Japanese animation market sustains 2-year consecutive decline

The Japan Video Software Association released its annual sales figures for the overall Japanese DVD and Blu-ray Disc market last Wednesday, showing that overall DVD and Blu-ray Disc sales are down 5.1% in 2015, with total sales of 218.113 billion yen (about US$1.960 billion). By comparison, 2014 saw an overall decrease of 8.7% from 2013. The DVD and Blu-ray Disc market has been in annual decline for 11 straight years. As of 2015, the market has declined about 40% from its peak in 2004, when it was worth 375.3393 billion yen (about US$3.367 billion).

The overall Blu-ray Disc market saw a 1.9% increase from the previous year, with a net worth of 93.88 billion yen (about US$843.67 million), but the overall DVD market was worth 124.233 billion yen (about US$1.116 billion), a decrease of 9.8% from the year before. The consumer retail market sustained a 2.9% decrease, with a net worth of 162.650 billion yen (about US$1.461 billion), while rentals saw an 11.8% decline. The Anime! Anime! Biz site postulates that may be due to the increased popularity of streaming services.

The animation market, which combines both general and kids-oriented sales, as well as foreign general and kids-oriented sales and the rental market, reported total sales of 72.792 billion yen (about US$654.042 million) in 2015, down 14.9% from 85.858 billion yen (about US$771.341 million) the year previous, which Anime! Anime! Biz attributes to the impressive sales of Disney's Frozen in 2014.

The general Japanese animation market is down 6.9% from the previous year, with total sales of 49.082 billion yen (about US$440.948 million). The market has now sustained a two-year consecutive decline. The last time that the market garnered sales below 50 billion yen was in 2004, where the market earned 44.091 billion yen (about US$396.161 million).

Late-night anime made up about half of the market's total sales in 2015. Anime! Anime! Biz notes that though the number of anime produced has increased in recent years, and the market has grown, it has failed to turn around overall Japanese animation sales. Among Japanese anime sales, the Blu-ray Disc market suffered a 2.9% decrease in sales over the past year, and Anime! Anime! Biz postulates that this may herald the start of different purchasing habits for anime fans. It further notes that in recent years, anime has expanded to related markets, such as music, live concert events, and streaming, and that 2015's sales may reflect this.

Source: Anime! Anime! Biz