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The Japanese anime industry reached a record-breaking market size of 3.84 trillion yen (approximately $24.5 billion USD) in 2024, according to the Anime Industry Report 2025 released by the Association of Japanese Animations (AJA) on February 4th.
The report showed a year-on-year growth of 114.8%, marking the second-largest annual increase in the industry’s history. The only larger growth was recorded in 2019 at 115.3%. The market has doubled in size since 2015 and is now 3.5 times larger than it was in 2002. If this growth continues at the same pace, the industry could exceed 4 trillion yen (about $25.54 billion USD) in 2025.
The overseas market has been the primary driver of this expansion, growing at 126.0% year-on-year. This growth has accelerated significantly since 2022, largely due to the widespread availability of Japanese anime on global streaming platforms including Netflix, Disney+, and Crunchyroll.
International sales now make up 56.5% of the total anime market, outpacing the domestic market by roughly 499.7 billion yen (about $3.18 billion USD). This gap has widened considerably from the previous year’s difference of 97.9 billion yen (around $624 million USD).
The success of Japanese content in overseas markets has prompted new initiatives for further global expansion. The Japanese government recently introduced a set of policies aimed at promoting Japanese content and anime worldwide. Last month, Japanese animation studio MAPPA also announced a strategic partnership with Netflix focused on developing projects for global audiences.
