I visited Crunchyroll recently and discovered that MBC had uploaded all episodes of Coffee Prince, Soulmate, and several other hit dramas. It surprised me. In my mind, Dramafever was the only site to legally stream Asian drama subs for a U.S. audience. I also thought their licenses were exclusive, but apparently not.
So I compared the two services, using episodes of Coffee Prince. Here's what I found:
| Dramafever (link) Details:
| Crunchyroll (link) Details:
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Screenshots of the Dramafever (left) & Crunchyroll (right) video players, click for full version. The actual screens are larger than the images, but the size ratio remains the same. As you can see, Dramafever's player is taller but more narrow, leading to cropped frames. Less contrast can also make the subtitles harder to read, though not on all videos.
| List of shows by owner/poster: KBS Boys Before Flowers MBC [Air City] [Before & After: Plastic Surgery Clinic] Coffee Prince* Couple or Trouble Dae Jang Geum Dr. Kkang Goong H.I.T. I Really Really Like You* Jumong* La Dolce Vita* Last Scandal* My Lovely Sam Soon New Heart* [One Fine Day] Over the Rainbow Que Sera Sera [Sad Love Song] Soulmate* Thank You [Time Between Dog & Wolf] White Tower Who Are You? Yi San | List of shows by owner/poster: YA Entertainment Freeze Someday MBC Coffee Prince* I Really Really Like You* Jumong* Last Scandal* Mr. Big's Lawyer New Heart* Soulmate* Spotlight |
[XX] means series will be available soon; * indicates series available on both sites.
Verdict: For now, it's a draw. Dramafever has more series, and content is king. Their site is also easier to navigate. Crunchyroll, however, has a superior player: a wider screen, fewer site crashes, and less intrusive advertising (I also prefer the white site background to the black). On the flipside, they have fewer series, a sound syncing problem, and no series index.
Going forward, Crunchyroll is in a better position, because they already have the technology & the audience. Dramafever deserves credit, though, for reaching out to niche bloggers like Dramabeans, Seoulbeats, etc. Their advertising model, irritating as it can be, may also be more tenable in the long run.
What I'd like to see in the future:
1) More legal Korean drama subs available online, and not just from MBC.
Korea has three major television networks (MBC, SBS, & KBS), and of the three, only MBC seems to get the overseas market. They have a great American (not just U.S.) site. When their shows got temporarily canceled in Hawaii & San Francisco, they uploaded East of Eden episodes to YouTube so viewers wouldn't miss out. They stopped licensing new dramas to YA Entertainment, and instead opted to put out their own Region 1 & 4 box sets, eliminating the middleman. Even more telling: Crunchyroll & Dramafever offer MBC properties almost exclusively (see above).
So I'd like to see SBS & KBS step it up (Dramafever's subs of Boys Before Flowers are a good start). At least KBS has an American site, offering English subbed All Regions box sets for some series and Episodes on Demand for the rest. SBS doesn't have squat.
2) Legal distribution of Japanese drama subs.
Right now, there is no licensed distributor of Japanese dramas with English subs, online or offline (unless you count those Malaysian "All Regions" DVD sets, and I don't). It's a huge, baffling gap between market demand & supply. Taiwanese dramas face the same problem, although at least YA Entertainment picked up Meteor Garden.
3) Online distribution of feature films.
Another area with a huge gap between market demand and supply. Many popular films never get official U.S. releases (My Sassy Girl, My Tutor Friend), and the ones that do take several years to get here (Taste of Tea, OldBoy, Singles). Plus, half of those licensed films don't have a U.S. theatrical run and aren't picked up by rental sites like Netflix or Blockbuster, meaning buyers have to pay $20-$30 for a DVD they haven't seen (at least not legally) and may not like.
I understand why official Region 1 & 4 DVD releases aren't feasible for most titles. But why not offer streaming video rentals for Netflix or Blockbuster subscribers, or advertising & subscription-supported streams on sites like Crunchyroll? Most new releases (Antique, The Good, the Bad, & the Weird) include great English subs already, if pirated DVD rips are anything to go by. So why don't filmmakers find a way to upload their content officially and get paid for it?
What do you guys think about Crunchyroll vs Dramafever? What else would you like to see going forward?
