Is The Anime Market Growing? And How to Involve It in Your Business

The fast-growing pace of the anime market caught everyone by surprise. This style of movie production, usually created by the Japanese, is now becoming global and appearing on screens at the cinema and on television channels.

This animation fashion has been for over a century. And its beginning is traced back to 1911 in the Japanese culture. The present-day anime began in 1956 and landed its first big success with the founding of Mushi Productions in 1961 by Osamu Tezuka.

The 21^st century brought it to the limelight. Anime went from the movie style seen only by Japanese, Chinese, and Koreans to become a culture appreciated worldwide. Thanks to the Pokeman series and movies such as Miyazaki spirited away (2002), which won the Academy Award for the best-animated film.

In this article, we will be looking at the growth of the anime industry and how the industry can influence business advertisements. Is there any possibility of anime advertisements?

The Growth of the Anime Market

The Anime market is growing at an incredible rate. Presently, the market is estimated to be $24.80 billion. And it’s expected to increase to around $56 billion by the end of 2030. As predicted, the market will be rising annually at an impressive rate of 9.7% during the forecast period.

The technological advancement over the past two decades aids the growth of this industry. The internet era makes it possible for anime to quickly crawl outside Japan’s four walls. Moreover, smartphones and gaming consoles promote the sharing of anime movies and games.

These technological advancements could also be the only reason why anime thrived during the pandemic. The Covid-19 pandemic stopped the production of new anime movies and series, and some television programs were canceled or postponed.

However, all of these couldn’t prevent the industry from thriving. Instead, many people across the globe subscribed to Netflix to see more existing anime. The number of subscribers in Japan skyrocketed, and many also sought anime video games and channels while they waited for the end of the pandemic.

Research has also shown that the Anime market will reach its full potential with the development of virtual reality, augmented reality technology, artificial intelligence, and the internet of things. The market will grow huge when these new technologies finally find their way into the anime world.

With these new technologies, the graphics and delivery of anime content will be epic. Anime lovers will experience and enjoy content in a whole different dimension. Game lovers will play their favorite anime video games like they are the character themselves. And the content will arrive sooner than it used to be.

The interest of other countries in anime production is another indication that this industry is just starting to dominate the entertainment world, and more can still be achieved. Many countries have realized how much this animation genre has improved the Japanese economy. And therefore, they have opened their doors to accommodate animation companies.

New anime companies are emerging in the US, China, and France. Besides, Netflix is doing a great job ensuring that the anime market grows. Aside from serving people with the best anime series on mobile phones and computers, they are making more content themselves.

In March 2021, during the AnimeJapan 2021 expo in Tokyo, Netflix announced to make more anime content and promised to launch 40 anime series. And they are working hard to see that they fulfill their promises.

The market is growing because there are many business opportunities around it. Although anime films and games take a large share of the market, they aren’t the only products of the industry. The industry also makes anime music, arranges live entertainment and festivals, produces manga, and designs merchandise.

The surprising fact about the industry is that merchandise holds the largest share of its market value. A whole 29% of the anime market revenue in 2021 emerged from the sales of shirts, caps, and clothing with anime characters and designs. Moreover, it’s predicted that merchandising will continue to dominate the market even more during the forecast period.

How to involve anime in business?

Anime is growing and will keep on expanding in size.

The rapid growth of this industry would make a brilliant investor and businessman ponder and ask the question, “is there a way a business can benefit from the anime market?”

The anime market is vast and growing, and therefore, there should be marketing opportunities for businesses. Like the gaming niche, some intelligent investors have found ways to advertise their products to game lovers. Some are signing deals with game content creators on platforms like YouTube and Twitch.

Anime could be used as an advertisement. This is not new in the era, as you would have seen some animation advertisements on the internet. The most used is the Whiteboard animation, in which there is a hand painting, drawing, and making illustrations on a white surface to pass across messages to viewers.

Anime advertisement is going to be similar but more understandable and exciting. It would look more accurate and cost less than gathering a few casts for a television advertisement.

Meanwhile, businesses could also tap into the anime market’s merch-making opportunities. Game influencers could create merch of their gaming characters and sell it to their audience through their channels and ecommerce platform.

Businesses could also sponsor anime events or host anime events for kids in their community to create awareness for themselves. The anime markets come with endless marketing opportunities for businesses, and it will be endless when the A.I, V.R, and A.R technology are finally integrated.

Conclusion

It’s quite evident that the anime market is growing. And there’s yet to be a prediction or indication of it plummeting- Never and not any time soon. This opens marketing opportunities for businesses that could design a strategy that would attract the powerful audience of this industry.

For more anime advertising strategies, read our next article on harnessing the power of anime as an outstanding marketing solution.