The Japanese anime market reaches a record $25 billion, driven by global growth
Japan’s anime industry hit an all-time high in 2024, rising to JPY3.84 trillion ($25.25 billion) in total market value, according to data presented by the Association of Japanese Animations (AJA) at TIFFCOM, the markets arm of the Tokyo International Film Festival.
The session, which also included presentations from ‘Godzilla’ studio Toho Global on its international strategy, the ‘Gundam’ franchise, and the Annecy-winning feature film ‘ChaO’ – also screening at the Tokyo festival – underscored how anime continues to drive Japan’s growing global content economy.
Foreign revenues rose 26% year-on-year to JPY2.17 trillion ($14.27 billion), while local revenues rose 2.8% to JPY1.67 trillion ($10.98 billion). This is the second highest annual growth rate ever, after the 15.3% increase in 2019.
AJA chairman Kazuko Ishikawa, who is also president of Nippon Animation, said anime has become a core pillar of Japan’s cultural and economic exports. She added that the association aims to further improve conditions in the industry so that creators and studios can continue to produce high-quality works that resonate with global audiences.
The upcoming Anime Industry Report 2025, to be published in December, divides the market into two key sectors: the broad “anime industry market,” which estimates total consumer spending on anime-related goods and licenses, and the narrower “anime production market,” which tracks studio revenues.
The production side market also set a record in 2024, rising 9.1% year-on-year to JPY466.2 billion ($3.06 billion). The overseas operations contributed JPY118.8 billion ($781 million) – still a smaller share overall, but growing steadily year on year.
“The overseas market now far exceeds local revenues, and the gap will only widen,” said Masahiko Hasegawa, editor-in-chief of the AJA report. “Today’s growth includes bundled contracts that include theatrical, streaming, merchandising and event rights – not just content distribution.”
AJA data shows that foreign anime revenues surpassed domestic revenues in 2023 for the first time since the pandemic, with the gap widening dramatically in 2024. The International Otaku Events Association now lists 136 anime-related events in 51 countries and regions, boosting the genre’s global momentum.
The Japanese government continues to position anime and related media – including film, games, manga and music – as a strategic core industry. According to the revised Cool Japan initiative, the national goal is to triple foreign content sales to JPY20 trillion ($131.4 billion) by 2033, from about JPY5.8 trillion ($38 billion) by 2024.
AJA predicts that future growth will come not just from distribution and theatrical revenues, but from exports across the entire Japanese anime ecosystem, including merchandise tie-ins, retail campaigns and cross-media collaborations.
“Anime is no longer just about storytelling,” Hasegawa said. “It is a fully-fledged cultural economy – and that economy is developing rapidly on a global scale.”
