How does a series get picked up?

[Tommy]

I want to know what decisions licensing companies make when picking up a series. Do they ever stop by these download sites to look at the number of downloads a series has to see if its popular? That in itself seems like a smart method for Licensing anime.

For example Naruto and FMA have massive amounts of downloads so why don't the companies capitalize on this? I hear some of you say that they don't like to license anime until the series is completed but I would think that the companies would get wind of how insanely popular Naruto is and make a move on it.

I guess they just pick series that they think they can market the best?

[anthonyxscotland]

Originally Posted by Tommy

For example Naruto and FMA have massive amounts of downloads so why don't the companies capitalize on this? I hear some of you say that they don't like to license anime until the series is completed but I would think that the companies would get wind of how insanely popular Naruto is and make a move on it.

I guess they just pick series that they think they can market the best?

As ADV said last year
"Alot of anime is getting licenced during the planning stages, and thus fansubbing is unneeded".

Naruto is a must get for most companies this year. I will be shocked if by the end of the summer a company hasnt announced this... i mean christ koa got licenced!!!!!

[emessen]

Originally Posted by anthonyxscotland

As ADV said last year
"Alot of anime is getting licenced during the planning stages, and thus fansubbing is unneeded".

Naruto is a must get for most companies this year. I will be shocked if by the end of the summer a company hasnt announced this... i mean christ koa got licenced!!!!!

obviously the insanely popular titles... Naruto, One Piece etc etc...
have bidding wars going on like crazy... so in order to liscence it
it's gonna take a hefty chunk of change...

[anthonyxscotland]

Originally Posted by emessen

obviously the insanely popular titles... Naruto, One Piece etc etc...
have bidding wars going on like crazy... so in order to liscence it
it's gonna take a hefty chunk of change...

Its not so much the video rights that are going to cost, its going to be the tv rights and the tie in crap that will make naruto expensive. Who ever gets it will make a lot of $$$ thats for sure

[Gold_Rogers]

Originally Posted by anthonyxscotland

As ADV said last year
"Alot of anime is getting licenced during the planning stages, and thus fansubbing is unneeded".

Fansubbing might still be necessary if we want people to be educated about the original state of the anime, if in fact it does get edited/butchered to hell when a company happens to release it overseas. If no one subbed anime at all, a company could totally butcher a title and not many people would know about it (other than otakus).

I guess we could always have knowledgeable people watch the raws and write reviews or comparisons with the overseas releases, but that would be kind of a hassle.

[Tommy]

So then another big part of licensing anime is weather or not they can get it broadcast on a tv station?

[AvatarADV]

Originally Posted by Tommy

So then another big part of licensing anime is weather or not they can get it broadcast on a tv station?

There's a whole panoply of different factors involved.

At the same time, c'mon, folks. If you can't figure out that Naruto would sell like crazy just by seeing it, you shouldn't be picking shows to license... ;p We did not check our sense of "cool" at the door, you know.

[emessen]

Originally Posted by anthonyxscotland

Its not so much the video rights that are going to cost, its going to be the tv rights and the tie in crap that will make naruto expensive. Who ever gets it will make a lot of $$$ thats for sure

my comment was just on the liscencing of the titles...

with a liscence they can market it however they want to in the states...
just on dvd or with tv or whatever... but in order to even get it over here they
need to buy the rights from the japanese creators and copyright holders

[Black Jaggan]

Ehhh, just for the record....so all the animes shown on tv are licensed? I guess one Piece will be licensed in the US soon then, cause in Europe it's already licensed.

But I'm also surprised nobody has licensed Naruto yet, cause it's so popular... I think it would make big money if they got it on dvd.

[emessen]

because it IS so popular and it WOULD make a company alot of money...

ALOT of companies want it.. so hence the bidding wars... they are trying to
buy the rights... but the owners of the shows rights are holding off to make
craploads more money off the companies...

it's business

[Tommy]

Originally Posted by AvatarADV

There's a whole panoply of different factors involved.

At the same time, c'mon, folks. If you can't figure out that Naruto would sell like crazy just by seeing it, you shouldn't be picking shows to license... ;p We did not check our sense of "cool" at the door, you know.

So you work for ADV? Out of the new April series that are being fansubbed (I assume you guys check them out?) what do guys look for. Like Midori No Hibi for example seems to me like it would be an exellent show to pickup. Bakuretsu Tenshi also looks like another show that could do well here in the US.

[MasafumiGotoh]

Originally Posted by Black Jaggan

Ehhh, just for the record....so all the animes shown on tv are licensed? I guess one Piece will be licensed in the US soon then, cause in Europe it's already licensed.

But I'm also surprised nobody has licensed Naruto yet, cause it's so popular... I think it would make big money if they got it on dvd.

Naruto is not finished yet. It won't be finished in a long time. Thats one case Naruto wont be licensed. Remember this series, if it continues, it can go up to 200 - 300 episodes depending on how Kishimoto wants to end it.

Another would be the big price tag. Cmon people if you havent noticed already Naruto is just another DBZ goldmine. Once they merchandise, like T shirts, games and other stuff, the company that own the license would get a certain percent of what was sold from other companies that made the product.




Besides Americans dont realize(the average american) that anime is generally for all ages(well maybe not anime but manga for that matter). In Japan its thought to be like that. In America we got stereotypes on "oh hes watching cartoons" and "dude cartoons are for little kids." Not to mention that most of the anime that is violent or have sugguestive themes are usually aired at night. Laaaate at night. Depending on what kind of content is on it. You can expect an anime like Maburaho to air at 2 o clock am. Also the censors then will have to say whats good and whats bad. To me this will change eventually. Maybe in 10 years when everyone owns a Vchipped TV then we will have much more freedom in watching more mature of almost everything.

To answer your question. No not every anime shown on TV gets licensed. I cant detect any sarcasm either.

[Mr_Paper]

Originally Posted by AvatarADV

There's a whole panoply of different factors involved.

At the same time, c'mon, folks. If you can't figure out that Naruto would sell like crazy just by seeing it, you shouldn't be picking shows to license... ;p We did not check our sense of "cool" at the door, you know.

I'm sure it's not just the 'cool' factor that goes into licensing a show like Naruto...

I'm pretty sure those little white demographic questionaires that you've been sticking in your products for the last eight years or so have a large effect on which series you decide to license.

Originally Posted by Tommy

I want to know what decisions licensing companies make when picking up a series. Do they ever stop by these download sites to look at the number of downloads a series has to see if its popular? That in itself seems like a smart method for Licensing anime.

Honestly speaking, there are better ways to know which series will be popular or good candidates to be licensed. Companies like ADV have invested, I'm sure, millions of dollars into market research and demographic studies to find out exactly what shows will sell and be popular before they even air. To base the decision to invest the amounts of money that go into a license agrement solely on a download site would not be a wise business practice.

Originally Posted by Tommy

For example Naruto and FMA have massive amounts of downloads so why don't the companies capitalize on this? I hear some of you say that they don't like to license anime until the series is completed but I would think that the companies would get wind of how insanely popular Naruto is and make a move on it.

How would they capitalize on the illegal distribution of copyrighted material?

Why haven't Naruto or Full Metal Alchemist been licensed yet? It's simple, as others have said, who ever acquires that title stand to earn a sizable return on their invest. Assume that Naruto was to end next week (at episode eighty... simple math) then get licensed. You could expect about four episodes a disc meaning you'd have to buy twenty DVDs just to get the television series. I'd expect the series to sell atleast one hundred thousand units per DVD, a conservative guess... Then again I could be over estimating it... I'll let you work out the potential profit for yourself. Noone has licensed them, Naruto or Full Metal Alchemist, because, again as stated, noone has out bid the others yet.

Now, about companies that "don't like to license anime until the series is completed..." Companies can and will license and announce their having licensed a series whenever they see fit to do so. The only people who don't like a series being licensed before it finishes are the people who feel they have been robbed of a good free series by the licensor. Personally, I think it is in a company's best interest to license and announce a series early. This allows them to drastically reduce the number of free/illegal fansubs of the series in circulation and increase their profit.

Originally Posted by Tommy

So you work for ADV? Out of the new April series that are being fansubbed (I assume you guys check them out?) what do guys look for. Like Midori No Hibi for example seems to me like it would be an exellent show to pickup. Bakuretsu Tenshi also looks like another show that could do well here in the US.

First, I sincerely doubt AvatarADV watches fansubs or holds them to the same regard as most anime fans. In his position, I'd guess his view of them is something akin to that annoying fly you want dead yet can't seem to swat. Second, I also doubt he needs suggestions from us on what series might make for good licenses. Odds are, he has an entire research department doing that for him.

[Tommy]

Originally Posted by Mr_Paper

Honestly speaking, there are better ways to know which series will be popular or good candidates to be licensed. Companies like ADV have invested, I'm sure, millions of dollars into market research and demographic studies to find out exactly what shows will sell and be popular before they even air. To base the decision to invest the amounts of money that go into a license agrement solely on a download site would not be a wise business practice.

True, But when I stroll down to the store to check out anime releases I can't help but think what the hell is all this crap on the shelves. There is so much anime that I would never consider watching. While so many unliscensed great series are just left to the side.

Of course I must admit without fansubs their would definitly be some series that I would have never given a chance and then I would of missed out on them.

Originally Posted by Mr_Paper

How would they capitalize on the illegal distribution of copyrighted material?

Sorry, I meant after they pickup the liscense of course.

Originally Posted by Mr_Paper

Why haven't Naruto or Full Metal Alchemist been licensed yet? It's simple, as others have said, who ever acquires that title stand to earn a sizable return on their invest. Assume that Naruto was to end next week (at episode eighty... simple math) then get licensed. You could expect about four episodes a disc meaning you'd have to buy twenty DVDs just to get the television series. I'd expect the series to sell atleast one hundred thousand units per DVD, a conservative guess... Then again I could be over estimating it... I'll let you work out the potential profit for yourself. Noone has licensed them, Naruto or Full Metal Alchemist, because, again as stated, noone has out bid the others yet.

Like you said whoever gets those titles stand to earn a sizable return. So thats why I'm kinda surprised that no ones been out bid yet. I guess once one company outbids another, some other company comes in and outbids the other.

[Yebyosh]

Originally Posted by Tommy

Like you said whoever gets those titles stand to earn a sizable return. So thats why I'm kinda surprised that no ones been out bid yet. I guess once one company outbids another, some other company comes in and outbids the other.

It is not a simple matter of bidding. Anime production companies can put a minimum license fee on their products. They may also be contracted to certain broadcasting companies to prevent media distribution until the series has finished its run on broadcast.

[dee]

Originally Posted by XxNarutoFanxX

Naruto is not finished yet. It won't be finished in a long time. Thats one case Naruto wont be licensed. Remember this series, if it continues, it can go up to 200 - 300 episodes depending on how Kishimoto wants to end it.

Another would be the big price tag. Cmon people if you havent noticed already Naruto is just another DBZ goldmine. Once they merchandise, like T shirts, games and other stuff, the company that own the license would get a certain percent of what was sold from other companies that made the product.

Besides Americans dont realize(the average american) that anime is generally for all ages(well maybe not anime but manga for that matter). In Japan its thought to be like that. In America we got stereotypes on "oh hes watching cartoons" and "dude cartoons are for little kids." Not to mention that most of the anime that is violent or have sugguestive themes are usually aired at night. Laaaate at night. Depending on what kind of content is on it. You can expect an anime like Maburaho to air at 2 o clock am. Also the censors then will have to say whats good and whats bad. To me this will change eventually. Maybe in 10 years when everyone owns a Vchipped TV then we will have much more freedom in watching more mature of almost everything.

Of course, it's a big price tag. Since anime is huge in North America, the Japanese can and do ask for more money for licensing fees, and as well can negotiate percentages in profit sharing.

So what Naruto is a long series, look at Inuyasha; that’s licensed and still showing in Japan. I have very little doubt that Naruto will be acquired and announced at Anime Expo or sooner.

True, not every anime show on Japanese tv, will be licensed. However, just about all the new shows are acquired before it’s even produced. In addition, some old shows have been licensed as well. To sum it up, mass licensing is the norm these days.

There’s an obvious difference between the two cultures and since it was proven you have no concept on Japanese culture, I think it’s best to let sleeping dogs lie.