SVOD market share Japan 2021, by service
According to a report published by GEM Partners in February 2022, Netflix was the leading subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service in Japan in 2021, holding a market share of more than 23 percent. The estimated value of the SVOD market in Japan amounted to 386.2 billion Japanese yen in 2021, up from 322.2 billion yen in 2020. According to the estimate, which was based on user fees paid to service operators and excluded advertising revenues, Netflix managed to increase its market share by 3.1 percent compared to the previous year.
Netflix in Japan
Netflix entered the Japanese streaming market in September 2015, making it the first Asian market the company ventured into. According to news reports, Netflix expected Japan to be one of the slowest markets to penetrate due to the brand sensitivity of Japanese audiences. At the same time, this brand sensitivity was seen as a key to long-term payoffs once the service was embraced by Japanese consumers. In order to achieve this, the company in recent years secured long-term partnership deals with Japanese content creators. Notably among them are several high-profile anime studios, whose products are also seen as a way to counter Disney. Other shows featuring domestic content include "Terrace House", "Tidying Up with Marie Kondo", and "The Naked Director". A lack of local content is considered to be one of the factors that hampered Hulu's initial uptake when it started its operations in Japan back in 2011.
The Japanese video streaming market
Video streaming has become an increasingly contested business in Japan as the market has shown strong growth figures in the recent years. One major reason for this development can be found in the entry of several foreign services into the Japanese market, with Netflix and Amazon Prime Video both launching in 2015, DAZN following in 2016, and Disney joining the competition in early 2019. One source estimated that the combined market of SVOD, transaction video-on-demand (TVOD), and electronic sell-through (EST) doubled in size between 2017 and 2020. A strong development can also be seen in the share of people who use subscription video-on-demand services. As a result, the average time people spent on watching video-on-demand per weekday has increased significantly compared to the mid-2010s.
Netflix in Japan
Netflix entered the Japanese streaming market in September 2015, making it the first Asian market the company ventured into. According to news reports, Netflix expected Japan to be one of the slowest markets to penetrate due to the brand sensitivity of Japanese audiences. At the same time, this brand sensitivity was seen as a key to long-term payoffs once the service was embraced by Japanese consumers. In order to achieve this, the company in recent years secured long-term partnership deals with Japanese content creators. Notably among them are several high-profile anime studios, whose products are also seen as a way to counter Disney. Other shows featuring domestic content include "Terrace House", "Tidying Up with Marie Kondo", and "The Naked Director". A lack of local content is considered to be one of the factors that hampered Hulu's initial uptake when it started its operations in Japan back in 2011.
The Japanese video streaming market
Video streaming has become an increasingly contested business in Japan as the market has shown strong growth figures in the recent years. One major reason for this development can be found in the entry of several foreign services into the Japanese market, with Netflix and Amazon Prime Video both launching in 2015, DAZN following in 2016, and Disney joining the competition in early 2019. One source estimated that the combined market of SVOD, transaction video-on-demand (TVOD), and electronic sell-through (EST) doubled in size between 2017 and 2020. A strong development can also be seen in the share of people who use subscription video-on-demand services. As a result, the average time people spent on watching video-on-demand per weekday has increased significantly compared to the mid-2010s.
