Ask John: Are Manga Sales Compromising DVD Sales?

Question:
Doesn’t it seem that since the manga explosion DVD sales have been decreasing? With only so much money to spend, people seem to be picking up more manga and less anime.

Answer:
There’s no doubt that American DVD sales, and more importantly, revenue from American anime DVD sales, have been steadily declining over the past few years. During that same period of time domestic manga sales have been steadily growing. The difference in cost between a $10 volume of manga and a $30 DVD may have some impact on this divergence, but I don’t believe that the inverse success of manga can be entirely considered an opposition to anime DVD sales. Anime DVD sales are down for a number of reasons while manga sales are up for a number of reasons, but few of those reasons overlap.

According to Nielsen VideoScan figures, first quarter DVD sales in America this year were down more than 30% from the same time period in 2005. While Spiderman 2 sold five million DVD copies on its first day of release, Spiderman 3 hasn’t reached five million DVDs sold in its first five weeks of release! It’s not just anime DVD sales that are down; all American DVD sales are down. The American DVD market has reached its saturation point and most consumers have, by now, purchased the majority of the DVDs that they want to own. The introduction of high definition media formats hasn’t yet encouraged average Americans to upgrade to HD or Blu-ray, but it may be discouraging consumers from purchasing standard definition DVDs that they now see as inferior or outdated technology. Changes in the American economy have doubtlessly impacted domestic DVD sales. Households have less money to spend on entertainment when health care costs, taxes, living expenses, and gasoline costs are increasing. Finally, DVDs are facing increasing competition from other forms of entertainment including the explosive growth of the domestic video game market and domestic entertainment specifically designed to appeal to American consumer tastes like American movies and TV shows.

The explosive growth of manga in America may be explained by two primary factors. First, manga appeals to an audience that a lot of anime doesn’t. Second, manga are inexpensive. Much of the success of manga in America may be attributed to its appeal to female readers. While there is anime targeted at female viewers, and a lot of anime appeals to both male and female viewers, the impression of anime in America is still primarily a medium for boys. With the exception of Sailor Moon, family friendly Ghibli movies, and children’s anime like Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh, every major anime success in America has been an action/adventure title – a genre typically associated with male viewers. The explosive success of manga in America has a lot to do with its ability to appeal to an audience larger than the market for anime DVDs, including consumers such as adult women and young children who wouldn’t normally buy anime DVDs, but do purchase manga. The relatively low cost of manga also makes it appealing. To a small degree I have to admit that the difference in cost between manga and anime DVDs may encourage some consumers to gravitate toward manga instead of DVDs, but I suspect that most consumers don’t think of manga as a cheaper alternative to DVD. I’ve never personally encountered any reason to believe that average American consumers resort to manga in place of DVDs. I believe most American consumers purchase manga because of interest in manga rather than as a substitute for DVDs.

The digital revolution also has a significant impact on manga and DVD sales. Manga are an inherently physical product that consumers want to hold in their hands. Reading manga on a computer screen doesn’t have the same tactile appeal as reading a physical book. As a result, printed manga have a practical value in the minds of consumers. Video is a visual commodity, a stimulation rather than a physical product. Consumers watch video on a screen, so there’s a minimal conscious difference between watching video on one type of screen versus another. Furthermore, contemporary consumer and internet technology has put identical or even superior copies of video easily within the grasp of average consumers. While manga and anime both technically have the same value as intellectual concepts and visual art, consumers have a natural tendency to want to own manga and less natural inclination to purchase video, regardless of price. That fact may be perceived in the fact that fansubbing and video piracy is blamed for compromising DVD sales, but “scanlations” have a negligible impact on manga sales.

In summation, beyond any doubt DVD sales are declining with manga sales are increasing. Differences in cost between manga and anime DVDs may have some small role causing that inverse relationship, but there are definitely many other equally or more significant circumstances that affect why DVD sales are declining while manga sales are increasing. DVD sales aren’t decreasing exclusively or primarily because manga sales are increasing.