TOKYO -- Worldwide sales of Japanese toons amounted to Y240 trillion ($2.22 billion) in 2007, according to figures compiled by The Association of Japanese Animations (AJA), an anime industry org.
This represents a 6% drop from the previous year -- the first such decline since the AJA began conducting annual surveys of the anime biz in 2002.
A main reason for the shrinkage is a decline in TV anime broadcasting hours. Revenues from TV anime production fell from $515 million in 2006 to $441 million in 2007 -- a drop of 16%. The number of Japanese TV toons produced likewise
started dropping in 2007 and is expected to continue falling throughout 2008.
The industry also suffered declines in earnings from theatrical BO, video production and sales, royalties, character goods and overseas sales, while recording modest increases in music publishing and webcasting revenues.
According to the AJA, the long rise in video release numbers, including many weak titles, ended up adversely impacting the earnings of packaged software makers, since profitability per title decreased. Makers have accordingly cut back on the number of titles and total earnings have dropped.
The AJA reps 56 companies, including toon productions houses and packaged software makers. In addition to conducting the annual industry survey, it organizes the Tokyo International Anime Fair, the world's biggest trade fair for Japanese toons, held every March in Tokyo since 2002.
To arrive at the year's numbers, AJA surveys all its members and estimates earnings of non-member companies.
© Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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