Niconico

Nico Nico Douga (ニコニコ動画, Niko Niko Dōga?, lit. "Smiley videos") is a popular video sharing website in Japan managed by Niwango, a subsidiary of Dwango.[1] Its nickname is "Niconico" or "Nico-dō", where "nikoniko" is the Japanese ideophone for smiling.

Besides ピアプロ "Piapro", Nico video is the primary source for Vocaloid Producers to showcase their finished works. As more songs were uploaded to the site, a rank system was created called the 週刊VOCALOIDランキング "Weekly Vocaloid Ranking", which is a ranking of most popular Vocaloid songs from the past week using statistics from Nico Nico Douga's metrics.

Songs that become quite popular are often remixed, have videos created, or have a number of fans cover the song. In rare cases, some producers may achieve in getting signed with a record company. But more commonly producers release their works using a music service site or creating a CD. Nico video is also a place that spawned many doujin music groups, "Supercell" being a notable example of this.

Nico video continues to be just one of the most popular video sites for Japanese net users, winning awards and entertaining visitors.