5 ms·

How many customers watch each episode of popular shows? 100k+? And we're talking a difference of ~7 hours of labor. $200 difference at most?

torben-friis 1y ago
That person would need, besides basic computer fluency for the timestamps, knowledge of Japanese and English. Not unheard of, but probably harder than hiring for a call center, and more need to prevent high rotation due to difficulty in finding replacements. Edit: not that I disagree with your general idea, just pointing out potential issues.
- bonecrusher2102 1y ago
  It’s cheaper than you might think. Much like in gaming, there’s a lot of people who really want to work in the anime industry, even if it’s just on the localization and distribution side. This drives down salaries quite a bit.
  - torben-friis 1y ago
    Fair point, it does sound like an industry that would have a high passion/vocational factor.
- throwaway92rw 1y ago
  Wouldn't it be easier to just hire someone in Japan who knows English? Im sure they could find someone willing to work remotely.
  - danudey 1y ago
    Someone who knows English natively and Japanese sufficiently is necessary for producing quality subtitles; it's arguable that potentially having slightly less accurate subtitles (i.e. missing nuance) is better than having slightly less fluent English (i.e. not communicating in a natural-sounding manner). It's not just about translation, after all, but localization. While you can (or kind of have to) assume some level of familiarity with Japanese life/culture for someone watching anime, it's easier for a native English speaker/someone who grew up in North America to notice cultural disconnects and figure them out. An example I once heard: a book in Italian might say the character "ordered a coffee" and then "picked up the coffee, drank it, and walked out of the cafe". An Italian without as much consideration of American culture might translate that directly, but someone who understands localization would know that Italian character ordered what we would call an espresso, and know to change the text to be specific; otherwise, it sounds as though the person is guzzling an entire mug of black coffee on the spot, which would likely come across as psychotic and unnerving compared to taking a single shot of espresso. Likewise, an Italian reader of an American novel might be unable to comprehend how or why an American character could spend 20 minutes nursing a cup of coffee, because they might be picturing a 1-2 oz espresso rather than a drip coffee. So yeah, that's the big part of why it can't just be someone who knows English to some sufficient degree - because without fluency in spoken and written English, familiarity with how things would be said in English, and cultural differences between Japan and North America, you're going to end up with all kinds of dissonance.
bonecrusher2102 1y ago
I agree - this is the right take. Spend a little extra because your customers REALLY care.
- programjames 1y ago
  I think the take is: If 100k people watch the episode, spending $200 more for higher quality subtitling comes out to... a whopping 0.2 cents per person (per episode). Let's just say that would cost an extra $1/month per person. Are they price sensitive enough that they won't go to a competitor that's a few dollars more expensive per month if it has better subtitles? I don't know, but maybe some manager believed they were, and thus it was worth it to make the subscription a little cheaper.
  - chii 1y ago
    i think you've counted it in a way that makes it sound cheap, but in reality isnt. $100k per month is extra revenue, if they do a half-assed job. A customer actually has no competitor to move to - crunchyroll has a defacto monopoly (barring piracy). The price of the subscription is already adjusted to be the maximum of what the market would bear for maximum revenue - presumably raising that price higher would lead to lower subscribers and revenue.
    - brigandish 1y ago
      > barring privacy That’s the key right there.
      - bl4ckneon 1y ago
        The ironic part is that a large majority of the piracy is just crunchy roll rips or subtitles from crunchy roll.
        gh02t 1y ago
        Also worth remembering that CR itself started as a pirate site.
DrewADesign 1y ago
This is really what’s driving business AI products’ push by fleece vest set, though: knowing that they can make enshitification just that much more attractive.
SecretDreams 1y ago
While I agree, it's all a our whether they can pass the cost off to the customer. Customers will care a lot for food quality - will they tolerate a price increase to preserve sub quality or accept lower quality for the same sub price? Are there competitors? These are the questions that would get played out in the decision process.
whywhywhywhy 1y ago
You’re not competing with them being unable to watch it either. You’re competing with someone doing a better job for free out of passion.
lasc4r 1y ago
Reminds me of products on Amazon with little to know information about the product and photoshopped images. Somehow it was worth making, but selling? Who can be bothered.
elihu 1y ago
...and that's for an episode that probably cost the original studio at least a hundred thousand dollars to produce, maybe a lot more.
alwaysdoit 1y ago
TBF, for the more popular shows, they are spending that money on an English dub (which is considerably more expensive).

torben-friis 1y ago

That person would need, besides basic computer fluency for the timestamps, knowledge of Japanese and English. Not unheard of, but probably harder than hiring for a call center, and more need to prevent high rotation due to difficulty in finding replacements. Edit: not that I disagree with your general idea, just pointing out potential issues.

bonecrusher2102 1y ago
It’s cheaper than you might think. Much like in gaming, there’s a lot of people who really want to work in the anime industry, even if it’s just on the localization and distribution side. This drives down salaries quite a bit.
- torben-friis 1y ago
  Fair point, it does sound like an industry that would have a high passion/vocational factor.
throwaway92rw 1y ago
Wouldn't it be easier to just hire someone in Japan who knows English? Im sure they could find someone willing to work remotely.
- danudey 1y ago
  Someone who knows English natively and Japanese sufficiently is necessary for producing quality subtitles; it's arguable that potentially having slightly less accurate subtitles (i.e. missing nuance) is better than having slightly less fluent English (i.e. not communicating in a natural-sounding manner). It's not just about translation, after all, but localization. While you can (or kind of have to) assume some level of familiarity with Japanese life/culture for someone watching anime, it's easier for a native English speaker/someone who grew up in North America to notice cultural disconnects and figure them out. An example I once heard: a book in Italian might say the character "ordered a coffee" and then "picked up the coffee, drank it, and walked out of the cafe". An Italian without as much consideration of American culture might translate that directly, but someone who understands localization would know that Italian character ordered what we would call an espresso, and know to change the text to be specific; otherwise, it sounds as though the person is guzzling an entire mug of black coffee on the spot, which would likely come across as psychotic and unnerving compared to taking a single shot of espresso. Likewise, an Italian reader of an American novel might be unable to comprehend how or why an American character could spend 20 minutes nursing a cup of coffee, because they might be picturing a 1-2 oz espresso rather than a drip coffee. So yeah, that's the big part of why it can't just be someone who knows English to some sufficient degree - because without fluency in spoken and written English, familiarity with how things would be said in English, and cultural differences between Japan and North America, you're going to end up with all kinds of dissonance.

bonecrusher2102 1y ago

I agree - this is the right take. Spend a little extra because your customers REALLY care.

programjames 1y ago
I think the take is: If 100k people watch the episode, spending $200 more for higher quality subtitling comes out to... a whopping 0.2 cents per person (per episode). Let's just say that would cost an extra $1/month per person. Are they price sensitive enough that they won't go to a competitor that's a few dollars more expensive per month if it has better subtitles? I don't know, but maybe some manager believed they were, and thus it was worth it to make the subscription a little cheaper.
- chii 1y ago
  i think you've counted it in a way that makes it sound cheap, but in reality isnt. $100k per month is extra revenue, if they do a half-assed job. A customer actually has no competitor to move to - crunchyroll has a defacto monopoly (barring piracy). The price of the subscription is already adjusted to be the maximum of what the market would bear for maximum revenue - presumably raising that price higher would lead to lower subscribers and revenue.
  - brigandish 1y ago
    > barring privacy That’s the key right there.
    - bl4ckneon 1y ago
      The ironic part is that a large majority of the piracy is just crunchy roll rips or subtitles from crunchy roll.
      - gh02t 1y ago
        Also worth remembering that CR itself started as a pirate site.

DrewADesign 1y ago

This is really what’s driving business AI products’ push by fleece vest set, though: knowing that they can make enshitification just that much more attractive.

SecretDreams 1y ago

While I agree, it's all a our whether they can pass the cost off to the customer. Customers will care a lot for food quality - will they tolerate a price increase to preserve sub quality or accept lower quality for the same sub price? Are there competitors? These are the questions that would get played out in the decision process.

whywhywhywhy 1y ago

You’re not competing with them being unable to watch it either. You’re competing with someone doing a better job for free out of passion.

lasc4r 1y ago

Reminds me of products on Amazon with little to know information about the product and photoshopped images. Somehow it was worth making, but selling? Who can be bothered.

elihu 1y ago

...and that's for an episode that probably cost the original studio at least a hundred thousand dollars to produce, maybe a lot more.

alwaysdoit 1y ago

TBF, for the more popular shows, they are spending that money on an English dub (which is considerably more expensive).