Anytime, Anywhere, Whatever You Want! ~The Transformation of Content Access~

What value (meaning richness) has information media brought to our society over the 30 years of the Heisei era? From Part 3 to Part 5, we will revisit the timeline compiled for the 'Information Media White Paper 2019', using the three Cs—Communication, Content, and Context—that define information behavior as our key themes.

It is important to note that these three Cs do not exist independently and separately; rather, their degree of interconnection has strengthened over these 30 years.

Following the previous installment on "Communication," this fourth installment in the series looks back at the 30-year history of media in the Heisei era from the perspective of content access.

Table of Contents
▼Babies Swiping Smartphones: The Present State of Content Access
▼Access to Content Once Bound by Physical and Temporal Constraints
▼Digitalization and the Internet Transformed Content Access!
▼The Rise of Internet Distribution for Video and Music
▼Games Evolve from Arcades to Consoles to Social/Game Apps, Then to Esports
▼Can Subscriptions Solve Monetization Issues?　　　　　　　　　　　　

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Babies Swiping Smartphones ~ The Present State of Content Access ~

One-year-old Y-kun is playing with his mom's smartphone. He knows the YouTube icon and taps it himself. He watches his favorite videos whenever he wants, and when he gets bored? Swipe! He swiftly swipes with his finger to find the next video.

This is how the last generation of the Heisei era interacts with content. Anytime, anywhere, right here and now, they can access whatever content they want. And if they can't, they can't stand it! We live in such a "rich media society."

Access to content, once bound by physical and temporal constraints

How did we engage with content 30 years ago, at the start of the Heisei era? It certainly wasn't a situation where we could access videos, music, images, text, and more anytime, anywhere with just a smartphone. Accessing content was subject to physical and temporal constraints.

To access desired content back then, you had to obtain physical packages like books, newspapers, magazines, CDs, or videos. Television and radio broadcasts had fixed schedules, so you had to be ready before the program started.

While you could record TV shows on video or capture FM broadcasts, you needed the tapes or tapes themselves. To watch movies, you either went to the theater or rented videos. The package and the content were inseparable; the only way to access the content was to obtain the package.

Digitalization and the Internet transformed content access!

The Heisei era saw content digitized, leading to its detachment and liberation from physical packaging. Digitized content doesn't degrade, is easy to copy, and digital data circulates instantly via the internet. There was no longer a need to pay for and physically own packages like books, newspapers, magazines, CDs, or videos.

This shift accelerated starting in Heisei 7 (1995), often called the "Year One of the Internet." Music was the first medium to show a major change in how people accessed content.

● Heisei 7 (1995): Japan's "Year One of the Internet"
● Heisei 11 (1999): Napster music file sharing/distribution service launched
● Heisei 15 (2003): iTunes Music Store launches in the US Napster, which made music file sharing wildly popular in the US, faced problems with illegal copying and later went bankrupt after lawsuits. Yet it symbolized the future of digitized content.

The iTunes Music Store, which emerged after resolving copyright issues, fundamentally changed how people enjoyed music. It became possible to download and listen to music anytime, anywhere, without buying CDs.

The digitization of mass media also progressed.

● Heisei 7 (1995): Free websites launched by newspapers like asahi.com and YOMIURI ONLINE
● Heisei 21 (2009): Paid digital magazine distribution service MAGASTORE launched
● Heisei 22 (2010): Paid digital edition of the Nihon Keizai Shimbun launched
Internet radio service radiko began distribution
●2011: Analog TV broadcasts cease (except in three Tohoku prefectures). Free websites by newspapers are launched, becoming pioneers in digital information distribution online. From this point, the idea that information is free on the internet becomes commonplace.

Subsequently, existing mass media began introducing paid digital editions, launching paid electronic magazines and paid digital newspaper editions. Among broadcast media, radio pioneered internet compatibility. Furthermore, analog television broadcasts ceased, transitioning to digital.

The Rise of Internet Video and Music Distribution

YouTube launched in the United States in 2005. An era began where watching videos and listening to music online, anytime and anywhere, became commonplace.

●2005: YouTube launched in the U.S.
●2015: Netflix and Amazon Prime Video launched services in Japan
●Commercial TV catch-up streaming portal TVer launched
●Music streaming services launched: AWA, LINE MUSIC, Apple Music, Google Play Music, Amazon Prime Music
●2016: Sports streaming service DAZN launched
Internet TV service AbemaTV launched Compared to countries like the US, Japan was slow to adopt internet streaming for TV and other content. However, 2015—the year foreign online video streaming services Netflix and Amazon Prime Video launched in Japan—is often called the "first year of video streaming."

Various streaming services flourished in Japan, marking the full-fledged arrival of an era where video and music are delivered online. Online on-demand viewing became commonplace, enabling people to watch their favorite content whenever, wherever, and however they wanted.

Games have evolved from arcades and consoles to social/game apps and now to e-sports.

Games represent one area where enjoyment methods changed significantly during the Heisei era. Over these 30 years, gaming has evolved from arcade centers like game centers, through the era of home consoles enjoyed individually, to a focus on social games and game apps played on mobile phones and smartphones, and now into the era of the rise of esports.

● Heisei 1 (1989): Game Boy released
● Heisei 2 (1990): Super Famicom released
● Heisei 6 (1994): PlayStation and Sega Saturn released In the early Heisei era, numerous home consoles like these were released, becoming a social phenomenon. Game manufacturers released increasingly advanced successor models, making our gaming experiences ever richer.

Then, around 2007, social games for mobile phones became popular, leading to IT companies outside the traditional game industry developing numerous game contents.

● Heisei 24 (2012): Puzzle & Dragons
● Heisei 25 (2013): Monster Strike
● Heisei 26 (2014): LINE: Disney Tsum Tsum The proliferation of smartphones fueled the boom in game apps, giving birth to massively popular national hits. Notably, these titles appealed not only to young people but to a wide range of generations.

While arcade and console games each evolved significantly in resolution, controls, and speed, the center of gaming shifted to smartphone games. In terms of player numbers and market size, smartphone games far surpassed the arcade and console games that existed since before the Heisei era.

● Heisei 28 (2016): Pokémon GO Furthermore, Pokémon GO, utilizing AR (Augmented Reality), became a global phenomenon. Its success can largely be attributed to fully leveraging the unique functional characteristics of smartphones.

● Heisei 30 (2018): Japan e-Sports Union (JeSU) Established

It is no exaggeration to say that one of the pinnacles of gaming's appeal as content lies in cooperative and competitive multiplayer games. The internet has further evolved this format. Currently, live-streamed gameplay videos are gaining popularity, and the eSports market, where games are played competitively as a sport, is also rapidly expanding.

Games may be the content where elements like multi-directional connections, real-time liveliness, and heightened experiential resolution are most clearly manifested.

Can Subscriptions Solve the Monetization Problem?

While content is thriving, for content creators and the content business, how to monetize it remains a major challenge.

A shift is underway from ownership value to usage value and experiential value. For consumers, content is acceptable in any form as long as they can watch or enjoy it. The meaning of ownership has steadily diminished. This trend extends beyond content and entertainment, contributing to the rise of the sharing economy.

This is where the subscription (flat-rate unlimited access) model emerged. Today, most video and music streaming services adopt the subscription model.

● Heisei 6 (1994): IIJ launches dial-up IP connection service
● Heisei 7 (1995): Telho Dai service begins
● Heisei 13 (2001): Yahoo! BB ADSL connection Internet itself, during the dial-up era, operated on a pay-per-use model. Connecting via phone incurred charges based on the duration of the call. To address this, the Tele-Hodai flat-rate unlimited service was introduced for late-night and early-morning hours (11:00 PM to 8:00 AM). This can be considered a precursor to the subscription model. Following the introduction of Yahoo!BB ADSL, flat-rate, always-on Internet services became commonplace.

Subscription services now extend to fashion, automobiles, home appliances, ramen, lunch, coffee and other food and beverages, shampoo, and even eyeglasses. In the mid-2000s, the freemium model—offering basic services or products for free while charging for advanced or special features—gained attention. However, outside of games, it did not prove to be the key solution to the difficulty of monetization.

For subscription services, it is essential to encourage customers to use the service continuously and strive to increase their lifetime value (LTV). Video streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video are also focusing on producing original content to retain customers.

For today's younger generation, accessing their favorite content anytime, anywhere is a given—a minimum requirement that media and content industries must meet. Responding to the needs of this generation, accustomed to this "abundance," while simultaneously exploring monetization methods that truly reflect the value of the content, will be a major challenge for media moving forward.

The full version of the timeline, which could not be included in this article due to space constraints, is reproduced in the 'Information Media White Paper 2019'. We would be delighted if you could obtain a copy and review it.