CrunchyRoll

There’s a new video site in town, with a particular emphasis on animation and anime. TechCrunch reviewed the site, arguing it “pushes the envelope” on copyright issues::

All video is uploaded by users and has advertising around it. Premium users who “donate” $6 per month to the site get an ad free version and higher quality video. Rumor has it the company is making $75k/month or so in revenue.

Crunchyroll’s business model is unique in that users pay them to view high quality versions of the content, much of which is copyright infringing.

Of course, CR removes content as soon as they receive takedown notices, but the user rating system remains even if the video is gone. And of course users have uploaded their own mashups, OPs, and other fan-driven content, all of which can get rated. The site is organized by series, so all content for a given series is on one page, which is an obvious in hindsight organizational scheme.