Business model of Crunchle Roll which reduced illegal download by 70% by distributing animation almost simultaneously with broadcasting in Japan

"Crunchyroll" is a site where overseas animation fans who can not watch Japanese TV can enjoy animation at almost the same time as broadcasting in Japan.

It was a site that fans used to watch subtitles without permission, but since 2008 it began to legally distribute with negotiations with a company with animation rights, 2009 It has become a video distribution site that all videos are distributed under license.

Crunchyroll - Watch Naruto Shippuden, Bleach, Anime Videos and Episodes Free Online
http://www.crunchyroll.com/

At the Tokyo International Anime Fair 2012, Kun Gao, founder of Crunch Roll and Mr. Vincent Schottino, President of Japan, talked about overseas animation fan situation and animation delivery circumstances.


table of contents
· Outline of crunch roll
· How do overseas animation fans see Japanese animation, how do you see it?
· What kind of trends are there in overseas animation market
· How will it become about future animation distribution, findings of crunch roll
·Question-and-answer session

◆ Outline of crunch roll

Vincecent Shotino, President of Crunchy Roll Co., Ltd. (hereinafter Vince):
First of all, I will give you an overview of what kind of site the crunch roll is.


Vince:
Crunch Roll was originally a website that Kung Gao started with as a hobby with the synchronization of the university. Since there are many animation fans overseas, users are steadily increasing and becoming a company in 2007. We started business in earnest in 2008.


Vince:
2009 was a turning point for crunch rolls. Licensing all videos from this yearSame day delivery (Simulcast)I began to do. This is a business that distributes movies with subtitles with crunch rolls in 30 minutes after the animation was broadcast in Japan, and let people around the world see it. At first I signed up with TV Tokyo and Shueisha and had them deliver jump series animations such as "NARUTO - Naruto". Why did you do business with us, because there was a big illegal file problem at that time. This is still now, but at that time it was even bigger.

Since crunch rolls began to simulcast, illegal downloads have decreased. In the case of "NARUTO - NARUTO", it decreased by 70%. Also, I was able to change it to money properly. It is a business that Japanese anime is delivered overseas via internet.

Crunch Roll's revenue model is two. First of all, one who wants to see the same day payment pays 7 dollars a month (about 580 yen), it is a high-quality, unchecked plan. And the other is advertisement model. In Crunch Roll, only paid members can watch the movie for a week from the start of distribution, but it will become free to watch after more than one month. However, ads will be included in that video.

The main is Simulcast. Here is the list of the programs that are currently delivered, Let's try it on a trial.


Vince:
With this kind of feeling, you can watch movies with subtitles. With crunch rolls1080pWe are delivering it. Today, it has been played more than 10 million times per month.


One of the reasons Crunch Roll wants to see people all over the world as soon as broadcasting of Japanese animation has finished has the point that it provides a place that is seen legally. As illegal countermeasures, I think that I am actually becoming a business and I am contributing to the animation industry to some extent.

From here, I will ask Kun CEO to appear.

Kun Gao, co-founder of crunch rolls (hereinafter referred to as Kun):
I am talking about three points, how overseas animation fans have seen Japanese animation so far, and how they are looking now. And what kind of trends are there in overseas animation market? Finally, I will tell you the findings of crunch roll as to how future animation distribution will become.


◆ How do overseas animation fans see Japanese animation, how do you see it?

Kun:
In the 90 's, how the overseas fans were watching Japanese animation, some enthusiastic fans first came to Japan to record animation on videotape and brought home. We exchanged information in a small community and exchanged tapes with each other to exchange letters. This is a story before the Internet delivery, and it is also the reason why a company of animated DVD was created in North America at that time.


Ten years passed, the animation prosperity period came in North America. Around this time, the majority of the revenue model was partly due to the delivery of DVDs. Fans collected DVDs one at a time, many routes using real stores as the main sales channels were purchased via shops such as Best Buy.


Also, "Dragon Ball" and "Pokemon" became popular, as being broadcast on cable cartoon network of cable TV. To broadcast on cable was a good way to reach many people.


At this time, anime fans will discover a way to "exchange video files". Kazaa and others started sending and receiving files via P2P.


In 2006 to 2008, in North America DVDs' momentum began to disappear. As the sales route became very limited, Japanese animation broadcasted on TV almost disappeared, and animation fans moved to P2P such as Bittorrent.

At the same time, an online video sharing site appeared. It is a site like YouTube or MegaVideo. All these are illegal methods, of which MegaVideo is currently missing.


From 2009 to 2011, there has been a change in the sales channels of DVDs. Physical distribution has become smaller, while Amazon.com has emerged and it has become a big sales channel. In a company that sold DVDs, it became necessary to consider another means. Also, fans also purchase DVDs by purchasing one volume at a time, DVD-BOX or Blu-ray BOX.


It was around this time that the crunch roll started. Crunchy Roll is the first company that streamed anime programs legally to animated fans around the world.


And today, there has not been a big change in the distribution, but the proportion of animation fans handling the program in a more digital form and experiencing it is increasing. For example, in crunch rolls, about 70% of animations broadcast in Japan are distributed simultaneously, and the environment for users to see it is also diversified, such as PC, iPhone, iPad and so on. Hulu and NETFLIX provide catalog streaming, and integration with the digital download business at PlayStation Store, iTunes, Zune, etc. is beginning to start.


◆ What kind of trends are there in foreign animation markets

Kun:
Anime is moving in the digital direction, and more options are emerging. In the crunch roll, we are advancing animation simultaneously in the direction of 100% distribution. In the past, it took several months, long and several years before works that were broadcast in Japan could be seen overseas. However, right now it is possible to see it in a few minutes after it was broadcast in Japan. Also, before we needed to record and watch on video or DVD, entertainment has become more personalized, so that the work can be seen on any device, such as PC, iPhone etc. It is getting.


◆ How will it become about future animation distribution, findings of crunch roll

Kun:
Distribution of animation is gathered in "What kind of experience does the user experience?" It is not good to just deliver it, it is important to deliver a better experience for the user and establish a brand.


This picture is of the convention which is done with crunch roll. The user is dancing and singing at the event, but it is also delivered to users who are watching this at the same time by streaming. Even if you can not participate directly, you can participate indirectly and add comments.


For Crunch Roll, we plan to release applications for Windows Mobile in April. Entertainment will shift further to "Personal experience (personal experience)" from now on.

"Go to more e-commerce." Currently, 300 thousand users are purchasing something from crunch rolls and are building a direct charge. In the future, I will open up the platform with crunch rolls and I would like Japanese companies to utilize when they want to sell products directly to overseas fans. Regarding this, I will create an e-commerce store and I'd like to start by about the summer.

The end is "to go to more global". Most of the story so far was about the experiences of users in North America, the United States and Canada. However, there are similar trends in all countries. For example, in Central and South America, the era of streaming is suddenly coming by skipping over the era of watching animation on video and DVD that North America has passed through. Therefore, Crunchy Roll launches the site for Latin America (Spanish version) in the first week of April. If you can do this, most of the pieces will be available for simultaneous distribution with Spanish subtitles.

◆ Q & A


Q:
As a possible market there is a Chinese market, but have you already thought of something?

Kun:
The Chinese market is a very challenging market. Since it is also an interesting market, we are investigating and investigating, but we believe that we must cooperate with local companies in order to succeed. The local company should understand the government and regulation, how to succeed in the market. Even companies that are globally successful are also suffering from the Chinese market, so I think that it is difficult to succeed in the Chinese market if they do not work well with local companies. As my hope, I think that Chinese enterprises will be open someday, transparency will be high, foreign-affiliated companies should be able to do business well. I am also born in China and since I moved to the USA young, I have a desire to do business in China.

Q:
In Japan, I think that there are still many DVDs and Blu-ray viewers in the transition period that has not completely shifted to digital distribution. In that respect, I think crunch rolls are going to the future, but do users of crunch rolls purchase DVD or Blu-ray? Or is it a light user who is satisfied to see things delivered? Is it?

Kun:
In the beginning of 2000, there were circumstances that overseas had purchased it because there was only DVD to see animation. DVD was the only way as a medium. However, now there are more choices, there is a form of collecting DVDs later, looking at it online first. I tried selling various items such as DVDs, figures, T - shirts etc on the selling site which we operate, but when I looked at by category, I found that DVD is the best selling. It turned out that the person who saw the work being delivered purchased a DVD and connected with ...... The advantage of buying from a crunch roll is that if best buy gained half profit before, profit can be reduced more.

Q:
It is a question about e-commerce. Does crunch roll selling goods mean to sell goods of license holders? Or is it that the user sells something?

Kun:
The goal is to keep the platform open as much as possible. So that people who have something to sell can sell on the list as soon as possible. Since credit card is registered in user information, purchase is completed with just 2 clicks at the time of purchase. As for this, we would like to work with several official partners of the company first and make it bigger. Of course, I think that what you sell needs to be official.

Q:
I have talked about the Spanish version about future plans, but are there plans for other language versions? Please tell us about the part of the world that North America accounts for a large proportion.

Kun:
In crunch rolls, 6 million people are watching each month, 60% of which are from North America. There are also users in other English-speaking countries, such as UK, Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia, Scandinavian countries, etc. Basically there are many people in the English-speaking countries.

Regarding the first question, of course I'd like to become a global animation channel in the true sense, so I'd like to enter all the countries. However, execution becomes a problem, do you do it yourself without a partner, or are you going to work with a partner? You have to think about this. So far, I have been building infrastructure and systems, so I would like to take it to as many countries as possible and I would like to develop it including Japan.