State of the Anime Industry in the US Redux and Geneon Epilogue (?)

In October I wrote about the State of the Anime Industry in the US. I mentioned that it was difficult to get compiled statistics about the trends in anime sales in the US. ICv2, the retailer information site, would release limited information semi-annually. The full statistics and analysis would only be available to subscribers of their publication.

However, ICv2 has finally presented a free version of their compiled findings at the first annual ICv2 Conference on Anime and Manga: Inside the Otaku Generation. It was held on Dec. 6 at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City. This was the day before the start of the first New York Anime Festival. ICv2 CEO, Milton Griepp, presented a white paper which discussed “the latest North American trends in anime and manga, with a look ahead to 2008.”

The actual text of the paper has not yet been released, but here are some highlights as collected by ANN:

Manga sales in the US:

• 2002 – $60 million
• 2003 – $100 million
• 2004 – $135 million
• 2005 – $175 million
• 2006 – $200 million

Anime sales in the US (does not include revenues from theater box offices or TV broadcast):

• 2002 – $500 million
• 2003 – $550 million
• 2004 – $500 million
• 2005 – $450 million
• 2006 – $400 million

Mr. Griepp did mention that the anime market for both theatrical releases and broadcast TV looked healthy.

Manga releases in the US:

• 2005 – 1088 volumes
• 2006 – 1208 volumes
• 2007 – 1468 volumes (projected)
• 2008 – 1731 volumes (projected)

The paper did mention that while the volumes released has been increasing, available shelf space at the retailer shops has not been keeping pace. ICv2 speculates that this may cause some manga to be distributed by direct sales rather than through bookstores.

Anime releases (DVDs) in the US:

• 2001 – 439
• 2002 – 562
• 2003 – 727
• 2004 – 733
• 2005 – 756
• 2006 – 617
• 2007 – 500+ (projected)

Mr. Griepp concluded with a look towards 2008. Though the manga market is still expanding, the main issue for manga in the US is if it can continue to expand to other demographics. He noted that some publishers were trying to attract adult customers. As for anime, here is an excerpt from ANN’s article:

“In his [Mr. Griepp's] words, anime is now facing a ‘best and worst of times’ kind of situation. Market penetration is excellent, and there are more licensed products being sold for different properties than ever before, but the market for DVD sales is steadily declining. This decline is driven by a contradiction, as fans demand the kind of season-set pricing that is now commonplace for American television series, but the inherent costs of licensing, producing, and dubbing anime make this difficult. How to compete with online downloads of fansubs remains a major question for the industry, and declining sales across the home entertainment market mean that American anime companies often cannot afford to engage in experiments that may not be successful. Griepp also criticized Japanese anime production companies for continuing to insist on pricing many licenses without taking into account the actual potential of these series in the current U.S. environment.”

So, at least for the short term, manga’s future in the US looks bright. Anime, on the other hand, is a mixed bag. The TV and theater sectors are healthy, but DVD sales are looking a little grim.

ANN Story: ICv2 Conference on Anime and Manga – ICv2 White Paper

If you are interested in reading more, Mr. Griepp was interviewed by Publishers Weekly Comics Week shortly before the conference. He talked about the conference and discussed some of the issues that he would later present in the paper. Here is an excerpt where he answers the question, “Where do you see the anime DVD market in the short run?“:

“There’s a great future but the old model for DVD sales—single episodes on a $30 DVD released every three months—is breaking down. These days you can’t wait that long to release the episodes, and the price is just too high. There’s a shift to DVDs offering a full-season collection, which lowers the per episode cost. The market is in transition, split between the two models, but it will eventually go straight to a season DVD collection.

There will be more legal anime material on the Web, which will help cut into the illegal download traffic. And anime companies are differentiating the content and the extras they sell on DVD, so that may help evolve that business model. The bottom line is that digital delivery is becoming more important than ever, from video on demand to streaming video and downloads, and how that affects DVD sales is an open question. What is the impact of digital delivery on the sale of physical products? We’ll be looking at all of this at the conference.“

Picture of Milton Griepp from Publishers Weekly.

PWCW Story: Inside the Otaku Marketplace

On the Geneon front, there is a small bit of good news. In the rush to release Fate/Stay Night, Volume 6 Limited Edition before the November 6 cutoff deadline, quality control suffered a bit. Some of the Saber Clocks, which were part of the extras, were defective. Fortunately, though, everyone whose order came with a defective clock is eligible for a $10 gift certificate to RightStuf.com courtesy of Geneon.

Here is the link to the actual pdf form. The deadline is December 31, 2007.