Japan's Anime Market Hits a Record $28.2 Billion, and Most of the Money Now Comes From Abroad

Japanese anime has just posted its biggest year ever, with worldwide spending reaching a record 4.45 trillion yen, about $28.2 billion, in 2025.

The preliminary figures, presented by the Association of Japanese Animations at TIFFCOM in Tokyo on October 30, show growth of 15.8 percent on the previous year, itself a record growth rate and the first time the market has crossed 4 trillion yen.

What stands out is where the money comes from. Overseas revenue climbed 17.2 percent to 2.54 trillion yen, about $16.1 billion, making up 57.1 percent of the total. Spending inside Japan also grew strongly, up 14.1 percent to 1.91 trillion yen, breaking a recent pattern in which the home market lagged behind international growth.

The headline total counts everything consumers spend connected to anime, television, film, streaming, merchandise, music, and live events. A narrower measure, tracking what animation studios themselves earn, also hit a record at 505.5 billion yen, up 8.4 percent, though that remains a small fraction of the broader market.

The figures underline how completely anime has flipped from a domestic industry with an export side business into a global one. A decade ago the market was about 1.8 trillion yen; it is now roughly two and a half times that size, with final figures due in the full Anime Industry Report in December.