This just in: Geneon and ADV are in the middle of a merger, or as they’re calling it: a strategic alliance. Here’s the Official Press Release:
ADV FILMS AND GENEON ANNOUNCE
STRATEGIC ALLIANCE
Partnership Yields Strongest Catalog in Anime Category
HOUSTON, August 29, 2007 – Today ADV Films and Geneon Entertainment (USA) announced a new distribution agreement. From October 1st on, ADV Films will be Geneon Entertainment USA’s sole distributor. ADV Films will handle all sales and distribution duties for the combined catalogue as well as certain marketing functions.
Geneon Entertainment (USA) is a subsidiary of Tokyo-based advertising giant Dentsu, Inc. Geneon is a pioneer of anime in America, having helped to launch Pokemon, Appleseed, and Akira on home video. More recent hits include some of the best-selling franchises in anime today, including Hellsing, Ergo Proxy, and the new hit series Black Lagoon.
“This is a great alliance.†said Geneon President and CEO Eiji Orii. “The efficiencies we’ll achieve ultimately will mean more anime for the fans to enjoy.â€
ADV and Geneon
ADV co-founder and President John Ledford concurred. “This alliance makes both companies stronger. Anime as an entertainment category is in competition with every other form of entertainment, and our partnership with Geneon gives us the scale to help widen the anime market in North America.â€
Ledford continued, “As we look ahead to an increasingly digital future, scale matters. In bringing anime to new media platforms, ADV Films and Geneon can only benefit from the added clout this alliance brings.â€
For consumers and retailers, this transition should be seamless. Geneon’s publishing plans will continue unabated, as ADV Films works with distribution partners to make the transition a smooth one.
What does this mean for anime fans?
What I get from this press release is that all titles from both companies will be bulked together under the ADV banner. Nothing much will change for us, according to the release, except maybe more anime will be released with greater frequency.
Geneon will no longer be in competition with ADV as a distributor. Instead, Geneon will focus more on producing anime.
This is kinda scary to David and I. Less competition means less variety and less incentive to have quality products (thinking of Microsoft and Wal-mart). There are still several US distributors around to compete with ADV so I don’t think this is a looming problem. But I do think it’s precedent. I’m not fond of this kind of precedent.
What do you guys think? Nothing to worry about, business as usual? Or precedent and harbinger of doom? Do you, the American anime fan even care?
I think nothing will change immediately, but in the short-term, this could have beneficial effects on the number of titles that get released, and the speed at which those titles get released. However, in the long-term, I definitely see the problems in the horizon. Anime distribution is still a rather young industry, so it is hard to get really worked up about it, because ADVeneon is not quite an unstoppable juggernaut just yet.
Geneon saves money by letting go of their distribution channel. Unless they saved a ton of money from that, it won’t increase the number of titles they decide to license. On ADV’s side they get a cut of Geneon’s revenue by acting as the middleman, but will that give them enough money to affect their licensing decisions? We’ll see.
In terms of actual product quality, unless Geneon shifts packaging and manufacturing duties to ADV, nothing changes. That’s like implying that a change from UPS to FedEx changes the quality of the product.
Heh, even if you combined ADV and Geneon, they’d still have a smaller market share than Funi.
In any case, it’s not really a merger, at least not yet. It is true that Geneon are culling quite a few staff (some of their reps have already posted their farewell messages on some anime boards), but ultimately the licensing and production still comes down to Geneon for their own titles – ADV will just be dealing with what happens after they’ve slapped stuff onto a disk.
In the long run, well, I can see Geneons US branch possibly closing all together, with the production being handled in Japan. Whether thats a good or bad thing is debatable.
I’m not sure this is as big a deal as you are making out. Geneon used to have a similar deal with RightStuf, and no one noticed, let alone considered them “merged”. I assume they’ve just switched distribution channels.
Geneon is probably feeling a bit pressed by Funimation — and combining forces with ADV means that Geneon titles might appear more frequently on ADV’s anime channel, which would serve as a promotional counter to Funimation’s anime channel.
Kabitzin – You’ve created the perfect combined name – ADVeneon! Sounds like some kinda of mech or something though! ^_^
intro – From reading the press release (although vague), it kinda implies that ALL Geneon DVDs will carry the ADV label. I’m imagining the Geneon label will move from the spine of the DVD to the back.
You mentioned that a change from UPS to FedEx doesn’t not change the quality of the product. But it can. From my experience, UPS damages more products and is more likely to leave packages out in the rain or deliver it to the wrong house, while FedEx tends to actually knock on the door and boxes rarely arrived damaged. Also, I think it’s easier to drop off FedEx packages at FedEx/Kinko’s locations rather than The UPS Store. Their service is better, there are more locations, it’s often cheaper, etc.
DiGiKerot – Interesting. I hadn’t heard about layoffs at Geneon!
dm – I think it’s a pretty big deal when two competitors join forces – and one of the them is giving up the distribution game.
As for the RightStuf deal, they’re a retail outlet that partnered with Geneon to sell more stuff. It’s kinda like ADV partnering with Best Buy. This new deal is quite different. It’s taking two companies that are in direct competition and bringing them together.
Think of it like this: Let’s say Micro$oft buys Apple Corp. and says that Apple is no longer building computers, but they get to design them. But they won’t manufacture the computers, nor will they sell them. Plus, the Apple logo will no longer appear on the front of the products. In it’s place, you’ll see the Micro$oft logo instead. But you’ll still be able to find the Apple logo.
It’s on the back.
LOL, wow, so ADV = Microsoft? O_O
Personally, I’m not too concerned. I think with the industry’s growth slowing down recently some consolidation was necessary.
0rion – I just realized how it sounds like ADV is evil lol. I didn’t mean ADV = Microsoft and Geneon = Apple. I like ADV and Geneon.
I don’t, however, like Microsoft.
I think I will take a “wait and see” approach for two reasons:
1. Back in 2004, there was a press release about FUNimation, Geneon, and ADV forming a joint venture “for the development and marketing of Anime”. This created a small brouhaha among some of the forums and blogs fearing the creation of a “super company”. One forum post called this “FUNeon Vision”.
Of course, the press release was rather vague on the purpose of the venture:
“The new joint venture will focus on developing high quality entertainment series primarily targeted to children and young adults, where the team can best maximize their respective resources, talent and expertise.”
The current situation’s press release is more specific about the purpose…mainly:
“From October 1st on, ADV Films will be Geneon Entertainment USA’s sole distributor.”
Still, to me, this does not necessarily spell out a merger is in the works. It may be a test balloon to see if the conditions in the marketplace are favorable for a merger. Also, there are some details which have to be worked out before a merger can take place…which brings me to…
2. Until 2006, ADV was a US owned company. Today, ADV is still primarily a US company, but in 2006 the investment group, Japan Content Investments (JCI), purchased about 20% of the company’s stock. JCI is lead by the Sojitz Corporation (a Japanese holding company). The other partners of JCI are the Development Bank of Japan (DBJ) and KlockWorx, which imports and distributes films in Japan. ADV will want to make sure JCI is okay with a merger.
Geneon is another story. Geneon Entertainment Incoporated was formerly known as Pioneer Entertainment, or Pioneer LDC – Pioneer LaserDisc Company, a former subsidiary of Pioneer Corporation. In 2003, Pioneer LDC was acquired by advertising and PR firm Dentsu Incorporated. At this time Pioneer LDC was renamed Geneon Entertainment. The North American branch of Pioneer LDC was renamed Geneon Entertainment (USA) Inc. Since Geneon USA is part of a Japanese corporation, there would have to be some negotiating for a merger to occur.
Of course, it is quite possible that negotiations have been underway for a while now and this press release is, as I said earlier, a test balloon.
Agreed, this is just one of those distro deals. Just because Bandai puts out the Haruhi DVDs doesn’t mean they are merged with Kadokawa. Really nothing to worry about from a fan’s perspective.
Hmm. Interesting. I don’t think it will change much…ADV’s been around as long as I can remember, and Geneon used to be Pioneer, right? As long as the same licenses are released, I don’t really care what happens. Plus, with all the downloading of anime these days, it’s in their best interests to combine, and thereby hope to stay afloat.
This sounds like a good idea.
All I want is the best quality in my anime.
Hopefully, with this merge the voice acting will get better.
ADV always does a wonderful job so maybe they can help Geneon in that department.
They either do a good job or a bad job and never between.
UPDATE: ADV Films and Geneon USA have canceled the ‘partnership’.
Look for a post on our site with more details later today…