Anime ADV's Bittorrent experiment - Madlax promo

[Dagger]

[url=http://216.136.62.222/torrents/MadlaxPromo.avi.torrent][u]Madlax promo torrent[/u][/url]

[url=http://forums.animeondvd.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=region1&Number=1067379&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=2&fpart=1][u]AoD discussion/feedback thread[/u][/url]

[quote=David Williams (ADV producer)]As part of my explorations into on various online video options, I've placed a promotional video for Madlax online as a torrent. As this is a small part of a larger project I'm working on I'd be happy hear any comments, feedback, suggestions, etc. from the fans. If you have bittorrent and are interested in official downloads, use your client to download the promo at:

[url=http://216.136.62.222/torrents/MadlaxPromo.avi.torrent][u]http://216.136.62.222/torrents/MadlaxPromo.avi.torrent[/u][/url]

Currently there is just this promo video but I have much larger plans in mind. Let me know what you think and even what you might like to see in the future.[/quote]
I decided not to post this in the Madlax topic because I wanted to open things up for a more general discussion of this experiment, as well as potential future applications. Personally I think it's a very smart move on ADV's part (and given that they've done a lot of stuff I disagree with in recent months, it's pretty timely too).

The promo in general is rather impressive, and vastly superior to regular online trailers. It has excellent video quality and is much longer than ordinary promos. Plus, it provides a lot more information about the show while still being spoiler-free; the narration is amusingly corny, but it gets the job done and gives you a better feel for the series than anything short of actually seeing a couple of episodes.

My download went very quickly and I had no trouble playing the file. I'd love to see ADV (not to mention other companies) do this for other anime. What do you think?

~Dagger~

[densuke]

This is what BT is for, distributing files to people who want them and getting to chip in some B/W.

If ADV had to pay for all the B/W themselves the trailer would have to be smaller in size and thus not as good-looking.

I wonder what other goodies ADV would be willing to part with. OP sequences and omakes seem like good candidates for BT distribution because they are short and their absolute value as a property is fairly small. As long as they keep each torrent seeded they could maintain an archive of available files.

I expect that any material released by ADV would have to have been altered in some way by them (via dubbing or subtitles) -- if they released unaltered anime of any sort via BT it would probably conflict with their region-specific licenses.

[Hayama]

I'm impressed. Rather than spend money printing copies to distribute or wasting thier own bandwidth, they let people download it for themselves! They save money and still get the promo out there. I hope this works out for them and they continue to do it! I wouldn't mind dowloding a short promo BTs of several new anime. I think lots of people will like this!

[AzureWolf]

[COLOR=blue]This is an interesting idea. Aside from providing higher quality fluff, though, I don't know what else video entertainment groups can do. I'm really asking: aside from higher quality free stuff, what else can they do?

I'm only saying this because digital material can be copied easily. So, if they have "exclusive BT downloads (i.e., pictures, music, bonus footage, etc.) by registering your product," it's going to be hard (rather, harder) to prevent distribution since it's already digital in form. And if it's free stuff, it's more than likely going to be stuff that just sucks.

Trailers are good, but ultimately, aside from making your mouth water, they don't do anything.[/COLOR]

[eleanor]

[color=darkslateblue] It's a great idea, really. Instead of bitching about people downloading free anime, they can do what the music industry did and try and make it to their advantage. Charge some money for high-quality vids of anime, and although there would still be tons of freeloaders, I'm guessing it could work.

...

Maybe. >_>

Not through bittorrent persay, but something like it.[/color]