Its best to wait for Namaenash to look at it to see if its actually legit since she knows this stuff. You can PM her if you want to.
Thanks Derock :) No wonder I was sneezing the other day, haha...
It's been a while and I hope everyone is doing great! Regarding the news from comicbooks 'journalist' and TV Tokyo Financial Report, here's my take:
It is not something new that you see Naruto franchise to be on the top list of TV Tokyo revenue. But without the right context you will be lost and incorrectly understand the information.
To make sense of any reports, we need to get the right context. Principally, we need to know what -> know how -> know why; We need to understand how to distinguish data (the numbers on paper), information (the context of the numbers) and knowledge (the reasoning behind such numbers). This is, after all, human cognitive abilities in action...
The title of the link is basically a legit quarterly report of 2018 Q3 from TV Tokyo Holdings.
https://www.txhd.co....0518_kessan.pdf
Now, to get started with the right context, let's compare with the same financial report from the same period of last year (i.e. 2017 Q3).
https://www.txhd.co....0518_kessan.pdf
Scroll down to the section where they rank it by Anime. Surprise, surprise. In 2017 Q3, Bleach, an anime which ended its run in 2012 was ranked number 3 in sales, beating Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh. How can this be?
Now, to appreciate the figures TV Tokyo are trying to present, you need to know the business model of TV Tokyo Holdings. TV Tokyo (and other broadcaster/producer) acquires its revenue from advertising, licensing, etc. In Japan, they are known to be specialized in Anime. Pokemon is broadcasted and produced by TV Tokyo. Likewise with Naruto, Bleach, etc.
When a series no longer airs, TV Tokyo owns the rights/license for other TV stations in the world to use their content and to broadcast it locally in their respective geographical areas. Whenever other station want to broadcast TV Tokyo's content, they need to pay an amount of fee to TV Tokyo. That's how they earn most of their money. Licensing.
It's a viable business model for long run, since you can just drop your content to other station in the world who are looking for audience to get revenue from advertisements. So long as there's enough audience, it'll generate revenue accordingly. And that revenue will come back to TV Tokyo.
If you drill down TV Tokyo's 2018 Q3 Financial Report, especially in Anime section, there's a highlight saying "ライツ アニメ：中国市場で「NARUTO」「BORUTO」好調" This basically means that the license / rights sales performs well in China.
Now, China is a huge market for entertainment. Have you ever wondered why Hollywood movies were also produced by China producer these days? Have a look at this simple table to appreciate China's market potential in revenue for entertainment: https://en.wikipedia..._films_in_China The total gross for that movie in China alone is USD 392million, which is about USD 160million more than it grossed in US (where it is coming from).
Now, back to our discussion, I understand from a colleague of mine working in entertainment industry that contract varies between countries. So, I imagine TV Tokyo would have variety of contracts. And when they sell the rights, it is almost always time-bound. Meaning to say that you pay for a set of episodes to be aired between x date to y date. I can't say exactly and I'm not saying things on behalf of them, however, you can google out how exactly it works.
With such business model, it's no wonder that Bleach, a series that was shut down years ago, can get to rank 3 in 2017 Q3. However, do we see this in the news outlet?
Now, let's switch to different optics. A franchise revenue stream is not just anime. So, how does Naruto fares against other media type?
Enter Naruto Franchise performance in 2018 (first half), which is the most recent one:
Here
hints: it's not even in TOP 30 Franchise in Japan, counted by sales of Blu-ray Discs, DVDs, music CDs, novels, and manga, but not games, film tickets, digital downloads. Naruto franchise as a whole, performs below JPY 815,416,025 (roughly below USD 7million) which is the figure that franchise #30 ranked at, for the first half of 2018.
For a franchise that generates USD ~8billion in its 15 years-lifetime and counting (with Boruto series), a 6 months revenue of less than USD 7million is so underwhelming. I'm not sure how much exactly Naruto franchise gets. The franchise owner still account Boruto under Naruto franchise. That's the whole point of the ending right?
Compare that to Naruto Franchise performance in 2015 (full year), which was the latest period where Naruto franchise ever gets into TOP 30 in Japan:
Here
In 2015, Naruto franchise produces less than previous years. In the previous years, it's trailing closely behind One Piece. Although this is expected since they produced less manga volume (last volume was in the end of 2014). Although 2 movies were produced in that period, potentially contributing more from BD and DVD as compared to years before.
By the way, in 2015, Naruto franchise generates around USD 35million from sales of Blu-ray Discs, DVDs, music CDs, novels, and manga, but not games, film tickets, digital downloads. Despite lower than years before, it's still remarkable.
That's my observations on the figures presented. And thanks for paying attention to this yawning topic :)
Have a great day everyone!
Edited by Namaenash, 27 August 2018 - 05:16 PM.
