How is an Anime/Manga a "Failure"?

Vorpy

You know how the gross profit of movies can define if it made back its budget, and if it didn't it was deemed a flop?

What standard do you  use to figure this out about anime/manga?

Naas_Human

Manga seems simple enough based on like what point it gets cancelled, but maybe I'm oversimplifying.

No idea about anime. Just looking at what gets made baffles me sometimes.

Vorpy

Yeah, I wonder, do animes get paid based on merchandising + ad revenue or something? 

This would be a question for Anonus since he knows how networks make money.

Naas_Human

I recall from AnimeNewsNetwork's Answerman column (or someplace) that most anime don't make money like TV shows in general do, as many of them aren't attached to a network, rather the relationship is that the production committee buys airtime slots on whatever channels they can get.

glennmagusharvey

So, basically, DVD and peripheral merchandise (e.g. figurines, soundtrack CDs, wallscrolls, trinkets) sales?  And I'm guessing licensing, for stuff that's successful enough for people to want to license the imagery and/or brand.

Naas_Human

Soundtrack CDs don't seem big enough to be a deciding factor, considering how often you get character songs as separate releases, and really music-heavy anime would also have live events with some regularity.

fourteenwings

I think I've tossed this theory out a couple of times, but I think one of the main factors towards Symphogear's popularity after G is that G came with those event tickets for the first Symphogear Live, which was an event featuring Mizuki Nana, plus a couple of other seiyuu with their fanbases. It sort of created a negative loop, with everybody assuming the popularity was due to the content by itself, and so they greenlit another concert for GX.

There's an easy comparison, BROCCOLI's other music based series, UtaPri, literally broke records during 2000% (they were quickly swept under the rug by Love Live!, using the exact same formula). The whole event ticket system is also possibly more broken than mobage gatcha things.

Nowadays, it seems way more likely that an anime will succeed if there are character singles involved somehow, and 2k sales seems to be a decent recoup on those. Of course, this doesn't work for every anime franchise. Sometimes, like DreaFes, the anime is greenlit to keep the game in the spotlight, and that's what I assume is driving the trend of otome music mobage adaptations. LN adaptations are probably similar, KADOKAWA, MF and GA Bunko probably have an advertising budget every year for their LNs and a set number of adaptations they can do, so it doesn't really matter if they sell or not.

Second seasons for those LN or music anime though do depend on them taking off on their own and building a dedicated fandom that will buy anything with [X]s face on it.

Relatedly, I think sometimes a studio will sign on to do a profitable property of some sort and this'll come with taking a hit for another property that will probably never do well. I think aside from their Young Gangan manga anime, Square-Enix game adaptations have been consistent misses.

As for soundtracks, I know that a whole bunch of Japanese TV shows will just borrow tracks from anime soundtracks, so that's probably why those keep getting considerable budgets.

There's probably a lot of secret finance stuff we can't begin to assume going on. I don't understand overly-artsy original anime myself, because the whole concept of an original anime is launching an IP. Maybe studios or committees will set aside the profits they've made from other productions and do one for prestige (or hoping they become SHAFT).

Committees are also a really secretive area, since we aren't fluent in Japanese and there aren't really records anyways we can't really figure out who is on them and which companies and (especially) individuals are on them over and over.

Before I forget, I know that the only TV anime that acts like network TV is stuff that airs early mornings for kids where the TV station is on the committee at all*, or late-afternoon shounen adaptations, or NHK anime because they have an educational block that greenlights a show for multiple seasons (Phi-Brain, Log Horizon, ClassicaLoid).

*A good example is avex, BN Pictures and TV Asahi coming together to try and create kid's dance-TV anime via Tribe Cool Crew, which lasted for a full year, and then Brave Beats, which they probably noticed wasn't taking off and decided to can midway through. Similarly, TakaraTOMY and TBS' current foray into a partnership, which started with the unsuccessful Kamiwaza Wanda, which was replaced by the new Tomica mecha series.

Stormtroper

I misread this thread's title and thought it was about the "Anime was a mistake" meme.

lrdgck

I did too, but at least I guessed who started it.

glennmagusharvey

Stormtroper wrote: »

I misread this thread's title and thought it was about the "Anime was a mistake" meme.

this

Anonus

Vorpy wrote: »

You know how the gross profit of movies can define if it made back its budget, and if it didn't it was deemed a flop?

 

The grosses for movies aren't profits, they are revenues generated at the box office. As a raw figure, they are not helpful in determining how much a movie actually made in profit, given how cagey the movie business is about its finances and that exhibitors keep a cut of the revenues.

As for anime making money, it's gotta be the merch and other licensing opportunities.