The state of anime in Singapore — Survey Results
A survey conducted by DarkMirage

This survey was conducted online in the span of about 48 hours. It managed to gather 1004 responses. It was publicized on my blog, SG Cafe forums, Hardware Zone forums and VR-Zone forums. Thanks also to other bloggers who helped.
As it was publicized mainly through Singaporean sites, the vast majority of the responses are local. There are some foreign IPs, but I shall give them the benefit of the doubt, especially since they do not affect the results significantly.
Note that I added some questions to the survey after the first 100 respondents, so a few of the questions received only 900+ responses.
I spent a total about about 20 USD to pay for this survey because SurveyMonkey is a money-grubbing pig, so I'm placing some advertisements here to offset the cost.

You can download the raw survey data as a spreadsheet document or a CSV file.
The IP address of every respondent was logged for verification, but I have omitted them from the public dataset.
Please direct any comments to here.

1. How long have you been watching anime?
		Response Percent	Response Count
1 year or less		6.2%	62
2-3 years		26.5%	266
4-7 years		36.5%	366
8 years or more		30.9%	310
	answered question		1004
	skipped question		2
The majority of the respondents fell in the 4-7 years range. Interestingly, BitTorrent was created in 2001 and AnimeSuki in 2002. But of course it doesn't really show anything. The intent of this question was merely to determine the general level of interest that respondents have in anime.

2. Do you think that what Odex is doing is right?
		Response Percent	Response Count
Yes.		0.9%	9
No.		45.6%	458
Legally yes, morally no.		53.5%	537
	answered question		1004
	skipped question		2
Out of 1004 respondents, only 9 agree with Odex's actions with no reservation. I suppose they are Odex's new target audience. Which means that 99.1% of the respondents do not agree with Odex for one reason or another.

3. What are the means through which you obtain anime? Check all that apply.
		Response Percent	Response Count
BitTorrent		78.2%	785
P2P networks such as Gnutella, eDonkey and WinNY		10.0%	100
YouTube and other video streaming sites		58.6%	588
Other downloading methods		45.7%	459
Friends		45.4%	456
Television		35.5%	356
Local VCD		21.4%	215
Local DVD		18.0%	181
Import DVD		41.6%	418
Other (please specify)			46
	answered question		1004
	skipped question		2
BitTorrent, not surprisingly, enjoys the highest level of utilization at 78%. Excluding P2P networks (which have largely been made obsolete by BitTorrent and YouTube), the percentage of respondents who obtain anime through local VCDs and DVDs (as one of their means) is the lowest. Note that since this question allows for multiple choices, this means that about 80% (give or take a few percent due to non-overlapping responses for VCDs and DVDs) of the respondents do not own local DVDs and/or VCDs at all. In comparison, almost twice as many people import foreign anime DVDs despite the higher cost associated. Despite television broadcast being free, it is utilized by only 1/3 of the respondents. This may have something to do with the inflexiblity of scheduled broadcast or perhaps a lack of good titles. Or maybe people are just not aware of the anime airing on TV.

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4. How much money do you estimate to have spent on anime and anime-related products (e.g. figurines and posters) in total? (Amounts in SGD)
		Response Percent	Response Count
None		6.4%	64
$1 to $299		30.7%	308
$300 to $999		30.0%	301
$1000 to $2999		16.5%	166
$3000 to $4999		6.5%	65
$5000 and above		10.0%	100
	answered question		1004
	skipped question		2
Not surprisingly, considering that most anime viewers are students, 67.1% of the respodents spent less than S$1000 on their hobby. What is interesting is that 10% of the respondents spent more than S$5000 on related products. No wonder Sunshine Plaza is doing so well.

5. Do you own any original R1 (USA) and/or R2 (Japan) anime DVDs? Do you own any Odex and/or other local anime DVDs?
		Response Percent	Response Count
I don't own any legitimate anime DVDs.		31.5%	316
I only own R1 and/or R2 anime DVDs.		37.2%	373
I only own Odex (and/or other local) anime DVDs.		13.9%	140
I own R1 and/or R2 anime DVDs and Odex (and/or other local) anime DVDs.		17.4%	175
	answered question		1004
	skipped question		2
54.6% (Option 2 + Option 4) of the respondents own R1 and/or R2 DVDs. Higher than expected. Perhaps Singaporeans are not the hardcore freeloaders I had imagined? 31.3% (Option 3 + Option 4) of the respondents own Odex or other local anime DVDs, and thus have firsthand experience with their products.

6. Have you ever purchased an anime DVD of a series without downloading the fansubs (or obtaining it for free otherwise) first ?
		Response Percent	Response Count
Yes.		29.9%	300
No.		70.1%	704
	answered question		1004
	skipped question		2
On retrospect this question was poorly conceived. The data for "No" is not reflective because respondents may simply not have bought any anime DVDs at all before. Still, it is interesting that only 29.9% of the repondents had purchased anime DVDs without a "free preview".

7. Odex has added a Video-On-Demand service on its new website. Will you pay for it knowing that downloaded videos are only viewable for 7 days?
		Response Percent	Response Count
Yes.		2.2%	22
No, I will never support Odex.		59.2%	594
No, 7-day limit is unreasonable.		25.8%	259
No, there is nothing I want available.		12.9%	129
	answered question		1004
	skipped question		2
Only 2.2% said "Yes". That is very sad. On the bright side, Odex can potentially make customers out of another 38.7% of the respondents depending on what actions they choose to take. Hurray! The other 59.2% may just be suffering from "perception problems", but telling them that doesn't bring in any customers.

8. If a website offers a subscription service that charges a fixed monthly fee to allow you to download anime from its library, will you use it?
		Response Percent	Response Count
Yes.		13.1%	131
No.		11.9%	119
If the fee is low enough.		25.2%	253
If the quality is high enough.		49.9%	501
Other (please specify)			54
	answered question		1004
	skipped question		2
Only 11.9% said "No". Personally I think a system that is modeled after the online DVD rental services such as Netflix in America and Hollywood Clicks in Singapore would be awesome for anime.

9. If Odex continues its current course of action, will you stop watching anime? If not, will you watch it through legal means?
		Response Percent	Response Count
I will stop. Anime is not worth the trouble.		14.8%	149
I will stop. I will move on to downloading other things. (e.g. live-action drama)		5.3%	53
I will continue. I will buy anime.		3.5%	35
I will continue. I will buy anime, but not from Odex.		49.2%	494
I will continue. I will find other ways of downloading/streaming.		27.2%	273
	answered question		1004
	skipped question		2
Consider the fact that 54.6% of the respondents currently own R1 and/or R2 anime DVDs according to Question 5. Now consider the fact that 49.2% of the respondents will continue to buy anime, but not from Odex. Has Odex actually changed anything? Yes it has. Question 5 also tells us that 31.3% of the respondents currently own Odex (or other local) anime DVDs. Yet only 3.5% of the respondents above express a willingness to continue to buy Odex products. That is quite a huge change. Hurray for Blue Max?

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10. If PacNet successfully defends its rights, will you consider switching? And what is your current ISP?
		Response Percent	Response Count
I will switch, I am using Starhub now.		24.0%	218
I will switch, I am using Singnet now.		22.3%	203
I will not switch, I am using Starhub now.		32.6%	297
I will not switch, I am using Singnet now.		15.7%	143
I am already using PacNet		5.4%	49
Other (please specify)			24
	answered question		910
	skipped question		96
This question is purely for fun. It's not really related to what I want to find out. Hurray for PacNet?

11. Have you received a letter from Odex?
		Response Percent	Response Count
Yes.		4.4%	40
No.		95.6%	870
	answered question		910
	skipped question		96
Again, just out of curiousity. Interestingly, Odex claims to have sent out 300 letters so far. Assuming that the 910 respondents for this question is a reflective sample of the online anime community, then we can work out that the online anime community consists of roughly 7000 people (300/40*910=6825). Of course this conclusion makes a lot of problematic assumptions... The more logical conclusion is that most of the letters Odex sent out went to people who do not read my blog or any of the local forums where this survey was posted. LOL

12. Overall, this incident has had a:
		Response Percent	Response Count
Net positive effect on the anime community around me		3.2%	29
Net negative effect on the anime community around me		93.9%	854
No effect on the anime community around me		3.0%	27
	answered question		910
	skipped question		96
I conclude that Odex has 29 employees. LOL, just kidding. Anyway the results speak for themselves.

13. Ultimately, my impression of Odex has:
		Response Percent	Response Count
Dropped from bad to worse		81.8%	743
Dropped from good (or neutral) to bad		13.4%	122
Not changed		4.4%	40
Improved from bad (or neutral) to good		0.0%	0
Improved from good to better		0.3%	3
	answered question		908
	skipped question		98
Again, the results speak for themselves. Who are those three people?

14. I love anime.
		Response Percent	Response Count
Yes.		96.4%	875
No.		3.6%	33
	answered question		908
	skipped question		98
Perhaps that is why just about the same number of people from Question 12 think that there has been a net positive effect...

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15. Any comments to add?
		Response Count
		278
	answered question	278
	skipped question	728