"Young Justice" News & Discussion Thread, Part 28 (Spoilers)

[GWOtaku]

Technically speaking details are not announced yet, though the popular assumption is that this will be a paid service not unlike what Boomerang launched this year. It will launch at some point in 2018, Young Justice S3 and the live-action "Titans" are the original projects confirmed for it. That's what came from the initial announcement, and all else counts as speculation.

However, let's be serious. DC animation expiring on Netflix isn't arbitrary. They need content to draw eyeballs to this enterprise, and it really doesn't make sense to have two seasons of Young Justice somewhere else while season 3 is by itself. Netflix was important to S3 coming back, but what they've gained from having YJ there is finished now.

I don't see how this service could be profitable on advertising alone, frankly. I expect a paywall. It's not impossible that at least some things will be free to view, or that episodes of Young Justice will be viewable with ads and / or made publicly available after a given period where they are only for subscribers.

 

[W.C.Reaf]

Honestly if this was on network TV I'd doubt it'd be more than a 1 season revival, just because of how network's usually do things. But now it's one of the flagship shows for a DC streaming service, that's a very different animal.

So long as the streaming service is making money there's a good chance of getting seasons 4 and 5+ of Young Justice. No network rules of thumb or syndication limits are in play here, no getting to episode 65 and stopping. No ratings only gathered from Nielsen Boxes, where you viewing a show only counts if you have a Nielsen Box in your home. Straight up, everyone who pays for the service and watches it will get counted. The fans have to put their money where their mouth is, which they proved they can do with the online campaign to binge the show on Netflix that got this third season in the first place.

As for pirating, that's an issue in literally every entertainment industry and would be an issue no matter where Young Justice came back on. There's also the flip side of that, where studies have shown that a decrease in online piracy has happened due to Netflix and other online providers making shows and movies readily available to stream. It hasn't killed piracy, but it's did some damage to it. So there's a good chance that a lot of fans will use the DC streaming service instead of pirating it.

 

[CyberCubed]

I can't see Young Justice going on much past Season 3. It'll have 72 episodes by my count when Season 3 ends. I don't think Young Justice will go on for 100+ episodes. That's just...unheard of for a DC show. In fact to this day only B:TAS has over 100 episodes. All other DC shows are relatively short lived.

 

[W.C.Reaf]

So you think they're going to use Young Justice to launch this new streaming platform, get Young Justice fans to sign up for it, make a profit, then not make any more Young Justice? That would be a terrible business decision and ensure all of those fans would leave their new service, and they really can't afford that especially not so early in their new service's life-cycle.

The reason why other DC shows don't typically go more than 65 episodes is because that's the syndication amount, where it can become more profitable to just air the show in syndication than make new episodes. Only shows making a lot of money get past that, and since WB is using Young Justice to sell their new service that's how they can make the money to get past that.

Also there's one DC show that has made it past 100 episodes, one that will probably make it past 200 episodes at the end of their current season, Teen Titans Go. If they can do it then so can Young Justice.

 

[Dorko]

I can't see Young Justice going on much past Season 3. It'll have 72 episodes by my count when Season 3 ends. I don't think Young Justice will go on for 100+ episodes. That's just...unheard of for a DC show. In fact to this day only B:TAS has over 100 episodes. All other DC shows are relatively short lived.

Streaming is a rather different business model than anything prior. One reason that children's programming has been historically more short-lived (and, going back twenty years or more, sometimes had MASSIVE seasons orders) is because 65 episodes was the magic number for syndication/reruns - you could show it once per day, five days a week, and only repeat an episode four times per year. It was built on the assumption of a regular audience, with a high turn over rate (I recall the time between being excited to see "Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie" in theaters and Power Rangers being "for babies" being counted in months among my friends), that either wouldn't notice or wouldn't care that new episodes didn't come up.

Streaming, on the other hand, is built on having a large content library with the expectation that it will be binged watched before the consumer moves on to the next thing. It requires both a large library of old stuff AND high quality new content to keep people interested, of which Young Justice will be one of the flagships. From that perspective, it's functionally a brand new show.

Also, assuming they were able to put EVERYTHING on the service (which is unlikely, given complicated rights situations for older content), there would be over 908 episodes of finished live action series alone - admittedly, only 15 distinct shows there - before we start talking about the 38 or so animated series, 144 chapters worth of old film serials, the movies...DC has a deeper content library than I would have guessed and this could be VERY exciting. If there was ever a place to officially debut the ridiculous Justice League Of America pilot movie....

 

[Harlequinn]

Coming back from the dead is also unheard of for a DC show. Most, if not all, DC shows ending in the first place has more to do with the network than it does DC. WBA/DC wouldn't be launching a streaming service with this as a flagship if they planned to just be done after season 3 because of other DC series not having 100+ episode counts. That's like Netflix canceling Orange is the New Black and House of Cards early on when they put Netflix originals on the map.

People said it was impossible for Young Justice to come back. And that it was impossible for get a full season order. Yet here we are. Fan response was big enough for this to happen. It isn't ridiculous to think that huge fan response to a flagship show for a streaming service will lead to more seasons. That's just business.

 

[GWOtaku]

I'd chime in agreement too. Video on demand is a new(er) frontier, and one where the old rules of syndication and cable TV do not apply. Creators from such shows as Niko and the Sword of Light and Voltron: Legendary Defender have said as much. True from the creative side, true on the business side.

This will be an interesting test of how ready & willing people are to support an exclusive service. Star Trek: Discovery will be another one, assuming CBS actually gets it together enough to finish it.

Edit: some supplementary material to the above...

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/internet...-original-series-niko-sword-light-152570.html

http://variety.com/2017/artisans/production/netflix-amazon-animation-jobs-1202506357/

 

[RoyalRubble]

I could be wrong, but I think the sub-titles they add to each new season might help to get the show a larger number of episodes. Something like they can consider it a sequel to the older show or along those lines. I mean, Batman: TAS made it to over 100 episodes only if you count The New Batman Adventures with its original run of episodes (and some of the latter B:TAS episodes were even labeled as a different title, "The Adventures of Batman & Robin"). Justice League and Justice League Unlimited have 91 episodes put together.

Look at Marvel's Avengers Assemble - currently in its 4th Season ("Secret Wars"), and last week they announced a 5th Season (another 26 episodes, which would bring the show to 130 episodes, and it probably won't stop there either).

I imagine Young Justice could run for at least another 2-3 seasons on this streaming service.

 

[CyberCubed]

Does Teen Titans Go really have over 100 episodes? Or are you guys counting two 11 minute episodes in one show as "two episodes?"

Because if then that doesn't count. I consider two 11 minute episodes to be "one full episode" because it equals a standard 22 minute show. I don't follow the show so I'm curious, does it have over 100 22 minute full shows?

 

[Harlequinn]

Does Teen Titans Go really have over 100 episodes? Or are you guys counting two 11 minute episodes in one show as "two episodes?"

Because if then that doesn't count. I consider two 11 minute episodes to be "one full episode" because it equals a standard 22 minute show. I don't follow the show so I'm curious, does it have over 100 22 minute full shows?

It does count. They are produced and aired as single episodes.

Regardless, using comparisons of different network practices on previous DC animated series to put against a revival on a show on a new streaming service is a false equivalency.

 

[RoyalRubble]

Teen Titans Go! will reach 104 half-hour shows once the current season ends. The "200th episode" they have announced is technically their 100th, but they have been counting the episodes as 11-minutes segments since the beginning. And chances are, it will probably receive another season of 52 segments (or 26 half-hours) after this.

But all this shouldn't really affect Young Justice one way or the other.

 

[CyberCubed]

Weird, I had no idea TT Go went on that long. It blows my mind the original Teen Titans ended at only 65 episodes when this one has gone on double the time. Given how popular the 2003 Teen Titans was I could have easily seen it lasting 100 episodes back in the day but they chose not to.

Getting back to Young Justice, I suppose as usual it all depends on viewership? I mean if it really is a paid sub service then most likely I'm not going to watch it on DC's stream until it winds up somewhere else, and I think putting the show behind a paywall will probably all but doom it.

 

[Otaku-sempai]

We know the service will also be featuring the live-action Titans series that has now gone into production. That should attract a few more subscribers, and naturally there will be some cross-over viewership between the to shows and including additional content.

 

[AdrenalineRush1996]

We know the service will also be featuring the live-action Titans series that has now gone into production. That should attract a few more subscribers, and naturally there will be some cross-over viewership between the to shows and including additional content.

Not yet in production since the roles haven't been cast ATM.

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[Otaku-sempai]

Not yet in production since the roles haven't been cast ATM.

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The roles have not been announced; that does not mean that they haven't been cast. Reportedly, Geoff Johns revealed that Titans began production a couple of weeks ago. And Drake Bell has previously strongly hinted in social media that he either has been cast or is up for the part of Dick Grayson as Nightwing.

 

[W.C.Reaf]

Getting back to Young Justice, I suppose as usual it all depends on viewership? I mean if it really is a paid sub service then most likely I'm not going to watch it on DC's stream until it winds up somewhere else, and I think putting the show behind a paywall will probably all but doom it.

If it pays for the new season then I'm willing to pay the cost. Many fans were willing to crowdfund a third season back when it was cancelled, well this is essentially the crowdfund. Honestly it'll probably be cheaper than buying all the merchandise, which fans need to do in order to keep traditional network cartoons afloat.

It's not perfect and I don't begrudge anyone who can't afford to pay for another subscription service. But I still think it's better than the "buy the toys and hope it gets another season" approach. Especially for shows like Green Lantern TAS or Beware the Batman, which got cancelled because they couldn't get a toyline made in the first place. Not needing to solely rely on a toyline for funding the show is a step up imo.

 

[Harlequinn]

Yeah, there was a huge push for crowdfunding the season back in 2013. This will end up being cheaper for people than that would've been. I am more than happy to pay a subscription to watch one of my favorite shows with more creative freedom than before. Do we have any figures on how much YJ costs to produce?

 

[AdrenalineRush1996]

The roles have not been announced; that does not mean that they haven't been cast. Reportedly, Geoff Johns revealed that Titans began production a couple of weeks ago. And Drake Bell has previously strongly hinted in social media that he either has been cast or is up for the part of Dick Grayson as Nightwing.

I do know that there have been reports of Drake Bell being tapped to play Nightwing. If true, I hope he does a better job at playing a superhero than he did in Ultimate Spider-Man.

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[Light Lucario]

Getting back to Young Justice, I suppose as usual it all depends on viewership? I mean if it really is a paid sub service then most likely I'm not going to watch it on DC's stream until it winds up somewhere else, and I think putting the show behind a paywall will probably all but doom it.

Well they have to make money off the show somehow. Shows on streaming sites like Netflix have proven to be popular and successful even behind a paywall. I can understand not being thrilled about that, especially when there are other streaming sites that people like to use and they may not be able to afford another one, but the idea of having to pay to watch shows on their streaming site isn't a bad one.

Although, I do kind of hope that there will be some ways to watch the show. Maybe not right away, but making the episodes available if you have Amazon Prime would work for me. I already have Amazon Prime and Crunchyroll, so I don't know if I could throw in this streaming site into the mix too. They could do something like what Crunchyroll does. The newest episodes would be available only to those with a paid membership, but then they'd become free a week later and they'd have ads playing during the video. I'm not sure if that would work exactly or even how they'll release the season. I've assumed that they're just going to release one episode a week, but they could release it like what Netflix does with their series. That might be good in a way since they could design the show in a way that makes it perfect for binge watching, but I don't know if they'd want to get the season out and released that quickly.

 

[Harlequinn]

I doubt the whole season will drop at once. You'll have the majority of people get a free trial/buy one month of membership, binge it all, and then cancel.