We all hate
it when a long-awaited series ends up trapped for years in the red giant's
catalog, losing much of the collective excitement. That famous absolute
exclusivity that sometimes extinguishes the general interest seems to have its
days numbered. Netflix has just confirmed that it will
radically change its strategy for the Japanese animation market,
leaving behind its obsession with having the full rights to prioritize
something much smarter: strategic partnerships and flexibility.
The end
of hijacked licenses
Yuji
Yamano, the director of content acquisition, set the record straight during a
recent interview. The entertainment titan realized that hoarding a project
isn't always the best idea if you want the franchise to grow massively. Now
they are betting on the media mix model, which basically means
expanding the same story through movies, official merchandise and live events.
They understood that they cannot control absolutely everything internally, so
they prefer to ally themselves with experts from the Japanese industry.
A shining
example of this new era was Cosmic Princess Kaguya!. The film was
first released in its digital catalog, but thanks to this flexibility, it was
later able to be screened in traditional movie theaters with a resounding
success. This kind of freedom is what led them to form a strategic alliance
directly with the animation studio behind big hits like Chainsaw Man,
proving that they are very serious about this opening.
Changing
the rules from within
The other
gigantic change is the way they invest their budget. In the past, the streaming
platform used to wait until the series was completely finished to
simply take out the wallet and buy the streaming rights. Today, they are
sitting at the design table from the earliest stages of production. They want
to plan where to take the story before the first episode even gets animated.
Although
they adamantly refuse to be part of the traditional and complex Japanese
production committee, Yamano confessed that they are mimicking their
structure to work side by side with creators, making sure that artists really
have an interest in collaborating with them and it's not just a cold corporate
deal.
Knowing
that the platform is finally willing to let go of a bit of control to allow
theatrical releases and the free sale of merchandise.
