2007 Otaku Market worth 186.8 Billion Yen
According to an annual research by research agency Media Create titled “The 2008 White Paper on the Otaku Industry”, the total combined size of game, anime and related goods sales amount to 186.8 billion yen (about 1.65 billion USD) for the year of 2007. This is a slight 2% increase over last year’s 182.1 billion yen.
Based on surveys conducted, Media Create determined that 31 % of otaku have been to maid cafes, 48% to doujin sales events and 49% purchased items online.
The agency divided the products into five categories: anime (DVDs and CDs), published content (manga and light novel), games, figures and goods, and doujinshi. Based on these categories, they conducted interview surveys with specialist shops and 1500 “otaku” found in those places. Doujin sales figures were obtained from event organizers and online retailers.
They also reached an interesting conclusion that there’s been an increase of so-called “light otaku”, or people who enjoy anime and games on a more casual level. This growth is attributed to the Internet, which seems to be the cause of everything nowadays, where it is easy for people to interact with others who have similar interests.
The paper also contains analysis from economist Takurou Morinaga and costs ￥17,800 for 184 A4-sized pages. Probably a good read for anyone in the business. (Or thinking of starting one.) Personally I’m interested in finding out the breakdown of revenues in terms of the five defined categories.
[ Source: Yahoo! Japan News ]
December 21st, 2007 at 12:46 pm
Is this maid from a particular series or is she just a random image?
December 21st, 2007 at 1:05 pm
Thanks for the piece. The breakdown you want is in an article at
http://www.otakutimes.com but it doesn’t give the year-over-year figure you gave. I was glad to see that the market is still growing, though I imagine the sellers wish it were growing more.
The reason the Internet seems to be considered the cause of everything these days is because it is. And I think it is early days yet in that regard. I think every seller in every industry, let alone in the “otaku industry,” has to develop an Internet marketing and distribution strategy, and that fighting to get back to the old days is not just a lost cause, but self-defeating.
December 21st, 2007 at 1:24 pm
Looks like Hiro Suzuhira’s artwork if i recall
December 21st, 2007 at 3:03 pm
that pic looks alot like a suigintou cosplay without the wings…
hmm… guess i qualify as a “light otaku” then….for the moment…^^
December 21st, 2007 at 3:03 pm
来年が楽しみだ。
December 21st, 2007 at 7:49 pm
Yeah, I’d definitely be interested in getting a look at the detailed breakdown, especially regarding the doujin market. Just as a guess, I’d be willing to bet that doujin sales (assuming they’re properly accounted for), are the cause of a lot of the recent growth in the overall “otaku” market.
Also Danny Choo says he’s looking forward to next year. n_n
December 21st, 2007 at 9:28 pm
looks like the japanese market is still growing, pity ours can’t do the same.. but then again, perhaps it’s a sign we ought to move to japan XD
December 21st, 2007 at 11:29 pm
Does that amount include hentai?
I bet at least 30% is hentai related.
December 22nd, 2007 at 1:12 am
hmm… the art piece reminds me of pia-carrot go >.>;
on the other hand, are they saying there’s only “light otaku” and “hardcore otaku”, or is this in addition to other otaku levels?
i wonder how they classify such a thing o_O
December 22nd, 2007 at 11:53 am
Probably by how crazy the otaku is over 2D stuff :P
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2007 animu market worth 186.8 billion yen « Terminal DaysDecember 23rd, 2007 at 5:10 pm
[...] to Otaku Times, ANN, and DarkMirage, the research agency Media Create released their annual research on the “Otaku [...]
December 24th, 2007 at 3:47 pm
now thats a lot of $.
December 28th, 2007 at 7:26 pm
That’s a lot