March 6, 2008
E-Manga’s Second Coming or Still Treading Water?
Posted by Devin
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Even though its been almost two years since the Sony E-reader debuted with electronic pages of manga, we’re no closer to discovering if e-manga will come home to roost. In the area of e-readers, the reviews for the Kindle make it seem better for text than graphics. Other platforms such as Cybook (pictured here with an example of manga) don’t have the available content. Frankly e-book readers cost at least $300, and then you have to buy the content. It doesn’t make sense tot he consumer.
On the other hand, the online format keeps growing: CPM, NetComics, and Del Rey along with quite a few other publishers have sample programs, subscriptions, or whole volumes, etc. The list keeps growing. Joining the mix is Infinity Studies this week with manga via PDF.
Cory Doctorow has a another idea: use the mobile we have like iPhones (like this example) and make e-books work on what we have:
Handheld game consoles, phones, and other multipurpose devices have found their way into the hands of people from every walk of life. In some countries, mobile phone penetration is above 100 percent — that is, a significant proportion of the population maintain more than one phone, for example, a work cellular and a home cellular.
Cory also thinks “E-Ink” works, when prices go down will be the way to go. Maybe, but what’s popular online combined with the convergence of mobile & web may be our future, says Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo
As the Internet is freed from the limitations of the desktop, we are taking mobility into a completely new realm of possibility. We are redefining the Internet itself as it increasingly becomes a medium of immediate and personal experiences.
Filed To: Distribution / Retail / Digital / Mobile
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June 13, 2007
More Digital Anime on the Horizon
Posted by Devin
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Left out of my analysis of Anime on TV were the purebred digital anime station, the FUNimation Channel and The Anime Network. Both stations are starting to penetrate major metropolitan areas in the United States, with The Anime Channel now distributing in the UK as well. With 75% of the country’s 26 million TV households already digital, one of the highest in world, its an ideal place to get 24/7 anime to the fans.
And announced last week was the launch of Sony’s Animax station in Germany, with a caveat:
Indeed, while other major European territories have digital penetration of 60%-70%, in Germany, only 27.5%, or 9.65 million of the country’s 35 million TV households, receive TV digitally. However, that number is growing rapidly. Since thebeginning of the year, some 740,000 new households have gone digital.
Even with this kind of impressive growth projections, its a small cup when compared to the larger foothold they have in South America (36 million homes in 38 countries and 11 languages) and to potential launching in the United States. As reported by the Financial Times by Anime News Network, there was the stirring of a Sony/Comcast network as far back as 2004.
Sony is reported by the Financial Times to be “keen” to launch an American version of Animax, a network specializing in animated content. [It] was mentioned by insiders as a network that could be offered to North Americans.
More Animax news: Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI) announced today the launch of Animax Mobile in Canada and Australia.
Animax Mobile is a dedicated channel for mobile handsets and is not a rebroadcast, simultaneous co-transmission or cut-down version of an existing television channel. “Animax Mobile is the ideal launch pad for SPTI’s multi-platform network strategy. Tailor-made for today’s young adult mobile consumer, Animax Mobile builds on the brand loyalty of Animax and extends the consumer experience to a vast and loyal fanbase seeking anytime anime content and culture in current and emerging markets.” announced Marie Jacobson, SPTI’s executive vice president, programming and production, international networks.Added Bill Sanders, vice president, mobile network programming, “It’s not about the big screen vs. the little screen. Often, it’s a choice of small screen vs. no screen at all, and with Animax Mobile, we’re able to bring some of Animax’s most valuable programs to fans new and old at times and in places where they couldn’t see them before.”
And now according to unpublished sources, it looks like they’re getting ready to launch into the North America in the next month or so: our estimate here is not just on digital cable but in a limited form on the mobile platform as well.
Filed To: Distribution / Digital / Mobile
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April 6, 2007
Distributing to the US Market: Comparison to Mobile Content
Posted by Devin
The majority of Japanese media is brought to you by companies that were started by fans: whether it was fansubs on generation-made videotapes or scanlations before Bittorent was available, it was those early fans decided the best way to share the content by licensing and distributing it. Through time, early companies have succeeded like ADV Films, which other companies have not like Comics One and Studio Ironcat.
On the flip side are the number of Japanese firms that have successfully marketed their products over here. Anime-wise, Bandai and Pioneer (now Geneon) have had very successful releases over here. Namco Mobile has been a killer content for the phones over there, their Pac-Man game a top-5 killer.
New to the party is Aurora, a well-known Japanese nitch publisher of Shoujo and Josei. Here’s a summary from ICV2.
The role of Japanese companies marketing their content in the US market is remarkably similar to Japanese mobile media market of 2002. Japanese firms such as Faith, For-side, and Index, took their mega-hit mobile content into the US by starting divisional properties or they purchased local content providers. With some successes, they had quite a few problems. Some Japanese companies have since left the US market as of 2006–2007, their ideology of ‘tackling the market’ lost.
So in lieu of recent news of another Japanese media firm entering the US market on their, here’s a summary of why its different. Perhaps we can learn from those mobile content providers after all-
Distribution is going to be different
Like the closed wall garden from carriers, the distribution of content is a big differentiator, whether it be in print or electronic. The limited number of necessary book distributors combined with retail limitations have shaped the manga market. Disruptions due to retail bankruptcies, logistical issues most recently mentioned by Viz’s Alvin Lu, and our censoring policies are all reasons that anime and manga licensers need to understand distribution rules are going to be different here than in Japan.
Copyright is not about who, but what rules
The mess that is mobile music royalties is a bit more completed when compared to book publishing and anime DVD Authoring. But the role of a localized licenser just putting out DVD’s is almost over. Can I get it on iTunes? What about streaming it? What if I want it on my mobile phone? Can I market better with podcasting? New ways to market and distribute content are coming to us every day, and if legal ways are to be provided, then we need more way we can adapt and change the content. And hopefully, it won’t be as DRM-laced as RIAA, MPAA, or JASDEC insists it is. Otherwise, there’s little incentive stop downloading via Bittorrent.
Lack of market knowledge
Ultimately, its about the product and the differences between the US and Japanese market. Japanese mobile companies came over with their month billing models, stood firm against the label licensees & carriers who wanted individual transactions. The stability of monthly subscription revenue never came and individual ‘carrier’ transactions are how most kids think of purchasing a ringtone/ringback.
A manga title like Yotsuba&! is marketed over in Japan as Seinen, a subset of manga that is targeted for an 18–30 year old male audience. Looking at the title and cover you may think that it actually aims for a younger, female audience. Its going to take some educational time to teach the distributors and sellers for this market.
Filed To: Distribution / Retail / Digital / Licensing / Mobile / Adv/Marketing
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March 23, 2007
CPM & Libra: Case Study Difficulties of Japanese Licensing
Posted by Devin
The case of Japanese publisher Libre and Central Park Media is one of the few licensing issues that is hit among the blogsphere, and you can review the breaking coverage over at Mangacast & Mangablog.net. Licensing content, especially foreign content is never easy. Compiled with the situation that these are unique works, its foreseeable that one might end up with one or more of these situations. What makes licensing (and the Japanese flavor of licensing) so complicated?
Licensers demand time periods. When you license a work you have use of the work for X time, and you have this time to translate, re-author, and distribute the work. Sometimes in the case of a multiple-volume work, you need to release your first volume on Y date, with all volumes out by Z date. Licenses can be tied to company control. This usually implies that a change in ownership or dissolvement due the bankruptcy can temporary suspend or terminate a license. Licensers can sell contracts. A license has value and rights that is has granted the licenser in turn for monetary value. In turn, the licenser can sell those contracts to a third party if he or she wishes. Japanese companies are allowed collusion. Japanese companies are allowed collusion You’re allowed to talk to other firms and collude on price, services, and licensing agreements, to a certain point. For a long time Label Mobile, the joint venture between the five Japanese music labels, kept most smaller licensers away because on their own the costs would be so much higher, in effect locking out most would-be competitors. Collusion can only be used at a certain point, as recently the Japanese equivalent to Fair Trade Commission investigated Label Mobile for unfair business practices. I mention this because– Licensers sometimes say no thanks. Almost unheard of in the US is a licenser that says “no” or wants unreasonable distribution terms. Movies such as Battle Royale or Yaoi are controversial in regards to its content and the western marketto of making money. Japanese licensers are much more aware of cultural clashes between the two countries and will sometimes purposely table the license.
Filed To: Distribution / Over in Asia / Mobile
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March 7, 2007
NYCC: Digital Media Wrap-up
Posted by Devin
Sorry, but I’ve been a bit slow in compiling some of the awesome digital news in Anime & Manga. Here’s a summary of the good stuff happened at the show two weeks ago:
Webcomics have plenty of models: which is the right one?
T Campbell from Broken Frontier provides the stats. At debate is which model is best: Advertising/Ad-supported based on pageviews? A pay per view or paid content model? Scott Rosenberg, CEO of Platinum Studios, quoted is traffic as 10mil+ views a month, while Heewoon Chung, President of Netcomics and ecomixmedia had tried the ad-supported model in the past. I tend to believe a hybrid model may be best: better technology (thank you Google) have made ad-supported models all the rage– yet if the content is nitch enough, it may find an audience.
FUNimation launches social network
One of the quieter announcements was the launch of AnimeOnline which joins Tokyopop as the two anime-company sponsored social network for fans. FUNimantion’s field into the space also staffs some editorial direction and content. Two other pure comic/anime social networks were also launched in the last couple of months: the independant ComicSpace and Hypercomics owned by PlanetWide Media. There’s plenty of potential for more anime and manga-based social networks: after all, doesn’t LiveJournal have to thank us?
Mobile Comics for the Emerging U.S. Market
Filed To: Distribution / Over in Asia / Digital / Mobile / Adv/Marketing
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December 3, 2005
Catching up with Mobile Anime Gaming
Posted by Devin
Several anime distributors and license holders have been able to distribute their content on mobile platforms. Manga publishing in Japan has been around for quite some time and has progressed rapidly. Here’s a little recap of what’s happened in the market in the last few 6-12 months.
On the mobile gaming some, VIZ Media linked up with Sorrent Networks (now Glu mobile) produced an Inuyasha game, one of the first mobile anime titles released as a mobile game off a license. How well its suceeded is undocumented at this time. Other licensers in the US now distribute wallpapers and other related images via aggragrators. If you’re just selling manga, then why not distribute it on the the phone? The most recent news in Japan is manga-ka are starting to bypass publishing houses by sending their work directly to cellphone carriers and aggigrators. This cuts out another rights-holder and gives the creators a greater cuts of the profits. The popularity of manga on the phone has been maddening as teens now read them on the trains every morning.
Tags: mobile-gaming, manga, digital-manga
Filed To: Over in Asia / Licensing / Mobile
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