Japan: anime overseas market size

Following a strong growth in recent years, the overseas revenue of the animation industry in Japan reached a value of about 1.46 trillion Japanese yen for the first time in 2022. The combined value of the domestic anime market and the overseas anime market amounted to approximately 2.93 trillion yen in 2022, which was a new record for the industry.

Exporting anime

The anime industry is an important part of the Japanese content industry, which has received increasing attention as a possible growth motor for the Japanese economy since the early 2000s. Exports of media contents and other pop cultural goods, such as Pokémon merchandise and toys, had been deemed economic success stories in Japan during the recession-stricken 1990s. A breakdown of the anime industry by segment shows that merchandising is by far the largest segment of the anime industry domestically. The overseas revenue represents the combined revenue of various segments of the industry, such as television broadcasting, movies, and video streaming. Anime streaming in particular has come into focus in recent years, as the competition between major streaming services, such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+, has increased the demand for animated streaming content.

Impact of demographic changes

One reason for the increasing outward orientation of Japanese anime producers and related companies can be found in the limited growth potential of the domestic market. Japan’s low birthrate means that fewer and fewer children are born as time progresses, which poses a challenge particularly for those businesses which follow a media mix strategy that combines broadcasting TV programs for children with selling toys and other merchandise. Despite this development, the anime industry has greatly expanded its output since the 1990s, which has entailed an increasing focus on content aimed at adult audiences. A comparison of production minutes shows that the anime industry today produces more content aimed at adults than content aimed at children and family entertainment, which was not the case in earlier decades. In general, it has become more common for adults to enjoy animation, which is in part a result of the increasing sophistication of the medium.