Japanese anime industry sales top 3 trillion yen for 1st time

WAM, Philippine News Agency

In a report released this month, the Association of Japanese Animations says the industry’s revenue for the year stood at about 3.3 trillion yen, or around USD21 billion. (File Photo: Susann Schuster/Unsplash)

TOKYO – The market size of Japan’s anime industry hit a record high of over 3 trillion yen in 2023, buoyed by brisk overseas sales, NHK World Japan reported.

In a report released this month, the Association of Japanese Animations says the industry’s revenue for the year stood at about 3.3 trillion yen, or around USD21 billion.

That topped the previous record posted in 2022 by more than 14 percent and was the first time for the figure to exceed the 3-trillion-yen mark.

The association says overseas sales, including distribution contracts and related merchandise, topped nine earnings categories in the survey. The total was around USD11 billion, up 18 percent from a year earlier.

Sales from online distribution surged by 50 percent year-on-year to about USD1.6 billion.

Merchandise sales stood at around USD4.5 billion and revenue from live entertainment at roughly USD700 million. (WAM)