ADV Speculation - in stores now
In response to this post on recent events surrounding ADV.
Thinking similarly, I'm not building any pyres.
In a recent interview with ICv2, the head of FUNimation stated the trend of the industry (which I've also noticed) is the draw toward box sets... Fans are buying them, and companies are releasing them instead of single volumes. Viz has been doing this with a few shows, notably Prince of Tennis, and FUNimation is starting to go this route as well. And, honestly, this trend started even before the Geneon distribution halt.
In 2005 or so, Hollywood noticed that the DVD boom was calming down. Movie sales were levelling off and they needed something new to tap for massive sales. Their solution was to box up classic and current TV into season box sets. The freedom of the DVD format brought people to stores in droves and DVD TV became one of the largest segments of the industry. As 2005 and 2006 continued, DVD prices dropped steadily and dramatically. Like with video games, which begin at a retail price of about $60 now, the price drops as much as %67 off only 6 months later. Depending on the studio, DVD movies can be found for as little as $5 a few months after it starts at $20. TV box sets have had a similar pattern, especially with FOX shows. Seasons of 24, with the right sale, can be found for $20 vs. the retail price of $60.
Anime has followed a similar pattern. After the boom of 2005 releases, things slimmed up in 2006 and 2007. The U.S. anime companies searched for ways to follow Hollywood's lead and keep in line with the classic pricing ratio of Hollywood : anime. Central Park Media was the first, cutting their retail prices to insane levels, commonly at $10 per disc (vs. 30). Geneon commonly released DVDs at a $25 retail. ADV began releasing the thinpak box set format, making anime as accessible as Hollywood TV. Bandai Entertainment followed that lead with cheap bundles of their sets. FUNimation has more recently taken a more aggressive, Hollywood style, issuing lower-priced re-releases of single volumes and ultra-cheap box sets. And Media-Blasters (Anime Works) has been releasing discs at a super-low $20 retail before waiting a few short months before releasing super-cheap box sets.
If anyone is ever curious about what might happen next in the DVD industry, I suggest they take a quick scan of what Hollywood's up to. And what's Japan doing? Manga via cell phone. iTunes, XBox Live, other download-to-own services. Things are generally going virtual. The companies are morphing the way they do things to maximize their potential sales. Merchandising is up, TV exposure and legal download availability is at an all-time high... With a demographic that is as technologically attuned, DVDs are almost an uphill sales method. Especially as the digestibility of anime increases, the disposability of it increases. It used to be a 1337 collector's hobby. Especially with the hordes that swarm the download feeds from Japan as soon as a show airs, that collectability factor has dwindled. We just want more animez!!1
It would certainly be much nicer if everyone that downloads a show at least bought the first volume... And it would be nice if people quit bitching about the price of the U.S.-released box sets as they head to the auction to buy a bootleg set... It would also be nice if production costs on this side of the Pac could be trimmed just a little bit more.
NewType. That's a simple thing that no one should be concerned about. The Japanese rights holder, Kadokawa (I believe) pulled the license, so ADV is now replacing it here with PiQ. I like the new price point and smaller page size. NewType never won me over. It was way too big and expensive to justify seeing pretty pictures of anime I can't watch legally for a year after getting the issue. I may check out PiQ... though I don't really have the time to read magazines anyway. Besides, I have the advantage of watching as much anime as I want. ;-P
As for ADV.com's trailer disappearance... After the Geneon distribution halt (had to boldface that - it's not a business collapse, people!!), it makes sense that people would knee-jerk into a doomsday prediction... But I'm reminded of something that happened on wwe.com a couple weeks back. The Diva section was completely dropped from the site one day. People paniced that the company was taking all of the artificially-inflated and bleached window dressing was being taken away from their weekly TV. It was functional again a few days later. OOPS! Be careful about reading too much into things. Especially now that almost all of the trailers are back, things are fine. I'd expect a short "oops with the trailers, but everything's OK"-like statement from ADV (or someone within ADV) within the next few days. It was likely a mistake and they'll get it fixed as soon as possible. Like with the suspension of the ADVocates program, people can only do so much in one day. I suspect this is also a reason behind the cancellation of their weekly anime showing in Houston.
As easy as all of this is to justify, we can wonder if these are symptoms of something more sinister. Couple it with the collapse of the ADV - Geneon distribution deal a week before it was to go into effect. Who really pulled the plug on that, and why? We still don't know any deeper details about that, and it could possibly shed some light on ADV's recent actions. The head of FUNimation also recently said, possibly in the same interview, that ADV was struggling. What's really going on?
Well, we don't know unless the honchos drop us a quick line to clear the air and the people's concerns... but I'm not worried.
- John
Thinking similarly, I'm not building any pyres.
In a recent interview with ICv2, the head of FUNimation stated the trend of the industry (which I've also noticed) is the draw toward box sets... Fans are buying them, and companies are releasing them instead of single volumes. Viz has been doing this with a few shows, notably Prince of Tennis, and FUNimation is starting to go this route as well. And, honestly, this trend started even before the Geneon distribution halt.
In 2005 or so, Hollywood noticed that the DVD boom was calming down. Movie sales were levelling off and they needed something new to tap for massive sales. Their solution was to box up classic and current TV into season box sets. The freedom of the DVD format brought people to stores in droves and DVD TV became one of the largest segments of the industry. As 2005 and 2006 continued, DVD prices dropped steadily and dramatically. Like with video games, which begin at a retail price of about $60 now, the price drops as much as %67 off only 6 months later. Depending on the studio, DVD movies can be found for as little as $5 a few months after it starts at $20. TV box sets have had a similar pattern, especially with FOX shows. Seasons of 24, with the right sale, can be found for $20 vs. the retail price of $60.
Anime has followed a similar pattern. After the boom of 2005 releases, things slimmed up in 2006 and 2007. The U.S. anime companies searched for ways to follow Hollywood's lead and keep in line with the classic pricing ratio of Hollywood : anime. Central Park Media was the first, cutting their retail prices to insane levels, commonly at $10 per disc (vs. 30). Geneon commonly released DVDs at a $25 retail. ADV began releasing the thinpak box set format, making anime as accessible as Hollywood TV. Bandai Entertainment followed that lead with cheap bundles of their sets. FUNimation has more recently taken a more aggressive, Hollywood style, issuing lower-priced re-releases of single volumes and ultra-cheap box sets. And Media-Blasters (Anime Works) has been releasing discs at a super-low $20 retail before waiting a few short months before releasing super-cheap box sets.
If anyone is ever curious about what might happen next in the DVD industry, I suggest they take a quick scan of what Hollywood's up to. And what's Japan doing? Manga via cell phone. iTunes, XBox Live, other download-to-own services. Things are generally going virtual. The companies are morphing the way they do things to maximize their potential sales. Merchandising is up, TV exposure and legal download availability is at an all-time high... With a demographic that is as technologically attuned, DVDs are almost an uphill sales method. Especially as the digestibility of anime increases, the disposability of it increases. It used to be a 1337 collector's hobby. Especially with the hordes that swarm the download feeds from Japan as soon as a show airs, that collectability factor has dwindled. We just want more animez!!1
It would certainly be much nicer if everyone that downloads a show at least bought the first volume... And it would be nice if people quit bitching about the price of the U.S.-released box sets as they head to the auction to buy a bootleg set... It would also be nice if production costs on this side of the Pac could be trimmed just a little bit more.
NewType. That's a simple thing that no one should be concerned about. The Japanese rights holder, Kadokawa (I believe) pulled the license, so ADV is now replacing it here with PiQ. I like the new price point and smaller page size. NewType never won me over. It was way too big and expensive to justify seeing pretty pictures of anime I can't watch legally for a year after getting the issue. I may check out PiQ... though I don't really have the time to read magazines anyway. Besides, I have the advantage of watching as much anime as I want. ;-P
As for ADV.com's trailer disappearance... After the Geneon distribution halt (had to boldface that - it's not a business collapse, people!!), it makes sense that people would knee-jerk into a doomsday prediction... But I'm reminded of something that happened on wwe.com a couple weeks back. The Diva section was completely dropped from the site one day. People paniced that the company was taking all of the artificially-inflated and bleached window dressing was being taken away from their weekly TV. It was functional again a few days later. OOPS! Be careful about reading too much into things. Especially now that almost all of the trailers are back, things are fine. I'd expect a short "oops with the trailers, but everything's OK"-like statement from ADV (or someone within ADV) within the next few days. It was likely a mistake and they'll get it fixed as soon as possible. Like with the suspension of the ADVocates program, people can only do so much in one day. I suspect this is also a reason behind the cancellation of their weekly anime showing in Houston.
As easy as all of this is to justify, we can wonder if these are symptoms of something more sinister. Couple it with the collapse of the ADV - Geneon distribution deal a week before it was to go into effect. Who really pulled the plug on that, and why? We still don't know any deeper details about that, and it could possibly shed some light on ADV's recent actions. The head of FUNimation also recently said, possibly in the same interview, that ADV was struggling. What's really going on?
Well, we don't know unless the honchos drop us a quick line to clear the air and the people's concerns... but I'm not worried.
- John