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AJA: Anime Industry Grew by 6.8% in 2022

The Association of Japanese Animations (AJA) released a preview of its Anime Industry Report 2023 findings (for the year 2022) on December 14. The report found that the wider anime industry (including merchandise, music, etc.) grew by 6.8% in 2022 compared to 2021, with a total market value of 2.9277 trillion yen (about US$20.56 billion). This number is the highest since AJA began recording the industry's total market value in 2002, exceeding the previous record high of 2.7422 trillion yen (about US$19.26 billion by present conversion) in 2021. The overall market is 2.67 times larger than in 2002, and has grown 98% since 2013 (in comparison, between 2002 and 2012 the market grew 22%).

Both the domestic (Japanese) and foreign anime markets grew this year, with the domestic market larger than the overseas market (2020 had the foreign market larger than the domestic market for the first time ever, but 2021 reversed it once more). The domestic market in 2022 amounted to 1.4685 trillion yen (about US$10.32 billion), a 2.7% increase from 2021's 1.4288 trillion yen (about US$10.04 billion by present conversion). The foreign market in 2022 amounted to 1.4592 trillion yen (about US$10.25 billion), an 11.1% increase from 2021's 1.3134 trillion yen (about US$9.23 billion by present conversion). However, the depreciation of the yen since early 2022 actually puts real market value of the foreign market year-on-year as 7.7% less than last year.

The market value strictly for anime productions amounted to 340.7 billion yen (about US$2.39 billion) in 2022, a 16.4% increase from 2021.

The first graph below from the AJA shows the overall anime industry market value and trend from 2002 to 2022. The second graph below details the domestic market (solid line) and the overseas market (dotted line).

Other main trends driving growth in 2022 include: live entertainment's 70.2% growth compared to 2021 to 97.2 billion yen (about US$682 million), and growth in film revenue by 30.4% to 78.5 billion yen (about US$551 million).

In addition, the AJA released a choropleth world map indicating the rough numbers of anime industry related-contracts (including licensing, production, sponsorship, etc.) per country or territory in 2022. Countries in red (the United States, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Canada, India, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia) had more than 300 industry contracts in 2022. Countries in pink (Russia, Kazakhstan, the Philippines, Myanmar, Laos, Mexico, Panama, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile, Ireland, Portugal, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal, Italy, Austria, Poland, Turkey, South Africa, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE, and Oman) had between 100 to 300 contracts in 2022. Countries in blue (Hungary, Croatia, Greece, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Timor-Leste, Papua New Guinea, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, most South Pacific islands) had between 50 to 100 contracts in 2022. Countries in green had between 10 to 50 contracts in 2022. Countries in yellow had 10 or less industry contracts in 2022.

Asia accounted for the largest share of industry contracts for the anime industry, accounting for 32.1% of the market, followed by Europe at 21.2%, Central and South America at 16%, Oceania at 7.6%, the Middle East at 7.3%, then Africa and Eastern Europe both at 5.5%, and then North America at 4.7%.

The anime industry had contracted by 3.5% in 2020, with a total market value of 2.4261 trillion yen (about US$21.32 billion by 2021 conversion). The market value strictly for anime productions contracted by 9% to 274.4 billion yen (about US$2.41 billion by 2021 conversion). The industry generated 88.4 billion yen less due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to surveys. The streaming market increased dramatically in 2020 by 35.8% year-on-year, with a total value of 93 billion yen (about US$817 million by 2021 conversion), and was also the only market segment to see growth.

Source: Press release