UlasanAnime.com – FUNimation has acquired a charming intellectual property known as PUCHIM@S this season and opted to announce it exclusively within their subscriber-only forum. A tweet from the official FUNimation account was then issued to inform the public about this news. Upon examining the timing, it was noted that both the forum post and the tweet were released precisely at 12 Noon Eastern time on January 10th, 2013, with the tweet following approximately one minute later.
#FUNimation EVS members, head on over to the elite member forums for an exclusive scoop! Not a member? Go to http://t.co/8Lydj2m1
— Funimation (@Funimation) January 10, 2013
For context, FUNimation’s elite video service, which refers to their subscriber-based platform, generally receives criticism. Having used it for about six months, I can understand the reasons behind this sentiment. Nevertheless, most news aggregators do not actively monitor this service, though they likely have access to it. The following are the times it took for these news outlets to report on the announcement on Twitter after the initial release:
Crunchyroll: 23 minutes
News: FUNimation to Stream “iDOLMASTER” Anime Spin-Off “PUCHIM@S” http://t.co/8ajRI7ur
You might also be interested in : Run, Con, Run
— Crunchyroll (@Crunchyroll) January 10, 2013
FandomPost: 37 minutes
FUNimation Adds ‘Puchimas! Petit Idolmaster’ #Anime Simulcast – http://t.co/JA35w8rg
— Chris Beveridge (@ChrisBeveridge) January 10, 2013
Anime News Network: 40 minutes
News: Funimation to Stream Puchimas! -Petit Idolm@ster- Spinoff #Anime • Adaptation of Akane’s 4-panel #manga to prem… http://t.co/TocnXzlC
— Anime News Network (@Anime) January 10, 2013
These times represent the efforts of full-time staff members. It appears there was no advance public relations notice to prepare them for the announcement. Anime News Network is typically known for receiving such notices, but it seems that was not the case on this occasion.
Furthermore, it is important to note that this single instance does not definitively prove whether Crunchyroll, Chris Beveridge, or Anime News Network is consistently faster at breaking news. Instead, it reflects a measure of reaction time – how quickly individuals can disseminate the information once it becomes available, which I believe is a fair assessment. In this scenario, it is likely that everyone followed the same information trail to the source, unless someone received a prior heads-up or, unfortunately, was actively monitoring the FUNi EVS forum. This situation can be likened to a single drop of water falling into a perfectly still pool, and then measuring the wavelengths of the resulting ripples.
As a disclosure, it is known that I also contribute to a website that frequently publishes news. However, our primary focus is not on being the fastest to break stories, although that can be an enjoyable challenge at times. It took me 11 minutes to copy the EVS post and draft basic instructions into an email for our tip line, and an additional minute to post the same content on a forum I frequent.
PS. No one in my social media feed picked up the news until one of the official news organizations reported it. This observation highlights how poorly FUNi EVS is perceived. Alternatively, perhaps we are all simply being polite; the reason remains unclear.
PPS. To its credit, ANN has now taken the lead in reporting the simulcast news for Senren Kagura, which was announced on January 11th, 18 minutes past noon. The forum post regarding Puchim@s had indicated that another license would be revealed at noon Eastern time (11 am Central) today. However, the forum post for Senren Kagura actually appeared at 10:18 am Central time today, which is rather amusing. In any case.
PPPS. Amuse-bouche. What the.
