Nico Nico Douga
niconico (formerly Nico Nico Douga, abbreviated as NND) is Japan's largest video sharing service provided by Dwango. “Niconico” is a Japanese ideophone, meaning to smile. Before niconico was formed, there were concerns in regards to copyright and the legality of the service. The staff at the time decided that instead of going with a cool, flashy name, it would be better to go with a name with a friendly feel, as this might possibly help them win popular opinion and avoid issues further down the line.
Users are able to upload and view video content, however niconico was unique at the time in that user comments would be overlaid directly onto the video synced to a specific playback time. This allowed users to comment on and view comments that were directly related to something occurring in the video, which helped to create a shared watching experience amongst users.
Bilibili, a chinese video sharing service now uses the same comment model.
When Nico Nico Douga was first launched in January 2007, it originally used YouTube as a video source, but allowed users to post and view comments from other Nico Nico Douga users. These comments were overlaid directly over the video and would scroll across the screen from right to left. The increased access from Nico Nico Douga placed extra strain on YouTube's infrastructure, causing them to block access from Nico Nico Douga in February 2007 rendering the service to be unusable. However, several weeks later in March 2007, Nico Nico Douga relaunched by hosting videos on their own servers.
Due to an increasing overseas user base, niconico is now available in Taiwanese, German, Spanish and English. As the business has expanded, a number of derivative services have also been developed that go beyond the scope of video sharing services. These include niconico live streams, niconico images and niconico 3D amongst others. Celebrities often use the livestream service for promotional streams. While the name “Nico Nico Douga” was originally used as a general phrase for all these services, the new standardized name “niconico” was implemented to reflect the fact the niconico was now more than just a video sharing service.
Nico Nico Chokaigi
Nico Nico Chokaigi (lit. Nico Nico Super Meeting) is an event hosted by Dwango. The concept it envisions is to become a recreation of the world of niconico in reality. Singers, dancers, gamers, cosplayers, Nico Nico personalities, creators, and users all gather in a massive offline meeting to engage physically with their peers. From the event's English PowerPoint presentation:
“This event serves as a platform for Japanese subculture; you will find people of all backgrounds - stretching from politics to entertainment to science and technology - coming together to laugh, sing, dance, and simply have fun! [...] we believe that the link between our Users (people), Contents (object), Plans (thing) is special. Chokaigi brings together a dichotomy of genres from Digital to Analog, Content to Producer, Traditional to Technological under one roof.”
Although the service has dropped in viewship over the years, Nico Nico Chokaigi remains an ever-popular event with record-breaking numbers of attendees with each passing year.
Each year, Chokaigi is announced together with a different catchphrase surrounding the objective it envisions of gathering fans and creators in general. The catchphrases until now are as follows:
Year: Catchphrase
2012: “Together we are stronger”
2013: “You're the one who'll create it”
2014: “Everyone is the protagonist”
2015: “This country is full of Gee-Oh-Dees”
2016: “This site is a miracle created by all of you”
2017: “Amidst the scenery here you'll find a brand new ‘now'”
2018: “What's ordinary to you is ‘special' to someone else”
2019: “Being equal is joyful, being different is fun”
Being an event dedicated to the culture of Nico Nico Douga, Vocaloid producers also get a stage for them, every edition of the event has featured Hatsune Miku and other Vocaloids, via animated 2D streams or holographic 3D projections in more recent years.