Niconico
Niconico (ニコニコ, Nikoniko), known before 2012 as Nico Nico Douga (ニコニコ動画, Niko Niko Dōga), is a Japanese video-sharing service based in Tokyo, Japan. "Niconico" or "nikoniko" is the Japanese ideophone for smiling.[1] As of 2021, Niconico is the 34th most-visited website in Japan, according to Alexa Internet.[2]
Type of site
Worldwide
Yes
Optional
December 12, 2006
Active
The site won the Japanese Good Design Award in 2007,[3] and an Honorary Mention of the Digital Communities category at Prix Ars Electronica 2008.[4]
Users can upload, view, and share video clips. Unlike other video-sharing sites, however, comments are overlaid directly onto the video, and synced to specific playback times. This feature allows comments to respond directly to events occurring in the video, in sync with the viewer—creating a sense of a shared watching experience. Niconico's atmosphere and cultural context are close to 2channel's or Futaba Channel's. Many popular videos on this site have otaku tastes, such as anime, computer games, and pop music. Niconico offers a feature for users (not just the uploader of the video) to tag videos. Each video may have up to eleven tags, of which up to five the uploader may lock. Frequently, this functionality can be used not only as categorization, but also as critical commentary, satire, or other humor related to the video's content. The site is also known for its MAD videos and its medleys of popular songs on the website, most notably Kumikyoku Nico Nico Douga. Niconico also distributed some original net animations, such as Candy Boy, Tentai Senshi Sunred, and Penguin Musume Heart.[22]
Other features include:
(in Japanese)
