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Anime in a recession
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How to get all my money
American anime distribution companies and fansubbers have been at odds with each other for many years, but the struggle has intensified since the U.S.'s economic downturn. Disposable income is scarce, and companies are struggling to persuade anime fans to purchase shows that they can oftentimes get for free on the internet.
Until now, most companies have resorted to cease & desist letters ordering subbers to stop releasing a series once it has been licensed. Because of the nature of the internet, however, this rarely actually works. Subbers can still translate an episode and release it anonymously on a peer-to-peer network like Bittorrent. Anime companies therefore had to rely on the appeal of an English language audio track, spiffy box art and some extra goodies to get fans to purchase DVDs. However, these draws are less appealing when money is tight.
Enter FUNimation's revolutionary new tactic regarding the airing of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. FUNimation will not only be streaming episodes on their website for free, they will have professional subs of each episode available less than a week after the episode airs in Japan. They are effectively beating fansubbers to the punch, and this approach is a huge step in the right direction for the anime industry. Considering many sub groups take 5 days or more to release an episode themselves, why wait for the fansub when you can get it free and legal from the official license holder? Granted, you don't get to keep it, but that's where FUNimation can expand its strategy to actually make money and truly cut fansubbers off at the pass:
- Release sub-only series in no-frills, economically-priced thinpak boxsets, similar to what TRSI did with SuperGALS! season 2 when it was no longer feasible to dub it. Obviously, folks who are downloading fansubs don't mind watching a series in Japanese, and they enjoy watching a series as cheaply as possible, as soon as possible. If FUNimation can sub an episode in 5 days, they could release an entire thinpak (sub-only) a few weeks after a series ends, taking advantage of the market before enthusiasm wanes and fans find a new favorite show.
- Make streaming subs available for download at a price. Users could choose to download them for their iPhone/PSP or just to keep on their computer. It is important that the price per episode and the price for the boxset be comparable, so that neither option is a rip-off compared to the other.
- Stop producing regular-sized DVDs entirely. Either release a thinpak all at once, or release the first thin DVD with the box and sell each subsequent DVD in thin format. Full-width DVD cases are economically impractical and a tremendous waste of money and space for most anime fans.
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