JETRO 2005 Report Released

The Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO) has released its June 2005 report on the state of Japan’s animation industry. The gist of the report is that although more animation is being produced in Japan than ever before, industry profits are in decline. Select highlights from the report are:

Anime film sales declined by 10.4% between 2002 and 2003, going from 213.5 billion yen in 2002 down to 191.2 billion yen in 2003.

Japanese box office revenue for theatrical anime films has decreased since 2001, going from 53.3 billion yen in 2001 down to 33.7 billion yen in 2003.

Anime DVD and video sales decreased by 5.5% in Japan from 2003 to 2004.

Most TV series do not recoup their production costs through TV broadcast. Studios rely on other revenue sources such as DVD sales, licensing, and merchandising to earn profit.

Employees in many smaller animation studios are employed on a short-term, as needed basis and do not live with a guaranteed stable income. However, some talented, high profile anime artists earn $90,000 or more annually.

A typical 30-minute TV episode costs 10 million yen to produce; however, some cost as little as 5 million yen.

The amount of anime made for TV broadcast in Japan continues to increase annually. In 2002 there were 2,748 anime TV episodes broadcast. That number increased to 2,850 in 2003.

As of 2004, Japan produces 60% of the world’s television animation.

80% of the animation DVDs purchased in Japan are native Japanese produced animation videos.

Source: Anime News Network