SVoD market share Japan 2019, by service
According to a report by GEM Partners from February 2020, Netflix was the leading subscription video on demand (SVoD) service in Japan in 2019, achieving a market share of about 13.8 percent. The estimated total value of the SVoD market in Japan amounted to approximately 215.8 billion Japanese yen in 2019, up from 168 billion yen in the previous year. Netflix managed to increase its market share by more than five percent within a single year.
Netflix in Japan
Netflix entered the Japanese video streaming market in fall 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, which established its streaming service Disney Deluxe in early 2019. 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 initial mistakes Hulu had made when it started its operations in Japan back in 2011.
The Japanese video streaming market
While the source at hand estimated the size of the Japanese SVoD market in 2019 to be close to 220 billion Japanese yen, a different source estimated that the combined market of SVoD, transaction video on demand (TVoD), and electronic sell-through (EST) already reached this figure in 2018. The number of subscription video on demand service users in Japan was expected to increase to almost 21 million people by 2021. The preferred device to access streaming videos as of February 2019 was the smartphone, which was closely followed by the PC.
Netflix in Japan
Netflix entered the Japanese video streaming market in fall 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, which established its streaming service Disney Deluxe in early 2019. 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 initial mistakes Hulu had made when it started its operations in Japan back in 2011.
The Japanese video streaming market
While the source at hand estimated the size of the Japanese SVoD market in 2019 to be close to 220 billion Japanese yen, a different source estimated that the combined market of SVoD, transaction video on demand (TVoD), and electronic sell-through (EST) already reached this figure in 2018. The number of subscription video on demand service users in Japan was expected to increase to almost 21 million people by 2021. The preferred device to access streaming videos as of February 2019 was the smartphone, which was closely followed by the PC.
