Legal contracts aren't a shield for dishonest marketing. They failed in Transparency. GMMTV promoted Love You…
First of all, thank you for taking the time to respond! I really do appreciate that even if we don't necessarily agree.
"We’re calling out the lack of transparency before the deal was executed and the way they marketed the series globally without informing that same global audience where to watch." The problem is that GMMTV has never had that kind of transparency if it doesn't also include their Thai audience. We also do not know when they made the deal with Viki in the first place. It could be anytime before the trailer dropped to the two-week gap between the trailer release and the first episode aired. If they should announce which platforms LYT would be available on before release, this should also apply to all their other series. The most similar situation (not saying it's the same) I have seen to LYT is Friendshit Forever, which started being removed from YouTube as the series was airing to reappearing on Viki in certain regions. Granted, they did have a couple episodes gap so the episodes WERE originally available on YouTube before they were geoblocked. They did not announce this either and I didn't find out until I saw FF available on Viki. It seems GMMTV might continue doing this kind of thing going forward…
"And respectfully, you keep saying you’re ‘not part of the fandom’ and are ‘just observing,’ but then continue writing paragraphs explaining why fans should accept the situation. That’s exactly why it comes across as dismissive. You’re not the one affected, so of course it looks reasonable from your side." I never said it was reasonable, nor that you should accept the situation. I'm sorry I may not have worded myself properly in that regard. I'm telling you to hit them where it hurts. Social media is only able to do so much — especially now when a contract is involved. If there was no contract, then (as seen with Girl Rules,) it would be a different story. Like I said, this only applies to those regions where Viki is available yet LYT still isn't. Specify those areas and focus on them specifically for the unblocking topic.
As a final addendum, when I talk about my observations, that has no relevancy with whether or not I consider myself a fan (which for all you know I still might be, I just don't participate on social media.) I am the kind of person that loves pattern-recognition, and even if I was an active member of the fanbase, I still would have picked up on and said the exact same things.
Legal contracts aren't a shield for dishonest marketing. They failed in Transparency. GMMTV promoted Love You…
Not sure how many people will see this now several days later, but let me put this as clearly as I can:
- I am 100% behind you when you are complaining about GMMTV's lack of promotion for LYT and otherwise poor treatment of the artists. Please continue with this!
- GMMTV sold an exclusive license to Viki (as confirmed directly by Viki, and it also wouldn't be available on Viki in the first place if that wasn't the case) OUTSIDE of Thailand. GMMTV decides where the license should apply, but the license still lies with Viki and they can't just go and do whatever because their fans want them to. It all depends entirely on what the license entails.
- GMMTV NEVER promotes international streaming platforms unless it also applies to Thai viewers. Asking for this is asking for special treatment IMO. The ONLY exception I am personally able to find are 4 posts from the same day in 2024 specifying how international viewers in certain countries could access the series Kidnap on GagaOOLala. I have never seen them mention a platform where international viewers specifically can access their content ever since.
- Viki IS considered an official platform in this case, but GMMTV only cares about the money they earned from the deal; they do not actually care about their international viewers, so if some countries still don't have access to the series, that's none of their concern. YouTube pays based on views and watch time; contracts have a flat licensing fee and is therefore prioritized. I do not know how much this licensing fee is, but ask yourself why GMMTV would prioritize it over the gradual income YouTube brings and that's probably your answer.
I'm really not trying to step on any toes here, because I DO think the way you are standing up for your idols is admirable. My issue fully lies in the main focus being about unblocking the series. It quite honestly makes you come across as entitled. /gen /nbr
I know it is geoblocked on YouTube in over 100 countries, but in how many of those countries is Viki available and in how many of those again is LYT not available on Viki? That is IMO the only number you even remotely have a case for here, and I do hope that GMMTV are able to compromise on those specific countries because they would fall outside of the exclusivity contract with Viki, however I need you to know that — as a company — they are actually not required to do so!!! As much as it absolutely sucks, you just have to accept that this company only cares about money and arbitrary numbers and does not actually care about you! Spending money also doesn't make them care about you, they'll gladly take your money and not give you anything in return.
In this situation, you have to strike them where it hurts the most, and that is their wallet, but in this case that would also affect the actors negatively, so I really don't know how you should go forward with this. I think GMMTV and their partners' focus on trends and fan engagement is STUPID. Fans should not be required to do all this in order for their idols to get work. It's pure insanity! Being a fan should not be a damn job, but it basically is in this case!
I know I don't always come across very well, but hopefully this makes my intent come off a bit clearer. I do not want to stand up for this company and am looking at this purely from a realistic angle based solely on my own observations over the last <2 years.
If you still are confused about anything, please let me know and I'll try to explain as best I can. Just please don't dismiss what I have to say purely because I am not an active part of the fandom, I am still majority on your side here!
Legal contracts aren't a shield for dishonest marketing. They failed in Transparency. GMMTV promoted Love You…
But that is also one of the distributors in Thailand. They do sometimes in the trailer specify "available worldwide" yes, but one thing I have noticed about this company is that they're incredibly inconsistent, it's pretty much the only thing they're consistent at. To my understanding they only include "worldwide" if it also applies to Thailand. If it doesn't, you can forget about GMMTV mentioning it — unless for some reason they do (like with Kidnap,) but don't get used to that. I do hope that for the areas where Viki is available yet viewers still cannot watch it, they are able to work out a solution for LYT. However, even with the amount of money they receive from international fans, they are not actually obligated to do so.
Sorry to bring up my history with Japanese media again, but the amount of gatekeeping that they do over in Japan is actually insane. I am constantly shocked by how easily accessible everything is especially with GMMTV. They even have official English subs for their releases? Even live streams?! That is absolutely insane to me as a Starto fan of 9 years. They only in recent years started making their artists' stuff available on YouTube and Spotify. Just bringing this up to put into perspective how much worse it really could be, not because I'm standing up for the company or anything. At the end of the day, we as fans are in the palm of their hands, and we just have to accept that — even if GMMTV are actively shooting themselves in the foot in the process. Their problem, not ours.
GMMTV is a company. All they care about is money and a number that looks good on social media. They do not care about you as a fan. Let me put it like this: if they can just give you nothing yet still receive good numbers in the form of engagement in return, why should they bother giving you the content in the first place?
Legal contracts aren't a shield for dishonest marketing. They failed in Transparency. GMMTV promoted Love You…
"We Are listed Viki on original promo materials" okay, I think I must be looking in the wrong place because I personally see nothing of this. Please do link me to anything where GMMTV themselves have personally mentioned Viki.
Legal contracts aren't a shield for dishonest marketing. They failed in Transparency. GMMTV promoted Love You…
By that logic, Cat For Cash and Only Friends: Dream On should also have "GagaOOLala" on the poster, but they don't because the poster (as well as the trailer) is ALWAYS aimed at their Thai audience. In thailand you watch LYT on GMM25 and OneD, if you're anywhere else in the world, you yourself have to figure out which platforms you can legally watch it on. Again, this is purely based on my own observations, and if I am wrong, do tell me. I am more than willing to have a discussion about this, but I feel like I'm being met with hostility, when I am really not trying to pick a fight here.
Legal contracts aren't a shield for dishonest marketing. They failed in Transparency. GMMTV promoted Love You…
And I agree with you about the deceptive marketing! But GMMTV cannot just go against the contract because fans want them to. They would have to break the contract, and financially that would just not be worth it for a company like GMMTV. That is just the cold hard truth and it absolutely sucks.
Legal contracts aren't a shield for dishonest marketing. They failed in Transparency. GMMTV promoted Love You…
Let me preface this by saying that I am by no means defending a damn company here, I am simply looking at what I personally have noticed over the last two years I have been watching GMMTV series.
They never promoted it as a YouTube release. It was always a GMM25 and OneD release (correction: they seem to include it on their trend posts now, possibly other posts as well. This is because it is one of the Thai alternatives.) They put their series on YouTube for free simply to be nice, they are by no means obligated to do so unfortunately. I have never seen them promote the distributor if it doesn't apply to their Thai audience in Thailand. The trailers ALWAYS refer to their Thai audience while international fans are never even offered a thought, we have to figure out where it airs in our region on our own. If I am wrong and you have any evidence against this, please do send it my way, this is just based on what I have personally seen, and other than for Kidnap, I don't think I have ever seen GMMTV even mention GagaOOLala (which is another one of their international distributors) for example.
Also, respectfully, I disagree with calling them giving exclusivity to Viki "sabotage," because that is in my opinion what they did to Girl Rules: that first episode wasn't available anywhere else when it was geoblocked on YouTube meaning there were absolutely 0 ways of watching it legally in majority of the world (if I recall correctly, the exceptions were some SEA and African countries.) I know you are upset, and I do think you have the right to be, but GMMTV following the way the money goes is far from sabotage. Obviously a deal with a company where they will get more revenue will have more value to a company than free YouTube uploads. If anything, the complaint should be with Viki because THEY are the ones with the distribution rights. GMMTV can't do anything so long as that contract is valid. That being said, the way they are marketing the series can absolutely be viewed as a form of sabotage, but it isn't really anything unique because I think GMMTV treats absolutely everyone in that company unfairly to some extent, and it sucks seeing that time and time again. Please always continue pushing for this conpany to treat their artists better!
I am very sorry, but the end of the day, even after everything GMMTV has been through, you as a viewer are never owed being able to watch it for free, yet I always see people complain whenever it's geoblocked. GMMTV could very well one day choose to geoblock absolutely everything on YouTube and it would fully be within their rights to do so. I have personally been into Japanese media for almost a decade now, and it really does put into perspective just how much more easily accessible everything is on this side of the fence. Please don't take it for granted, it might one day disappear from you entirely.
Please do let me know if I am wrong about anything, my intention is not to be smug about this, so I welcome any corrections you may have.
I'm seeing fans on X trending how they want GMMTV to remove the geoblock on YouTube, and while I do get where they're coming from, it is far from that simple. The reason it is geoblocked is because Viki has paid GMMTV for the license to be the sole distributor in regions where Viki is available. We are talking about a contract, and unless the fans want to fork over the money for GMMTV to break said contract, nothing will change on that front. Now for all the other unfair treatment they are also bringing up in regards to GMMTV's lack of promotion for the series, I am 100% on the fans' side.
they should remove the geolock 😭(plsplsplsss)it's a hassle to watch the eps
I'm sorry, but even if they wanted to, they can't do that because Viki has the license in places where Viki is available. Either you pay for Viki, use a VPN to watch it on YouTube or you sail the seven seas. I know it seems harsh, but those are genuinely your only options right now because no amount of begging can make GMMTV remove the geoblock — not until long after it's finished airing and the contract with Viki is expired.
I just watched the finale and it was fine for me—I watched in a browser, not an app, fwiw.
Oh yeah C-dramas dubbing everything does definitely make it a bit more difficult for me to watch, but I grew up with dubs, so it's not that bad for me, however in this case it's extra bad because it's not just the voices being off, it's the entire audio track not being synced with the video, so other sounds don't fit with what is on screen either and it kind of makes me nauseous in a similar way to when I am dissociating.
I just watched the finale and it was fine for me—I watched in a browser, not an app, fwiw.
I'll try checking it out in browser later, hopefully it's better there. At least on the app it's just a bit too noticeable to me and it gives me a feeling similar to dissociating, so it's really difficult for me to watch.
guess he is faking it...want his bf to improve himself and not just relay on him
I highly doubt he is faking it. I think that would go against everything they want the series to be and it would also be an insult to real people with real struggles who get accused of faking it for attention.
It is on YT - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gzz7cZrKS5A
What exactly does "home internet" mean in this case? Do you mean like on a TV or something? If it's that, I might have discovered a potential solution.
"We’re calling out the lack of transparency before the deal was executed and the way they marketed the series globally without informing that same global audience where to watch."
The problem is that GMMTV has never had that kind of transparency if it doesn't also include their Thai audience. We also do not know when they made the deal with Viki in the first place. It could be anytime before the trailer dropped to the two-week gap between the trailer release and the first episode aired. If they should announce which platforms LYT would be available on before release, this should also apply to all their other series. The most similar situation (not saying it's the same) I have seen to LYT is Friendshit Forever, which started being removed from YouTube as the series was airing to reappearing on Viki in certain regions. Granted, they did have a couple episodes gap so the episodes WERE originally available on YouTube before they were geoblocked. They did not announce this either and I didn't find out until I saw FF available on Viki. It seems GMMTV might continue doing this kind of thing going forward…
"And respectfully, you keep saying you’re ‘not part of the fandom’ and are ‘just observing,’ but then continue writing paragraphs explaining why fans should accept the situation. That’s exactly why it comes across as dismissive. You’re not the one affected, so of course it looks reasonable from your side."
I never said it was reasonable, nor that you should accept the situation. I'm sorry I may not have worded myself properly in that regard. I'm telling you to hit them where it hurts. Social media is only able to do so much — especially now when a contract is involved. If there was no contract, then (as seen with Girl Rules,) it would be a different story. Like I said, this only applies to those regions where Viki is available yet LYT still isn't. Specify those areas and focus on them specifically for the unblocking topic.
As a final addendum, when I talk about my observations, that has no relevancy with whether or not I consider myself a fan (which for all you know I still might be, I just don't participate on social media.) I am the kind of person that loves pattern-recognition, and even if I was an active member of the fanbase, I still would have picked up on and said the exact same things.
- I am 100% behind you when you are complaining about GMMTV's lack of promotion for LYT and otherwise poor treatment of the artists. Please continue with this!
- GMMTV sold an exclusive license to Viki (as confirmed directly by Viki, and it also wouldn't be available on Viki in the first place if that wasn't the case) OUTSIDE of Thailand. GMMTV decides where the license should apply, but the license still lies with Viki and they can't just go and do whatever because their fans want them to. It all depends entirely on what the license entails.
- GMMTV NEVER promotes international streaming platforms unless it also applies to Thai viewers. Asking for this is asking for special treatment IMO. The ONLY exception I am personally able to find are 4 posts from the same day in 2024 specifying how international viewers in certain countries could access the series Kidnap on GagaOOLala. I have never seen them mention a platform where international viewers specifically can access their content ever since.
- Viki IS considered an official platform in this case, but GMMTV only cares about the money they earned from the deal; they do not actually care about their international viewers, so if some countries still don't have access to the series, that's none of their concern. YouTube pays based on views and watch time; contracts have a flat licensing fee and is therefore prioritized. I do not know how much this licensing fee is, but ask yourself why GMMTV would prioritize it over the gradual income YouTube brings and that's probably your answer.
I'm really not trying to step on any toes here, because I DO think the way you are standing up for your idols is admirable. My issue fully lies in the main focus being about unblocking the series. It quite honestly makes you come across as entitled. /gen /nbr
I know it is geoblocked on YouTube in over 100 countries, but in how many of those countries is Viki available and in how many of those again is LYT not available on Viki? That is IMO the only number you even remotely have a case for here, and I do hope that GMMTV are able to compromise on those specific countries because they would fall outside of the exclusivity contract with Viki, however I need you to know that — as a company — they are actually not required to do so!!! As much as it absolutely sucks, you just have to accept that this company only cares about money and arbitrary numbers and does not actually care about you! Spending money also doesn't make them care about you, they'll gladly take your money and not give you anything in return.
In this situation, you have to strike them where it hurts the most, and that is their wallet, but in this case that would also affect the actors negatively, so I really don't know how you should go forward with this.
I think GMMTV and their partners' focus on trends and fan engagement is STUPID. Fans should not be required to do all this in order for their idols to get work. It's pure insanity! Being a fan should not be a damn job, but it basically is in this case!
I know I don't always come across very well, but hopefully this makes my intent come off a bit clearer. I do not want to stand up for this company and am looking at this purely from a realistic angle based solely on my own observations over the last <2 years.
If you still are confused about anything, please let me know and I'll try to explain as best I can. Just please don't dismiss what I have to say purely because I am not an active part of the fandom, I am still majority on your side here!
I do hope that for the areas where Viki is available yet viewers still cannot watch it, they are able to work out a solution for LYT. However, even with the amount of money they receive from international fans, they are not actually obligated to do so.
Sorry to bring up my history with Japanese media again, but the amount of gatekeeping that they do over in Japan is actually insane. I am constantly shocked by how easily accessible everything is especially with GMMTV. They even have official English subs for their releases? Even live streams?! That is absolutely insane to me as a Starto fan of 9 years. They only in recent years started making their artists' stuff available on YouTube and Spotify. Just bringing this up to put into perspective how much worse it really could be, not because I'm standing up for the company or anything. At the end of the day, we as fans are in the palm of their hands, and we just have to accept that — even if GMMTV are actively shooting themselves in the foot in the process. Their problem, not ours.
GMMTV is a company. All they care about is money and a number that looks good on social media. They do not care about you as a fan.
Let me put it like this: if they can just give you nothing yet still receive good numbers in the form of engagement in return, why should they bother giving you the content in the first place?
They never promoted it as a YouTube release. It was always a GMM25 and OneD release (correction: they seem to include it on their trend posts now, possibly other posts as well. This is because it is one of the Thai alternatives.) They put their series on YouTube for free simply to be nice, they are by no means obligated to do so unfortunately. I have never seen them promote the distributor if it doesn't apply to their Thai audience in Thailand. The trailers ALWAYS refer to their Thai audience while international fans are never even offered a thought, we have to figure out where it airs in our region on our own. If I am wrong and you have any evidence against this, please do send it my way, this is just based on what I have personally seen, and other than for Kidnap, I don't think I have ever seen GMMTV even mention GagaOOLala (which is another one of their international distributors) for example.
Also, respectfully, I disagree with calling them giving exclusivity to Viki "sabotage," because that is in my opinion what they did to Girl Rules: that first episode wasn't available anywhere else when it was geoblocked on YouTube meaning there were absolutely 0 ways of watching it legally in majority of the world (if I recall correctly, the exceptions were some SEA and African countries.) I know you are upset, and I do think you have the right to be, but GMMTV following the way the money goes is far from sabotage. Obviously a deal with a company where they will get more revenue will have more value to a company than free YouTube uploads. If anything, the complaint should be with Viki because THEY are the ones with the distribution rights. GMMTV can't do anything so long as that contract is valid.
That being said, the way they are marketing the series can absolutely be viewed as a form of sabotage, but it isn't really anything unique because I think GMMTV treats absolutely everyone in that company unfairly to some extent, and it sucks seeing that time and time again. Please always continue pushing for this conpany to treat their artists better!
I am very sorry, but the end of the day, even after everything GMMTV has been through, you as a viewer are never owed being able to watch it for free, yet I always see people complain whenever it's geoblocked. GMMTV could very well one day choose to geoblock absolutely everything on YouTube and it would fully be within their rights to do so. I have personally been into Japanese media for almost a decade now, and it really does put into perspective just how much more easily accessible everything is on this side of the fence. Please don't take it for granted, it might one day disappear from you entirely.
Please do let me know if I am wrong about anything, my intention is not to be smug about this, so I welcome any corrections you may have.
https://x.com/wetvofficial/status/2026237080574251272