Japan: leading publishing companies based on sales

With annual sales of more than 195 billion Japanese yen, Shueisha Inc. topped the list of the largest Japanese publishing companies during the period from 2021 to 2022. Headquartered in Tokyo, Shueisha publishes manga, books, and magazines in both paper and digital form. The company was closely followed by Kodansha Ltd., which generated sales of almost 171 billion yen.

Digital transformation in the publishing industry

As the online media content market expands rapidly, the internet has significantly shaped the trends and evolution of the publishing sector. While the print publishing industry has experienced a consistent decline in sales value over the past decade, digital publishing has exhibited robust and enduring growth. Publishing companies are adapting to digitalization's impact on the industry by implementing various initiatives, such as e-books or subscription services. Notably, comics emerge as the most successful segment of the digital publishing market, overshadowing books and magazines with considerably smaller market shares.

Print publishing initiatives

Despite the ascendance of digital publishing, survey data shows that the share of people who purchase at least one printed book per month was larger than the share of people who purchase at least one e-book per month, indicating that there is ample demand for printed materials that also has to be addressed by the publishing industry. In response to this challenge, major Japanese publishers established "PubteX" in March 2022, aiming to create widespread industry adoption of AI-based publishing, distribution optimization, and sustainable transformation of publishing distribution. The goal is to engage publishers, bookstores, and sales companies in creating a more sustainable and adaptable approach to publishing distribution in response to evolving market dynamics.