Hasbro shifts digital content to Vimeo

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Hasbro animated series are coming to Vimeo!

As reported yesterday by Wired.com, Hasbro Inc announced yesterday that they were partnering with video sharing site Vimeo to be the exclusive online host for many of the toy-maker’s animated series.   Currently available are Transformers (Generation 1) and Jem & the Holograms with other series including G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero and My Little Pony to follow later this year.

Per the announcement, episodes of the Hasbro series will be $.99 to rent for 24 hours or $1.99 to purchase individually.  Entire series may be purchased for $40.00.

Is this a good move for the Pawtucket-based Hasbro, Inc?  By the numbers, it means that Hasbro’s animated properties will be delivered to a significantly smaller audience.  As of Q1 2015, subscription-based Netflix had an audience of just over 60 million global subscribers. As of December 2013, Vimeo was sitting at 22 million subscribers.  It’s not a strict apples-to-apples comparison as far as the dates go but it indicates that Vimeo doesn’t quite have the reach that content posted on Netflix does.

There’s also the issue of the the pricing model.  Increasingly, more and more digital content has gone “pay-to-play” requiring viewers to either rent or purchase episodes on a platform-to-platform basis.  Vimeo follows that model meaning that fans will have to pay around $40 to own a full season of their favorite nostalgic series.  This puts it on par with the cost of owning the content on DVD and Blu-Ray from retailers such as Amazon.com but it leaves casual fans a bit out-of-the-loop.  Rather than being able to randomly browse through a few episodes of a series before getting hooked, viewers will be have to pay to rent or view episodes on an series-by-series basis.  This could limit the Hasbro content’s overall reach when it comes to new viewers rather than diehard fans who most likely already own the content in tangible form anyway.

What do you think?  Is the move to Vimeo better for Hasbro?  Will is help grow the audiences for their animated properties?  Will you be making the jump to the new video-sharing service in order to follow the adventures of your favorite characters?  Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

Netflix: EVERY Sunbow episode now on Netflix Streaming

What a whirlwind this past weekend was!  From the insane awesomeness that was The Avengers on the big screen to Free Comic Book Day, most genre fans were enjoying a pretty booked schedule.  However, once again Netflix manages to be the icing on the cake for a near perfect weekend.

As of last night, all 65 episodes of Sunbow’s G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero animated series are available on Netflix Streaming!  That’s right– from the first episode of the MASS Device to “Into Your Tent I Will Silently Creep”, every animated adventure from the first series is available by PC, Xbox LIVE, PS3, and Wii.

If that doesn’t make a lot of Joe fans happy I don’t know what will…

Netflix G.I. Joe A real american hero

Sunbow G.I. Joe: ARAH and G1 Transformers hit Netflix Streaming

Imagine my surprise last night when G1 Transformers showed up on my Netflix streaming suggestions.  Imagine my delight when I saw that the ground-breaking Sunbow animated G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero series was ALSO available for streaming!

Now, don’t get too excited yet.  In spite of the announcement of the recent Netflix/Hasbro deal, new Joe content is slow to arrive.  As of Monday night, only the original two mini-series “The Mass Device” and “The Revenge of Cobra” are online.  However, this is most likely just first two parts to be made available and the rest of the classic ARAH series could be up by the end of the month.

Either way, this is good news for people like me who are sometimes too lazy to get up and put the DVD’s into the player.

Hasbro signs multi-year deal with Netflix!

I love streaming Netflix to my TV via my Xbox 360.  In fact, I love it so much that I ditched cable over a year ago and replaced it with Netflix and a HD antenna.  However, there have been times when I wish that the streaming library had just a bit more content.  Well, thanks to a multi-year deal between Hasbro and Netflix, the future is a bit brighter!

Hasbro Studios, the Los Angeles-based television production and distribution division of Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS), today announced a multi-year deal with Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX). Ten highly popular franchises, including new and catalog seasons of famed Hasbro content, will be available to instantly watch on Netflix.

“This deal allows us to offer even more great kids’ programming to our members, both adults and kids alike, including new seasons of My Little Pony, Transformers Prime, and Pound Puppies after the season finale airs on The Hub.”

Transformers Prime, My Little Pony, Pound Puppies, G.I. Joe: Renegades and The Adventures of Chuck & Friends are now available to instantly watch on Netflix. JEM & The Holograms, Transformers: Generation 1, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, Transformers: Beast Wars and Transformers: Rescue Bots will follow later in 2012.

The Hasbro content will be available on Netflix and included in the Netflix “Just For Kids” section. Netflix “Just For Kids” is a collection of TV shows and movies that is specifically selected for children 12 and under, making it easier and more fun for kids and families to browse and instantly watch a large selection of kid-friendly TV shows and movies within Netflix.

“We are very excited to be working with Hasbro Studios,” said Cindy Holland, Vice President of Content Acquisition at Netflix. “This deal allows us to offer even more great kids’ programming to our members, both adults and kids alike, including new seasons of My Little Pony, Transformers Prime, and Pound Puppies after the season finale airs on The Hub.”

“We are pleased that consumers will now be able to watch our award-winning programming on Netflix, the leading internet subscription service,” Hasbro Studios President Stephen Davis said. “We are making our content easy to access, anytime, anywhere and on all platforms where audiences are consuming content and this is a big step forward with our all screen strategy.”

My girlfriend and I have already been enjoying Renegades via the streaming service (She’s a huge Snake Eyes fan now) and I managed to check out Transformers: Prime last night.  With the promise of even more Joe-related content in the future, Netflix has secured my loyalty for the foreseeable future.