News
Japanese Digital Comic Market Grows to 411.4 Billion Yen
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
The All Japan Magazine and Book Publisher's and Editor's Association (AJPEA) revealed on Thursday its report on the publishing industry in Japan in 2021. The publishing market as a whole grew 3.6% in 2021 to a total market value of 1.6742 trillion yen (about US$14.70 billion) thanks to rising digital revenues, though the print market shrank by 1.3%. It was the third consecutive year of overall growth for the market as a whole.
Within the wider market, the digital comic market segment grew in market value from 342 billion yen (about US$3 billion) to 411.4 billion yen (about US$3.61 billion) from 2020 to 2021, accompanying a general rise in the overall digital publishing market by 18.6% from 2020 to 2021. In contrast, digital magazine sales fell from 11 billion yen (US$96.64 million) to 9.9 billion yen (about US$86.98 million) from 2020 to 2021. The hon.jp website credited the growth in digital comics to comics that received screen adaptations, as well as popular vertical-scrolling comics such as Webtoon and Smartoon. The website also noted that the digital manga numbers do not include revenues from advertising and digital libraries.
The monthly print periodicals market (including comics and magazine books/"mooks") fell 4.5% compared with 2020, and weekly print periodicals fell 9.7%. Within the monthly print periodicals market, regularly published magazines fell about 7%, while mooks fell about 14%. Buoyed by Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba's success, compiled print volumes of manga grew 20% in 2020, and then dipped about 1% in 2021.
The AJPEA previously reported last year that the manga market went up 23% in 2020 compared to 2019.
Image via AJPEA
Source: Hon.jp
this article has been modified since it was originally posted; see change history