20% of the anime industry’s profit comes from outside of Japan

The popularity of Japanese anime overseas is showing no signs of slowing down. According to a recent annual report by The Association of Japanese Animations, the overseas market accounted for about 20% of all Japanese anime profits in 2022. In fact, overseas profits increased by 11% in 2022 compared to the previous year. This is probably thanks to the popularity of shows like Spy x Family, Attack on Titan and Polish-Japanese collaboration Cyberpunk: Edgerunners on streaming platforms.

The Anime Industry Report 2023 covers anime profits from a variety of sources, including domestic TV, streaming, merchandise and music sales. It reveals that the global market was worth around 1.5 trillion yen in 2022 (approximately $10.5 billion USD). Many factors are thought to have contributed to this rise in revenue from outside Japan, such as increased viewing and availability of anime on streaming platforms, as well as the impact of merchandise sales and anime tie-in games.

Bar graph showing the profits of different sections of the anime industry market. The pink sections represent overseas sales, which rose 11% in 2022 (Credit: Nikkei X Trend/The Association of Japanese Animations).

The market for anime outside of Japan has been growing every year since 2014. The revenue gained from anime movies has also increased, thanks to titles like 2022’s One Piece Film: Red (which grossed around $37.47 million globally) and 2023’s The First Slam Dunk, which made $279 million worldwide.

In response to the trend, animation companies have been focusing more on their global operations. Toho Animation is known for popular Shonen Jump series like Jujutsu Kaisen and My Hero Academia, and apparently reported an 85.8% increase in overseas profits for the period between March and August 2023. It is thought that the success of anime overseas was the driving factor behind Toho establishing a global division (Toho Global) in July 2023 (Source: Nikkei X Trend).

Comparison between domestic (light blue) and overseas (red) profits (Credit: Nikkei X Trend/The Association of Japanese Animations).

In 2020, the overseas market briefly overtook the Japanese market- perhaps due to increased anime streaming during coronavirus lockdowns. Now, the profits of the two markets are almost converging. Perhaps we will see the overseas market surpass the domestic market again in the next few years?