Anime industry in Japan - statistics and facts

Current state of the industry

Due to the increased demand, the Japanese anime industry is currently marked by a high number of shows that are aired every year. Newly broadcasted television animation programs clearly outnumber continuously broadcasted animation programs, which leads to a high turnover of shows. A high demand for animation works can also be observed in the case of the film industry, with animated movies ranking regularly at the top of the box office, such as the Makoto Shinkai hit “Your Name” in 2016 or the theatrical adaptation of “Demon Slayer”, which was released in 2020 and became Japan’s highest-grossing movie to date. The boom in animation has led to an increase in newly established animation companies since the turn of the millennium. Animation works are often produced by so-called production committees, which are made up of different corporations specializing in a certain field of business, such as broadcasting or music. While this cooperation reduces the risk each company has to carry and enables specialization in a market where success remains difficult to predict, the actual production companies earn only a fraction of the generated revenues. This is especially true for animation studios that operate as subcontractors. As a result, animators are often severely underpaid, and many quit in the first years of their careers.

Anime and the streaming wars

As a breakdown of the industry revenue by segment shows, merchandising is by far the most valuable business within the domestic market. It should be pointed out, however, that the growth of the industry as a whole is unevenly distributed between the segments. While videograms see revenues dwindle due to fewer and fewer DVD and Blu-ray sales, anime streaming and live entertainment constitute growing business fields. Due to the booming international streaming business, anime streaming has become a particular focus of attention. The competition between major platforms, such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney Plus, has not only spurred on the Japanese streaming market as such, but opened up new possibilities for animation production companies, which are increasingly in demand as content creators and can request a higher compensation per single episode. Cooperations with major video streaming services have become a lucrative business and give new impulses to the industry, as many shows are created from the outset with international audiences in mind. In order to better position itself in the distribution market, Sony acquired the popular anime streaming website Crunchyroll for 1.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2020, which can be seen as a further indicator of the importance streaming is likely going to have for the anime industry in the coming years.

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