This presentation given at Katsucon 20 (Februrary 14-16, 2014), on February 14th, talks about streaming technologies and Japan's International Marketplace for its intellectual property. Discussed are platform services, development and distribution of content, what is needed to watch and enjoy the services, including watching in comfort, and the cost barrier entry points. In addition future development and plans are discussed. I apologize for any errors in video playpack.

1. STREAMING
TECHNOLOGIES AND
JAPAN'S INTERNATIONAL
MARKETPLACE
BY LAWRENCE BRENNER

2. INTRO
• Hi I am Lawrence Brenner
• You may have seen my work in these places:

3. WHERE TO FIND ME ONLINE:
Scan the QR to like my fanpage

4. HASTAGS AND FOLLOWING
• @lawrencebrenner
• #katsucon

5. DIGITAL ANIME DISTRIBUTION
• Anime Distribution has evolved
• From TV to VHS to DVD
• Make sure not to forget anime on demand from your cable or TV provider either by service or DVR
• And now to streaming and digital services (some legal and not legal, I’ll mostly cover the legal)
• Anime is what most people think when talking about Japanese IP (intellectual Property)

6. JAPANESE IP MEDIA DISTRIBUTION
• Live Action
• Anime
• Games
• Manga/Books
• Music/Audio
• Other Programming (such as game shows, news)
• Adult content (not covered in this presentation, covered in the 18+ edition)
• This presentation will mostly cover streaming for viewership technology, as opposed to gameplay and manga
• This presentation also only covers legal Japanese IP Media Distribution

7. SERVICES AND SELECTION
• People will pay for a service, as opposed to individual titles. Why risk buying a title you don’t know?
• This is the success model and a future model for many properties.
• Netflix, Crunchyroll, Funimation, Hulu, all the major legal streaming sites participate in this
• Why does this work, because of the selection on the service.
• With a service you are more likely to test out new programming, even if you are not a fan already

8. SERVICES AND SELECTION: WHY THIS
WORKS
• There is less of a cost barrier entry for more content
• DVDs/Blu-ray are each expensive, even for one title (even as a season)
• $8/month for Netflix
$8/month

9. SERVICES AND SELECTION: WHY THIS
WORKS
• There are also tiered programs:
• Crunchyroll offers this for their IP
• And with the tiers comes different
benefits
• Instead of one method of
watching, one account offers access
on all the platforms where the service
is available

10. SERVICES AND SELECTION: WHY THIS
WORKS
• Funimation does
this as well

11. PLATFORM SERVICES ARE THE PRESENT
AND FUTURE
• Phones
• Tablets
• Game consoles
• Smart TVs
• Laptops/desktops
• Chromecast

12. WHAT DO YOU NEED TO TAKE ADVANTAGE
OF PLATFORM SERVICES?
• What is required by people to work, create content, and watch worldwide?
• Smartphone
• Laptop/Desktop
• TV with HDMI inputs
• High Speed Internet and Wi-Fi
• This is a baseline.

13. WHAT IS THE AVERAGE COST OF THE
BASELINE?
• Smartphone ($50-$150 month depending on service)
• Laptop ($250 - $2000+)
• TV with HDMI inputs ($100+ depending on screen size)
• High Speed Internet ($50+ a month depending on provider)
• Wireless Router ($50+)
• This is a baseline.

14. WHAT DOES THE AVERAGE CONVENTION
ATTENDEE HAVE?
• Smartphone
• Laptop
• TV with HDMI inputs
• High Speed Internet
• Modern Gaming console(s)
• Such as Xbox One/360, Playstation 3 and/or 4, and others

15. HOW DO THESE PEOPLE SPEND THEIR
TIME?
• This is where the cross-platform nature of services truly comes into play.
• Watch on the go, watch on at home, watch during the convention
• You choose when you want to watch, you just need the equipment to do so.

16. COST ENTRY POINTS FOR SERVICES
• As denoted by the baseline there is at least a several hundred dollar (USD) investment into simply
being able to enjoy the services
• On platforms the cost rises, you can watch everything from your laptop/desktop, but do you want to?

17. YOU SHOULD BE WATCHING, BUT
COMFORTABLY
• You can watch everything from your laptop/desktop, but what is the maximum screen size?
• 14”-22” for most consumers, not very large
• Most home TVs start at 24” and are 720p or higher resolution of 1080p. Cost is about $200
• Smart TVs are higher priced
• Given the choice, would you want to watch from at your laptop or your couch?

18. YOU SHOULD BE WATCHING, BUT
COMFORTABLY
• This is a laptop/desktop
configuration
• Not comfortable I think for
watching

19. YOU SHOULD BE WATCHING, BUT
COMFORTABLY
• I think watching on the
couch is more comfortable
• I know I do this (also
sometimes in armor)

20. YOU SHOULD BE WATCHING, BUT
COMFORTABLY
• Also watching on the couch
makes it easy to share the
enjoyment with friends

21. YOU SHOULD BE WATCHING, BUT
COMFORTABLY
• Especially with groups

22. PLATFORM DEVELOPMENT
• App and services economy
• Providing an app on a platform allows the service to be connected
• What platforms exist for this?
• Smart TVs, Roku, Android, iOS, Playstation, Xbox, Wii, etc.

23. CHROMECAST FOR ALL
• $35 USD (retail) is the entry point for a Chromecast
• The Chromecast allows a simple entry to big screens
• As of 2/3/2014 the Chromecast SDK was opened up to all developers.
• This opens up the possibility to more development and more IP
• Developing for the Chromecast also decreases cross-platform development costs
• But the Chromecast is US only for now.
• The technology and distribution exists, it becomes a legal issue.

24. FUTURE OF JAPANESE IP
DEVELOPMENT, WHERE SHOULD THE
FUNDS GO?
• Getting classics onto platforms
• This will require cooperation from the license holders, it is more of a legal than a technical problem
• International subtitles and closed captions
• Internationally ready websites, including being mobile ready
• Unified licensing and availability

25. WHY UNIFIED LICENSING AND
AVAILABILITY?
• Having all the services becomes expensive
• Individually the services are not, but if you want them all it becomes expensive
• And this includes making more available on more platforms.
• You chose what platform and service you want to watch on.
• This is also happening more through partnerships

26. PARTNERSHIPS AND AVAILABILITY OF
CONTENT
• Expansion of content through partnerships to reach new audiences.
• Instead of limiting the content to a single service such as their own apps and services
• Expand them to larger services such as Hulu, Netflix, etc
• This does two things, expand the audience and not require the purchase of an additional service for
initial entry into content.

27. PARTNERSHIPS AND AVAILABILITY OF
CONTENT
• This expansion also covers subbing and dubbing
• Viz and Funimation are the leaders in dub, and the Japanese IP holders need to not make anime as
expensive to license for subs and dubs, so more can be subbed and dubbed for international audiences.
• No subs versus dubs arguments from the audience please.
• Most people are introduced to Japanese IP through their own local language.
• This is changing, with streaming technologies, but it is an important fact.

28. PARTNERSHIPS AND AVAILABILITY OF
CONTENT
• How expensive is it to make a sub and a dub?
• Subs are less expensive to make
• Subs are something that can be done by the Japanese license holders and made ready for distribution
• And as such the Japanese owners can easily build and distribute on their own services and apps worldwide
• But they need to do the technology development for more than just the laptop/desktop

29. PARTNERSHIPS AND AVAILABILITY OF
CONTENT
• Daisuki has content available in multiple
languages (subs)
• But it does not apps for mobile watching
• This limits how the audience can watch
their content
• They work with many of the major license
holder and creators

30. PARTNERSHIPS AND AVAILABILITY OF
CONTENT
• Dubs require more investment
• But now there are multi-lingual releases that come out simultaneously such as

31. CHARACTER GOODS AND INTEREST ITEMS
• Streaming and interactivity opens the possibility for purchases of interest items such as figures
• The technology already exists in several forms
• X-Ray from Amazon, why just IMDB? Why not linked character goods?
• The demand would be immediate and high return on little invest because it can become a programmed
platform standard
• More money directly from existing IP, taking digital to physical.

32. CHARACTER GOODS AND INTEREST ITEMS
3. X-Ray will display the cast members in the current scene, the title and
performer of the music you’re hearing, and trivia such as goofs, location
information, and general facts about the video. Clicking on any of the
actors, music or trivia that are listed will reveal additional information about
them.
4. Clicking “View All” shows all the actors in the video. Also, at the top of the
screens are tabs that you can click to see all the characters, trivia, and music in
the video.
5. Choose an actor to get his bio information from IMDb.
6. If it’s a TV show, jump to a description of the character he or she plays.
7. View trivia related to the title and jump immediately to the related scene.
8. Learn more about the music, jump to the related scene, or quickly purchase
individual songs or the soundtrack album.

33. MORE DEVELOPMENT
• Interactivity for content will become more prominent
• Simulcasts will create and the classics will be available on more platforms and more of them
• More content will become available because the demand is there and will increase internationally

34. QUESTIONS/COMMENTS