As anime races towards its export target, the publishers who prosper will treat it not as a rival for attention but as the defining case study in global IP management of the streaming era.

A Record at Home and Abroad

Preliminary figures from the Association of Japanese Animations (AJA), presented at TIFFCOM, show worldwide spending on anime reached JPY4.45 trillion ($28.2bn) in 2025, up 15.8% – a record rate of growth.

Overseas consumers account for 57.1% of the total, yet the real story is the domestic rebound: the Japanese market grew 14.1% to JPY1.91 trillion, after limping along at 4.6% in 2024. For the first time in years, both engines fired at once.

From Niche Export to National Strategy

The trajectory is striking. When the AJA began tracking the market in 2009, it stood at JPY1.27 trillion; by 2020, overseas sales overtook domestic takings for the first time, even as the pandemic produced the market’s first contraction in 11 years.

Overseas revenue moved definitively ahead in 2023 with a 51.5% share, and the gap has widened every year since.

The sector now sits inside Japanese industrial policy: Tokyo targets JPY20 trillion in content exports by 2033 under its “Cool Japan” strategy, with anime expected to contribute JPY6 trillion.

The Licensing Lesson

Studio-level revenue – the narrower measure of what production companies themselves earn – rose 8.4% to a record JPY505.5bn, yet overseas accounts for only 27.9%, because studios rarely deal directly with international partners. Sit with that a moment, as an AI might say.

The AJA names two growth priorities: localisation and anti-piracy. Its next phase, according to report editor-in-chief Hasegawa Masahiro, is converting enormous foreign viewing audiences into merchandise and service revenue – a model long established at home.

The View From the Beach

Three implications stand out. First, the IP flywheel: manga-to-anime adaptations such as Demon Slayer and Jujutsu Kaisen dominate global streaming charts, and anime drives manga sales in return – a virtuous circle Western comics and YA lists have only partially replicated.

Second, family anime’s cross-generational reach in Japan points to merchandising potential abroad that children’s publishers are well placed to exploit through licensing partnerships.

Third, the emphasis on localisation and rights protection mirrors publishing’s own battles in translation markets and against piracy.

Ishikawa Kazuko, who heads the AJA and Nippon Animation, framed the industry’s central task as building an environment in which creators can work “with peace of mind” – a reminder that record revenues rest on fragile creative labour.

As anime races towards its export target, the publishers who prosper will treat it not as a rival for attention but as the defining case study in global IP management of the streaming era.

This post first appeared in the TNPS LinkedIn newsletter.