YouTube spread like wildfire in Japan only a few short months after to took off on the English Internet.
There are a number of factors that contributed to it’s growth here.
First and foremost was it’s ease of use and “mashability”.
You don’t need to be fluent in any language to click around the site or grab blog code for the videos.
An extensive and well-documented API enabled Japanese developers to quickly develop sites such as
Moco Video and MyTube
which act as Japanese language YouTube front-ends.
Also, much of Japan’s digitally traded copyrighted content was previously distributed by P2P services like
Winny.
YouTube, shrouded in the blanket of the USA’s DMCA law, took the burden off individual users for
distributing and hosting content. It was easier, more reliable, and gained critical mass faster than any previous platform.
So, YouTube was king.
At the same, a Japanese clown prince of sorts, Nico Nico Douga (”Happy Movies”), was being coded up by
Niwango, a mobile services company which just so happened to have
Hiroyuki of the (in)famous
2-Channel forums on their board of directors.
Nico Nico Douga takes online video to another level by ingeniously incorporating community interaction
into the videos themselves. Comments stream across videos in time with their entry,
bringing a whole new level of interaction to online video.
<a href=”http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm531138″ mce_href=”http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm531138″><br /> ニコニコ動画】映画好きな奴、ちょっと来てください</a>
The video above (registration required, see below) is a survey where viewers generally rate
the movies shown on a scale of 1 to 100, the higher the better. At the time of this writing, there are 17,655 comments.
I don’t think I’ve ever read through more than 20 comments on a YouTube video.
The video below is a Nico Nico Douga video rip on YouTube.
The other really interesting aspect of Nico Nico Douga is that it’s already profitable.
Besides banner and affiliate ads, a large portion of the site’s revenue is generated by premium memberships .
Offered for 525 yen (4.41 USD) per month, they offer the following benefits:
-More bandwidth
-24 Hour Access (Depending on when you registered, the system may not allow you to login from 7pm to 2am)
-Extra comment colors including: nico nico white, marine blue, mad yellow, passion orange, noble violet, elemental green,
true red, and black
-More upload space. 4GB instead of the standard 2GB
-Mobile Access
According to a recent press release, there are currently 54,000 premium members providing revenues of
28,350,000 yen (235,000 USD) per month.
This month they also added Nico Nico Market, in which premium members can suggest products from
Amazon which are relevant to a video. The most popular suggestions are ranked by popularity and
displayed below the video.
While deeply nerdy at it’s core, Nico Nico Douga has harnessed its nerdiness and community to
the tune of 2 million members, 260 million comments, a ridiculous amount of traffic and some truly
creative ways of paying the bills. Whether you are interested in Web business, Japan, or really strange videos,
it’s worth keeping an eye on, and the registration process is quite simple, even if you aren’t a Japanese reader.
Please note that your access may be limited at times unless you upgrade to a premium member.
Bonus Link
For all the Twitter fans out there, Nicotta is a great
blog widget
which displays your recent Twitter activity Nico Nico Douga style.
Simply replace “あなたのTwitterアカウント” with your Twitter name to use it on your blog.
Yoroshiku!
Joseph
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