News
Manga Sales Drop a Historic 6.6% in Japan in 2009
posted on by Egan Loo
The Research Institute for Publications, a Tokyo-based industry group, reports that sales of manga magazines and compiled book volumes dropped 6.6% to 418.7 billion yen (about US$4.63 billion) in 2009 — the largest yearly drop in sales in the market segment's history. In particular, sales of manga magazines fell 9.4% to 191.3 billion yen (US$2.12 billion). Manga magazines sales had not been below the 200-billion-yen mark in at least 18 years. Sales of print manga overall peaked in 1995. According to the research institute, manga fans have been tightening their budgets in the economic recession by reading in manga cafés instead of buying in bookstores, and there are fewer big hit titles.
Source: NHK
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