Japan's Anime Market Hits a Record $28.2 Billion in 2025

Japan's anime market reached a record JPY4.45 trillion ($28.2 billion) in 2025, according to preliminary figures presented at TIFFCOM, the film market held in Tokyo. Variety reported that Hasegawa Masahiro, editor-in-chief of the AJA Anime Industry Report, gave the numbers.

The total grew 15.8% on the year before. That was a little faster than the 15.7% growth recorded in 2024. The figure covers money from every source, including cinema tickets, merchandise, home video and streaming, plus the sale of rights to other countries.

Most of the growth came from abroad. Overseas anime revenue rose 17.2% to JPY2.54 trillion ($16.1 billion). Sales inside Japan grew 14.1% to JPY1.91 trillion ($12.1 billion). Overseas money made up 57.1% of the total, up from 56.5% a year earlier. Overseas revenue first overtook domestic revenue in 2023.

The animation studios, the companies that draw and produce the shows, also had a strong year. Their revenue rose 8.4% to a record JPY505.5 billion ($3.2 billion). Work for overseas clients and partners made up 27.9% of studio revenue, up from 25.5% in 2024.

The wider picture is bigger still. Japanese content of all kinds earned JPY6.1 trillion ($38.7 billion) abroad in 2024, and anime accounted for roughly a third of that. The Japanese government has set a goal of JPY20 trillion ($126.9 billion) in overseas content sales by 2033. It expects anime to supply JPY6 trillion ($38.1 billion) of that total.

These are preliminary figures. Final 2025 numbers will appear in the 2026 edition of the Anime Industry Report, which is due out in December.

For viewers outside Japan, the figures show how much of the industry's money now comes from the shows they watch on their own screens. For the people who make them, the same numbers point to a larger share of work tied to overseas partners.