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Report: Anime Makes Up 77% of Japan's TV Exports

Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications released its 2016 "Analysis of the State of the Expansion of Broadcast Content Overseas" report on Friday. According to the study, the value broadcast content exports in fiscal year 2016 was 39.35 billion yen (about US$358 million). Anime made up 77.1% of the total, and 84.2% of the revenue from broadcast rights specifically.

Of the total, 32.7% came from merchandising rights, 31.4% from broadcasting rights, 26.9% from internet streaming rights, 5.3% from remakes, 2.3% from home video rights, and 1.4% from other.

Aside from the 77.1% of the total that was due to anime, 10.2% was from drama, 9.7% was from variety programs, 0.6% came from documentaries, and 1.7% came from other.

By region, the breakdown was as follows: 58.7% to Asia, 27.2% to North America, 8.0% to Europe, 1.6% to Latin America, and 4.6% to other regions.

58% of revenue from anime exports in particular came from Asia, 29.1% from North America, 7.7% from Europe, 1.7% from Latin America, and 3.4% from other regions.

Anime made up the majority of the total in Asia, North America, and Europe. In North America, anime made up almost all of the total for the broadcast category, at 95.3%.

The 39.35 billion yen total is a 36% increase from the number reported from the year before, though this year's survey contents have changed — notably, merchandising rights category now includes the rights to make games — so it is unlikely that a direct comparison can be made. Merchandise rights alone more than doubled from the year before with this change, but so did all other categories except for home video rights and the "other" category.

Broadcasters and the Association of Japanese Animations (AJA) participate in the yearly survey. Data was collected through email surveys to 147 respondents, though the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications is expanding the types of companies to which it sends the survey. Though it did not implement the changes this year, it estimates that the actual total may be as high as 51.59 billion yen.

Sources: Ministry of Internal Affairs Report, Animation Business Journal (Tadashi Sudo)