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The story
YouTuber Hikaru brought up the news that content from the subscription streaming service DOWNTOWN+ is coming to Netflix during his live stream on the morning of October 2nd. Not hiding his shock, he said “Isn’t that nuts? Seriously” and “I figured it must not be going well,” pointing out that if you can watch it on Netflix, there’s less reason to subscribe to the standalone service. In response, users on 5ch’s Geisoku Sokuho+ board exchanged opinions about DOWNTOWN+’s subscriber numbers, its revenue structure, and questions about why Matsumoto Hitoshi hasn’t moved onto YouTube.
On the morning of October 2nd, YouTuber Hikaru held a live stream on his official YouTube channel “Hikaru.” He brought up the news that content from the streaming service DOWNTOWN+ (Downtown Plus) has been confirmed to be coming to Netflix.
Hikaru opened with, “Apparently DOWNTOWN+ is going to be watchable on Netflix now,” and revealed his shock, saying “Isn’t that nuts? Seriously. Isn’t that way too nuts? It’s even making the news.”
“I figured it must not be going well. Honestly, I was just surprised. I mean, seriously, if you can watch it on Netflix, isn’t nobody going to subscribe to DOWNTOWN+ on its own? (Meaning: there won’t be anyone left.) Wouldn’t it just be a better deal to watch it on Netflix? No matter how you look at it,” he said.
Source: sirabee.com / Original article here
What people said
Can't say if he's funny, but he's got a better grip on reality than Matsumoto.
With DOWNTOWN+ they keep the whole profit, but with Netflix,
Netflix takes everything and
skims a cut off the top,
so the moment they go to Netflix, they're not actually making money.
Nah, Netflix is just taking advantage of them lol
Back in the day they'd never have been blacklisted, it would've just been covered up.
If Johnny-san (talent agency mogul Johnny Kitagawa) were still alive, it all would've been swept under the rug.
Matsumoto isn't falling from grace, it's just his approach that's the problem —
if he actually did YouTube he'd easily reach Hikaru's level.
There was a Sandwichman live video on the subscription service so I watched it, but got bored fast.
You'd have to be out of your mind to keep paying money just to watch one specific comedian.
The whole nation is waiting for it.
Nobody wants that, which is why DOWNTOWN+ lost its subscribers.
And the Netflix users who get this popping up on them out of nowhere must be pretty annoyed too lol
he's busy with TV work.
He probably has no intention of cutting ties with Matsumoto so he'll pitch in, but he's got Kakuzuke (Ranking) and Pres-Bato, and I don't think Yoshimoto (their talent agency) would let him shift away from TV as his main focus anyway.
When you think about it that way, musicians and movie actors are pretty impressive.
Matchan's got that legendary 10,000-yen live show though!
Well, musicians are probably the most impressive of all —
they actually pull in a crowd for a live show.
It's basically like they plan it themselves and gather their own staff to pull it off.
Movie actors are a bit different I think.
Probably because Matsumoto would get depressed being compared to YouTubers on view counts and stuff.
Isn't this the same pattern — only being able to watch some of the content?
https://www.video.unext.jp/lp/downtownplus
New original content produced by and starring Downtown's Matsumoto Hitoshi,
unlimited streaming for 770 yen (tax included)
*"DOWNTOWN+ ON U-NEXT" is excluded from U-NEXT's "monthly plan" unlimited-viewing lineup and requires a separate sign-up.
Same deal with Amazon Prime and the like — on U-NEXT it's excluded from the unlimited plan, so diehard fans have to pay extra on top. Netflix basically doesn't have that kind of separate-plan setup, so the point is: if you can watch it with your regular Netflix subscription, nobody's going to keep paying for DOWNTOWN+ on its own.
If the view counts get shown publicly, Matsumoto's actual market value gets exposed.
It's bizarre — those limited-time full-episode releases on YouTube are all pulling in millions of views, yet nobody's talking about it on social media.
Normally a channel racking up a million views over and over would get some kind of reaction posted somewhere.
there'd be no need to sell cheap to Netflix.
They probably thought at first they could compete with Netflix on their own, but
giving up on that and selling at a discount is exactly what this is.
No idea how much they paid, but is Netflix stupid?
If anything, they should be the ones getting paid, as advertising money.
Wasn't it 1,000 yen a month?
That's terrible value when all you get to watch is Downtown.
300 yen would be more like it.
And even then, compared to half the price of Amazon Prime, it's still questionable.
classic Matsumoto.
Not paying to subscribe though.
Meanwhile I've been on Netflix for like 3 years straight lol
My image of Netflix is you just subscribe for one month once enough shows you want to watch pile up.
A collab with Hikaru would be huge buzz for Matsumoto too — would be great if it happened through Miyasako.
Sounds to me like he was all set to appear on DownPla, fidgeting around expecting to get called any moment, and since the call never came he started pushing himself forward instead.
but it's only the new content?
That's way too disappointing.
You want to watch it but can't even pay 1,000 yen?
Background and Key Points of This Topic
DOWNTOWN+ is a subscription streaming service Matsumoto Hitoshi has built under his own name. Even within the thread, opinions on the monthly fee are split between a 300-yen theory and a 1,000-yen theory, and the subscriber count has never been officially disclosed. That’s why thread opinion split over this Netflix move — some read it as a sign the standalone service has stalled, others see it as simply an extra revenue stream. In particular, the question of “if it’s on Netflix, what’s the point of subscribing to the standalone service?” keeps resurfacing as part of a broader, recurring debate about streaming platforms skimming a cut off creators’ earnings. It’s also worth noting, as the “DOWNTOWN+ ON U-NEXT” example in the article shows, that what’s coming to Netflix appears to be only part of the new content — not the entire existing catalog moving over wholesale, which is an easy point to misread. And the “500,000 subscribers” figure floating around is just speculation from the thread, not a backed-up official announcement, so it should be taken with caution.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geisoku Sokuho+) thread “Hikaru on the news of DOWNTOWN+’s Netflix deal: “Isn’t that nuts? Seriously. Guess it’s not going well” / “Guess they can’t pull in customers”.”
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