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AJA: Anime Industry Grew by 13.3% in 2021

The Association of Japanese Animations (AJA) released a preview of its Anime Industry Report 2022 findings (for the year 2021) on Tuesday. The association then released the full report on Friday. The report found that the wider anime industry (including merchandise, music, etc.) grew by 13.3% in 2021 compared to 2020, with a total market value of 2.7422 trillion yen (about US$19.76 billion). This number is the highest since AJA began recording the industry's total market value in 2002, exceeding the previous record high of 2.5145 trillion yen (about US$18.12 billion by present conversion) in 2019 by 9.1%.

While both the Japanese and overseas anime markets grew this year, the overseas market has returned to being below Japanese anime sales, after overtaking it for the first time last year. The overseas market amounted to 1.3134 trillion yen (about US$9.46 billion) in 2021, a 5.97% increase from 2020's 1.2394 trillion yen (about US$10.89 billion by 2021 conversion), and accounting for 47.9% of the overall market. The Japanese market amounted to 1.4288 trillion yen (about US$10.29 billion) in 2021, a 21.03% increase from 2020's 1.1805 trillion yen (about US$10.41 billion yen by 2021's conversion). (Editor's note: while the AJA last year said 2020's Japanese market amounted to 1.1867 trillion yen, the 2021 report attributes the 2020 Japanese market to 1.1805 trillion yen.)

The first graph below from the AJA shows the overall anime industry from 2002 to 2021. The second graph below details the domestic market (solid line) and the overseas market (dotted line), which shows that while the overseas industry overtook the domestic industry in 2020 for the first time, the roles were again reversed in 2021.

Additionally, streaming reached its highest earnings ever in the industry at 154.3 billion yen (about US$1.11 billion), a 65.9% increase from 2020. Merchandise also rose by 14.0% to 663.1 billion yen (about US$4.78 billion).

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.

Graph images © The Association of Japanese Animations (AJA)

Source: Press release