Industry Group: Global Anime Sales Dipped 7.4% in 2007

[JINROH]

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2008-08-01/industry-group-global-anime-sales-dipped-7.4-percent-in-2007

I don't find this surprising,but the reasons...

[The Great Bear]

I don't find the reasons all that surprising. There's obviously a glut of anime on TV in Japan. The market's saturated, and individual programs are not doing as well, so advertising has fallen. It might also be that the advertising market in Japan has weakened, much as it has become soft in the US market. With ad revenue down, that will affect that "television" number that the industry group watches.

There's going to have to be a retrenchment and a focus on quality versus quantity, though with falling revenues, there will be pressure to cut production costs and go with only surefire hits. So, we'll see what effect this has in a couple of broadcast seasons.

[Draneor]

It's interesting to see how the overall anime global market for anime compares to the overall otaku market for Japan. The otaku market did grow slightly (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2007-12-18/report-2007-japanese-otaku-market-is-187-billion-yen) in 2007 and R2 DVD sales were slightly up as well. Granted, otaku shows tends to not rely much if any on advertising revenue. If the otaku market remains stable or continues to grow slightly, at least the kind of shows I like will continue to be made. At the very least, there have been no signs yet that it is shrinking much.

Granted, you can't really compare them until you know what's included in each report.

[something]

but the reasons...
...sound about right.

[Orihimes_Boyfriend]

Yeah you can't argue with those reasons.

[JINROH]

I don't find the reasons all that surprising. There's obviously a glut of anime on TV in Japan. The market's saturated, and individual programs are not doing as well, so advertising has fallen. It might also be that the advertising market in Japan has weakened, much as it has become soft in the US market. With ad revenue down, that will affect that "television" number that the industry group watches.

There's going to have to be a retrenchment and a focus on quality versus quantity, though with falling revenues, there will be pressure to cut production costs and go with only surefire hits. So, we'll see what effect this has in a couple of broadcast seasons.



Is tv viwership in Japan down overall,us as much as we have seen it drop here in NA ?

[The Great Bear]

Is tv viwership in Japan down overall,us as much as we have seen it drop here in NA ?

I don't know about overall viewership, but people in various threads here and at other places have seen ratings for anime in Japan and some popular franchises, like Bleach, have seen an erosion in their ratings.

And it's not necessarily a serious drop in viewership that would be the root of the problem. If the advertising market is starting to slump, advertisers would be spending less overall period, regardless of the ratings. They'd flock to the very popular shows, but lesser shows would be ignored.

[Draneor]

. If the advertising market is starting to slump, advertisers would be spending less overall period, regardless of the ratings. They'd flock to the very popular shows, but lesser shows would be ignored.

I'm not sure this is really a problem for most shows since their "advertisers" tend to be companies that funded and/or created the anime in the first place (which is why they mostly air late at night on obscure pay channels). Or, in other words, advertisers have always mostly ignored most anime. Certainly though, for anime that do depend on advertising, it would hurt, I would think. Speaking of, I wonder how the noitaminA block on Fuji TV is doing... I'll have to remember to check the ratings when I get home.

[Lego]

I don't find the reasons all that surprising. There's obviously a glut of anime on TV in Japan. The market's saturated, and individual programs are not doing as well, so advertising has fallen. It might also be that the advertising market in Japan has weakened, much as it has become soft in the US market. With ad revenue down, that will affect that "television" number that the industry group watches.

There's going to have to be a retrenchment and a focus on quality versus quantity, though with falling revenues, there will be pressure to cut production costs and go with only surefire hits. So, we'll see what effect this has in a couple of broadcast seasons.

Obviously not privy to Japanese commercials, but it's the same set of advertisers for almost every show. For instance in something like Kimikiss where they were selling 1-2k in DVD's a release. I can't imagine that making the money back that it took them to animate a full featured show.