How is Anime Doing from a Financial Perspective? Posted Nov 19, 2020
According to researchers, anime showed substantial growth in revenue for its 6th year in 2019, showing that the trend has never been more popular than it is today. Why? Simply because it is now easier than ever to watch TV shows as a result of streaming services, which means that the demand for Japanese animation has significantly increased.
The Association of Japanese Animators released its annual report of industry earnings taken from over 100 anime corporations, which revealed that the anime market had performed better than ever with earnings of 2.1814 trillion yen (UK £8.3 billion). As a result, this industry has become an extremely popular choice for investors interested in spread betting.
It was declared back in October however, that Netflix UK has recently signed four major deals with anime creators in Korea and Japan due to the growth in popularity. Netflix announced it has the intention “to create the best content for the global anime community”.
Taiki Sakurai, Anime Chief Producer, Netflix said: “In just four years, we’ve built a dedicated team based in Tokyo that serves to entertain the global anime community through new and aspirational storytelling. With these additional partnerships with industry trailblazers who do amazing work, often marrying the latest technologies and traditional hand-drawn animation, we’re excited to bring fans a greater variety of even more amazing stories”.
In 2021 alone, it has been confirmed that there are three new titles to be released including Spriggan, Vampire In The Garden and Super Crooks.
However, there are real concerns as to the future of anime in Japan as a result of the harsh realities of employment in the sector. Many keen artists in Japan have the goal of working in anime, but the public illusion that the industry portrays is far from the truth.
The anime market as a whole is worth 2 trillion yen (the equivalent of £13.81 billion), however, there have been significant concerns regarding the exceptionally low wages that employees receive and the long hours they’re forced to work.
Although industry leaders are passionate about their profession, it has been stated that "As it is, Japanese anime has no future” due to the heavy costs associated with the costings of the production and minimal profit turnover.
According to Vox.com, skilled animators typically only earn around 200 yen per drawing; which is less than £1; which of course, wouldn’t seem so bad if animators could churn out hundreds of drawings per day, however, it can take hours to complete a single drawing due to the workmanship involved.
Despite the concerns, the Association of Japanese Animators’ report revealed that the demands for this industry are set to continue in the near future which offers a ray of hope in the direction of Anime and those interested in spread betting. As a result of this news, large corporations within the industry should find new methods to pay their employees a substantial wage as profits rise and cut down their hours to provide a work/life balance.