It’s no secret that the anime industry is getting bigger every year. As streaming becomes more widespread and anime, in general, becomes more mainstream, there’s been tremendous growth in fame and profits worldwide, and as it stands, the current market for the anime industry is probably the biggest it’s ever been.
The anime industry has seen tremendous growth in recent years, and 2023 was its biggest year yet in more ways than one. The Association of Japanese Animations i.e. the AJA has released its 2024 industry report, which tracks the financial records of the anime industry in 2023, and according to said report, 2023 saw tremendous growth in the anime industry worldwide, especially for North America and other foreign markets. There are some caveats to that, of course, but regardless, it’s still a great sign of how much anime has grown outside Japan.
Japan Officially Lost Its Stranglehold On The Anime Industry In 2023
Foreign Markets Are Now The Top Contributors To The Anime Industry
According to the AJA’s industry report, the market value of the anime industry in 2023 was 3.3465 trillion yen, roughly $21.27 billion, a 14.3 percent increase from 2022 and the highest value since the AJA began reporting on the anime market in 2002. What’s especially notable about that figure is that while there was general growth in the industry worldwide, foreign markets surpassed Japan in anime sales in 2023 with a gross of 1.7222 trillion yen, roughly $10.94 billion and 51.5 percent of the market, marking a shift in the market from years past.
This isn’t the first time foreign markets have surpassed Japan, of course. According to previous AJA reports, the foreign anime markets slightly surpassed Japan in 2020 with 1.2394 trillion yen versus 1.1805 trillion yen, but Japan had a major resurgence in profit the following year and surpassed foreign markets once more, so 2020 could be seen as an outlier, more than anything. Now, though, foreign markets are surpassing Japan in the anime industry at a time when both are seeing incredible financial growth, so Japan being surpassed now is far more noteworthy an accomplishment for foreign markets.
Why Foreign Markets Might Be Overtaking Japan In The Anime Industry
The Biggest Reasons Why Anime Is So Big Outside Japan
As surprising as it might be for foreign anime markets to surpass Japan in revenue, it’s easy enough to explain. For starters, it should be noted that the yen has seen a notable decrease in value in recent years, so while Japan has seen just as much growth in the anime industry as foreign markets, if not of higher average, Japan’s cumulative revenue in the anime market might not reflect how much people are invested in it because of the general downturn of the yen. That idea is largely speculative, of course, but it’s an easy conclusion to draw, regardless.
Another point to consider is the COVID-19 pandemic. When COVID forced most people to stay in their homes for months, at least in the United States, many people used the situation to get more invested in anime and manga, whether it was catching up on old series or finally getting started on long-running franchises like One Piece and Dragon Ball. That’s likely why foreign markets surpassed Japan in 2020, so the most recent upturn of the anime industry in foreign markets can be seen as a result of how much anime grew during the pandemic.
Thanks to a combination of streaming anime on Netflix and other platforms becoming more accessible and companies making larger efforts to push anime shows and films worldwide, anime is arguably the most popular it’s been in the United States and other foreign markets in decades, so the popularity of anime in foreign markets in 2023 can be seen as the natural result of how popular anime has become in recent years, whether due to the pandemic or to other outside factors. That will only get bigger as the years go on, and that sort of trend cannot be ignored.
Will Foreign Markets Continue To Dominate The Anime Industry In The Years To Come?
Is A Shift In The Anime Market On The Horizon?
With the anime market outside Japan getting as big as it is, there’s the obvious question of whether this will become the norm. Unlike when the foreign market surpassed the Japanese market in 2020, there’s a noticeable gap between revenues that isn’t easily amendable, especially with the immense growth in revenue foreign markets have seen in recent years. As long as the anime industry doesn’t see significant change, foreign markets can easily continue to dominate in years to come, and there’s no way of telling what that could lead to.
Will Anime’s Increased Presence Outside Japan Cause A Shift In The Industry?
Is The Anime Industry About To Change?
Anime is only going to become bigger in foreign markets, and that begs the question of whether that will change the industry. While anime has seen a greatly increased presence outside of Japan, most are largely produced with a domestic audience in mind, resulting in many projects coming off as weird or outright bad due to a difference in cultural preferences. With this new report, however, anime might start changing their stories and overall aesthetics to better appeal to foreign markets to play into the increased popularity, as that could be an easy way to take profits even further.
That sort of shift would probably be a mistake, however. For starters, even if Japan is falling behind financially, it’s still the undeniable center of anime culture in the world, especially with the obvious fact that it’s where anime is made. The anime market will always be big in Japan, so if the anime market in Japan is falling short of foreign markets, then Japan needs to focus on improving things domestically instead of trying to make things more appealing to international audiences.
The fact that anime has so much appeal in foreign markets is also a good reason not to change things. As often as anime might do things that won’t appeal to foreign markets, people like anime so much because of the way it is now, and trying to make it into something it’s not could have the opposite effect and just push people away. Anime won’t have as much success overseas if studios try and take away what makes it so unique just to appeal to foreign markets, and ideally, that mindset regarding anime won’t change anytime soon.
Sources: Anime News Network, Sora News 24.