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 ï¿¥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 ]