Study of 2017 industry looks at 255 production companies in Japan

The financial research firm Teikoku Databank published an investigation of the anime production industry on August 10, and reported that the industry saw a record high income of 203.721 billion yen (about US$1.8 billion) in 2017. The total income rose 39.6% year-on-year, continuing a three-year positive trend. The actual profit saw a 54.9% increase.

Teikoku Databank gathered data from 255 anime production companies in July 2018. About 90% of the companies were located in Tokyo, and 150 were established after the year 2000.

For the first time in seven years, the per-studio average reached 800 million yen. This average peaked in 2007 with 1.175 billion yen, but had for several years been on the decline due to an increase in start-up companies and the outsourcing of anime production to other parts of Asia.

While the average income was over 800 million, 82 studios had incomes of less than 100 million yen, and 72 had incomes between 100 and 300 million yen. Many of the studios are very small; 86 companies had five employees or fewer, 83 had between 6 and 20, and 51 had between 21 and 50. (Overall, 94.5% of the companies had fewer than 100 employees.)

Studios that are primary contractors or major subcontractors had an average income of 1.65 billion yen, while specialty studios had an average income of 273 million yen. Both totals went up in 2017. Teikoku Databank attributed the rise in primary contractor income to video streaming and license fees from the production committees. On the other hand, the fierce competition among smaller specialty studios has led to a decline in each studio's price for work and an increase in the amount of work taken on, in spite of the small staff.

Teikoku Databank noted that four of the companies it studied filed for bankruptcy in 2017, two ceased operations or were dissolved. This total of six companies closing is the third highest in history, after 2010, when eight companies closed, and 2009 and 2011, when seven companies closed.

Source: Teikoku Databank via Yaraon!