and it didn't decrease much: in 2004, it was 86% Japanese - 14% overseas, in 2015, 83% - 17% overseas), this will mean that anime will change a little bit to fit more globalized aesthetics rather than Japanese aesthetics. Still, there will be plenty of Japanese-style anime being made since the Japanese market is not going to disappear but foreign markets will become really important now. In 10 years or maybe even less, the Chinese market will be bigger than the Japanese market. Europe and North America will also increase since I think that now many more North Americans watch anime than ever before since it is available on tens of millions of households.
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| ultimatemegax wrote: | Not too surprised it was missed, but it was mentioned in response to this program that the animators have mentioned not seeing a single yen increase in their pay for Netflix projects. Therefore, where is that increase in money going? |
Do you seriously even need to ask that? It is obvious. Netflix may be bypassing the production committee and going direct to the animation studio, but they are not directly paying the animators. Now some animation studios will be getting cash flush, but should that mean they will pay their animators more than the norm? In an ideal world, sure. In business, hell no.
However it does mean that Netflix is being a bit stupid. One would expect them to invest heavily in some animation studios to improve their quality. However if the studios are taking the money and then not using that to upskill and improve their animators it shows the difference is just being pocketed. So Netflix is wasting its money bigtime and may as well pay the animation studio at the same rate a production committee would. |
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Animator's pay depends on the elasticity of supply of animators. That is, if the demand for Japanese animation increases 50% due to Netflix, suppose that 50% more animators are willing enter the industry for the same wages, then wages for animators will increase by zero. But if only 20% more animators are willing to enter the industry for an increase in wages of 25%, then the increase in wages that will happen will be 20%.
Anyway, output of anime is only increasing and will increase further: it's a long past the time when only "otakus" watched animation. In 2000, when adult animation was very niche, Japan only made 8,000 minutes of animation for late night viewers, in 2015, it increased to 60,000 minutes. With the further spread of anime thanks to Netflix and other services, maybe in 2030 Japan will produce like 500,000 minutes of late night anime. 
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Kadmos1
Joined: 08 May 2014
Posts: 13550
Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP
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Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2017 8:45 pm
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If I was the head of Netflix, from a marketing standpoint, a title should only carry "Netflix Originals" if Netflix actually created that series or was part of the production committee.
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relyat08
Joined: 20 Mar 2013
Posts: 4125
Location: Northern Virginia
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Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2017 9:41 pm
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| Chrono1000 wrote: |
| relyat08 wrote: | | Anime has been an international product for decades and still maintains its weirdness. This isn't going to change that. Take a look at the most popular anime of this season according to MAL. Someone at Netflix thought that was worth getting! If they are okay with that level of weirdness, you shouldn't be worried. Also, even if they want to, Netflix is not going to "buy" the entire industry. There are a lot of companies with a lot of interests and anime will be made to satisfy those. |
I partly agree with this but there is a huge difference between licensing a show and producing it. Netflix is wiling to license a show like Fate/Apocrypha but they would never produce a show like it. |
I was actually talking about Kakegurui, but regardless, I think they absolutely would produce shows like both of them. Have you seen a lot of the stuff on Netflix? There is a lot of weird weird sh*t. Why on earth would they want a million of the same thing anyway? Clearly they don't.
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| relyat08 wrote: | | That's not how globalization actually works. When creative people are automatically given a larger audience, they take advantage of it by actually being able to bring to life projects that wouldn't have been possible before. Because NOW it has the opportunity to reach more people and actually make money even if it's weird and would've been unlikely to resonate with the smaller audience that previously existed. Not everything in a globalized world is made to appeal to everyone. |
In theory that sounds good but in practice globalist corporations are not known for their love of free speech. For example A Centaur's Life would not get approved by the vast majority of globalist corporations and that is certainly true for Netflix. An increased audience doesn't make a difference if the show can't get approved. |
It's funny you use that as an example considering it was produced by a multi-national production committee. And you don't need "the vast majority" of companies to approve something weird and niche, you just need one. There will more often be that one company willing to bet on something niche if niche has proved financially viable. Anyway, I don't need to theorize. It's already happened/ing in multiple markets, including, to some extent, anime itself.
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Chrono1000
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Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2017 11:05 pm
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| relyat08 wrote: | | I was actually talking about Kakegurui, but regardless, I think they absolutely would produce shows like both of them. Have you seen a lot of the stuff on Netflix? There is a lot of weird weird sh*t. Why on earth would they want a million of the same thing anyway? Clearly they don't. |
Netflix is willing to produce animation that looks like anime but in terms of culture, morals, and story it is western animation. I am very skeptical that Netflix would ever produce something like Fate/Apocrypha.
| relyat08 wrote: | | And you don't need "the vast majority" of companies to approve something weird and niche, you just need one. |
Maybe, and the recent puritanical movement against fanservice may have made be a tad cynical but I don't think that company will be Netflix. They want anime to be mass market and that desire to avoid offending anyone will lead them to make shows that are blander.
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relyat08
Joined: 20 Mar 2013
Posts: 4125
Location: Northern Virginia
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Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2017 11:46 pm
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^I'm sure they read the premise and saw the promotional art for Kakegurui before licensing that show, and it clearly has a lot of content that would be questionable by pretty much any standard. Also, for what it's worth, I saw Elfen Lied, High School of the Dead, and quite a few other questionable titles with plenty of fanservice on Netflix when I was just getting into the medium. If they aren't afraid to host titles like that, and those titles did very well for them(I'm pretty sure they did, this was back before they got rid of ratings and reviews and there were several hundred thousand votes for each of those titles), I don't see why they would avoid producing more content like that as well. I think your fears are somewhat understandable, but I wouldn't be worried about Netflix only making bland stuff that's not offensive to anyone. They surely know that's not good business.
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