Anime Media Promoting

[Darkerangel]

Okay so I have a question for you guys and gals. Television-wise how come I don't really see anime being promoted? I swear there seem that there are more books (you know, those black and white text with the colorful covers) being advertised more than anime (Internet aside).

[ShadowCell]

television ads are very expensive and anime is a niche product that doesn't justify that kind of outlay.

[SonicSP]

While I'm just guessing, I assume it gets promoted in Japan's television a decent amount. Everywhere else not so much.

Certainly makes a lot of sense for books to be promoted a lot more than anime if you ask me, especially since outside Japan it's a niche as mentioned.

[bullethead]

While I'm just guessing, I assume it gets promoted in Japan's television a decent amount. Everywhere else not so much.

Based on what I've seen of Japanese TV (which is pretty much whatever livestreams of MBS showed before Valvrave came on), there aren't that many ads for anime. Granted, that's probably not the best sample, but given how weird the whole late night TV anime thing is on the production side, I doubt there's heavy advertising outside of the internet and Akibahara.

Certainly makes a lot of sense for books to be promoted a lot more than anime if you ask me, especially since outside Japan it's a niche as mentioned.

Honestly, there aren't that many commercials for books. They're so rare that their appearance is a bit of a "Wait, what?" moment. The only real advertising for books I see on TV is shout outs in talk shows.

[SonicSP]

^I guess that's true. Frankly I can't remember the last time I saw a book TV ad either.

At least over here in Malaysia, you do see the occasional TV station (we only have five or six on air not counting satellite ones) mentioning any anime that they are airing. A far cry from a lot but it occasionally appears.

And what surprised me the most was this sticker ad for Gundam AGE that they placed on a gunpla sold at a local store (specifically mine was a HG AGE-1 Spallow) where they stamped the information on the box. Basically at the time one of the stations was airing an English dub of Gundam AGE and they placed some stickers on gunpla to showcase. Really surprised the heck out of me that one since Im not used to seeing relevant ads on my gunpla. Also saw some kids mecha anime with a Bandai toyline get a show time mention on a cardboard as well at one of Toys R Us.

They're not really product advertisements though, more towards show advertisement.

[AmuroNT1]

Also bear in mind that while America has laws preventing shows from advertising their own products (passed in the 80s in order to keep things like G.I. Joe, Transformers, and He-Man from turning into 30-minute toy commercials), Japan does not. In fact, if you actually watch the commercials for an anime or toku show, odds are they will ALL be products related to the series, like action figures, roleplay props, or themed snacks/candies.

[bullethead]

Also bear in mind that while America has laws preventing shows from advertising their own products (passed in the 80s in order to keep things like G.I. Joe, Transformers, and He-Man from turning into 30-minute toy commercials), Japan does not. In fact, if you actually watch the commercials for an anime or toku show, odds are they will ALL be products related to the series, like action figures, roleplay props, or themed snacks/candies.

I'm not seeing much of a difference, at least when it comes to American animation. Because Cartoon Network (at the very least), does put out ads for products related to their own shows (and others too, like Marvel and DC movies and Lego). Hell, they even put Ben10 toy commercials in Toonami broadcasts of Eureka 7 (which led to the recurring joke of "Ren10" being like clockwork)!

I think there are a few major differences between the US and Japan:
1) US ads aren't geared toward selling merchandise of most stuff because advertisers/networks realize that's niche stuff and the cost/benefit ratio for that doesn't make sense. In Japan, a lot of the big companies depend on niche stuff to rake in money and have a culture that's more primed to accept those niche items, so they're willing to spend the money on that.
2) America is moving away from merchandise and collecting the show on physical media towards buying tie-in stuff like games and using streaming sites to catch old episodes. While physical media still has a major presence (thanks in part to US geography and Internet industry making high speed Internet availability an issue), US companies recognize that they need to change the way they make money. Japan has been already doing that for years with gaming and manga tie-ins, but their main problem now is that their products are getting too expensive for all but hardcore fans, people who intend to pirate the material to others, and rental outlets.
3) Network politics come into play a lot more in the US than Japan. Because of a lack of stability at the upper ranks of most networks, the guy who greenlit a show might be gone by the time that it airs. And if that person doesn't like the show, he's not going to support it. In Japan, since everybody's in bed together thanks to the production committee system and the execs are usually there for decades, things run a bit smoother and they can do just about whatever they want.
4) The anime aesthetic's reputation has been ruined in the west by everyone flipping out over hentai and ultra-violent anime in the early 00s, lolicon, and the general over-the-top nature of fanservice. There's a reason brick and mortar retailers don't like most Japanese games and it could explain why Atlus had to go through Steam's Greenlight program to get Record of Agarest War (IIRC) on there. The only people who've done anime advertising correctly in the US are the guys running Toonami, and that's because they can at least write and edit a trailer to make stuff look cooler than it actually is. Of course, there's only so much anyone can do with shows that generally don't fit US tastes - showing anything other than an ultrapopular show is a major risk on US TV.

[Darkerangel]

Ohh okay.

Because I was in the "mind frame" of like when I buy DVDs and go into their "Extra" section and see trailers belonging to 4 to 5 different anime shows, I'm thinking to myself, why can't they just take that and slap it on the television for a quick promo. Because at the time to me, it just looks like the promo is already done. Only thing next would be to get it onto the television which I see nothing of.

So when I hear companies having "money issues", I'm thinking to myself are they promoting their stuff? Because I haven't seen anything, internet or not.

[bullethead]

Ohh okay.

Because I was in the "mind frame" of like when I buy DVDs and go into their "Extra" section and see trailers belonging to 4 to 5 different anime shows, I'm thinking to myself, why can't they just take that and slap it on the television for a quick promo. Because at the time to me, it just looks like the promo is already done. Only thing next would be to get it onto the television which I see nothing of.

The cost for a 90 second TV spot is pretty high unless you're airing it in the middle of the night. Toonami gets away with their show promos/speeches/AMVs because they work for the guys who own the air time and usually have 90 seconds of dead air to fill. Besides that, most anime DVD/BD trailers probably are designed to hook people who are into anime and may have a passing familiarity with the shows they're advertising. Toonami's promos for shows work better at getting people totally unfamiliar with those shows look and sound cooler than they might be in reality.

So when I hear companies having "money issues", I'm thinking to myself are they promoting their stuff? Because I haven't seen anything, internet or not.

Most anime licensing companies have razor thin profit margins because of how much Japan charges for the rights upfront (check out what ADV had to pay back in the day). Between the payments to Japan, the cost of dubbing, and the cost of producing physical media, there's almost no money left for advertising. That's why you see those terribad anime backgrounds on ANN, licensors telling people about their products via Twitter and Facebook, and now Funimation(?) advertising Haraganai(? - that "Forever Alone Club" anime) on 4chan with banners. That stuff is cheap and hits their core demos pretty well (well, except for the Gundam: The Origin ad campaign), so they stick with it.

If you want to know more about the anime and manga industry (and why their way of business is pretty incompatible with the rest of the world's way), check out this site's publications.