Every year, the Yano Research Institute releases a report on the otaku market. This research is conducted to find out what is generating the most money within the otaku world. In this article, we will share this research from the year 2017 for you readers of Suki Desu.
The otaku area with the highest growth is the world of Idols. This happens because this market can encompass a large adult audience that is not very interested in anime and manga. The market with the largest decline was cosplay, which fell by 7.9% in generated profit. It is believed that the decline was due to prices and not popularity.
Ranking of the top 9 otaku markets
- Idols – 210 billion yen (US $ 1.8 billion), an increase of 12.3%;
- Doujinshi – 81.7 billion yen (US $ 720 million), an increase of 2.8%;
- Pornography – 49.5 billion yen (US $ 436.1 million), an increase of 0.6%;
- Cosplay – 35 billion yen (US $ 308.4 million), a decrease of 7.9%;
- Figures – 32.5 billion yen (US $ 286.3 million), an increase of 1.6%;
- Yaoi – 21.9 billion yen (US $ 193 million), a decrease of 0.5%;
- Eroge – 16 billion yen (US $ 140.1 million), a decrease of 4.8%;
- Visual Novel / Love – 15.5 billion yen (US $ 136.6 million), an increase of 3.3%;
- Vocaloids – 10 billion yen (US $ 88.1 million), an increase of 4.2%;
Other categories that did not appear on the list but are in the research conducted by Yano are: Plastic models, toys, dolls, trains, maid, and toigan (military survival). We do not need to mention the anime, light novel, and manga market, which are responsible for a large part of the related categories such as cosplay and figures.
What happened to the otaku market?
Sales of manga and individual creations are increasing on the internet, which caused a 2.8% increase in doujinshi works. The figure industry saw an increase thanks to high mass production and lower prices.
Yano stated that sales in the pornography industry fell because elderly people learned to use free websites. Just as anime Blu-rays are increasingly declining, the eroge (erotic games) industry saw a decline of 4.8%. Meanwhile, relationship games increased due to the popularity of games for the female audience.
I hope you enjoyed these small data about the otaku market of 2017. The trend is to continue the declines and increases as technology evolves more and more. What is your opinion on this data? We appreciate comments and shares. We also recommend reading:
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