The USA, for example, where anime is also popular, has a medium-income of around $60,000 USD for its animators. An entry-level animator in Japan makes around $10,000 USD a year, an amount hardly enough to live off ( Vox ). In most cases, anime artists aren’t paid yearly.
But while others may view this as a dream job that could haul in tons of money while constantly watching anime for up to 3 days, it’s also a taxing job. Netflix taggers may be handsomely compensated, but they’re only hired periodically.
Only a few people exist in the world who chooses to monetize from their hobbies of anime watching. And when I say “few”, I meant 0.01% as follows: only about 780,000 people in the anime/manga community get to watch anime while making some form of income out of it (780,000 is 0.01% of the 7.8 billion world population).
The industries three largest revenue streams are merchandising, international licensing, and anime-themed pachinko machines. The three lowest revenue streams are Japanese home video, Japanese digital distribution, and anime related music sales. Notice the trend?
You can easily earn money by uploading anime video provided you take care of copyright strikes by using AdSense and this only works if you have more the 1 k views. Enable it and each time a person sees ad on your YouTube video you'll be paid accordingly.
You don't make money from AMVs. If you want to make money with video editing, you have to create your own stuff and shoot your own videos/render your own animations.
If you are a returning customer and often read the anime blogs and watch the reaction/review videos of several anime writers or endorsers, then it's wise to support them. Two of the Patreon anime reviewers I'm subscribed to earn between $110 to $272 donations per month.
Animation studios can make money by selling their projects to distributors, streaming sites, etc. A studio may begin work on an animated movie long before they've sold the project to anyone. Maybe they're considering releasing the movie independently, but independent releases can only reach a very limited audience.
It's only illegal to distribute an AMV (when you don't have the rights to the footage and music). Making it, showing it to your family/friends (no, an online community does not fall under the description of "friends"), and talking about them are not illegal. So, feel free to list it, just don't offer a download option.
Yes, you can make AMVs on YouTube and monetize them if you either own the rights to content ,have permission to use the content or use public domain content in the video (including music).
How to get paid to watch animeWork For A Review Site. This is one of the ways I personally make money watching anime. ... Be An Anime Site Affiliate. ... Be A YouTube Reviewer. ... Start A Patreon.
According to the Japanese Animation Creators Association, an animator in Japan earns on average ¥1.1 million (~$10,000) per year in their 20s, ¥2.1 million (~$19,000) in their 30s, and a livable but still meager ¥3.5 million (~$31,000) in their 40s and 50s.
A 2019 survey by the Japan Animation Creators Association found that anime workers aged 20-24 earned an average of 1.55 million yen (US$13,434) per year.
Animators were paid bottom rate on a recent Japanese production for Netflix, according to Ippei Ichii. The animator and storyboard artist took to Twitter to condemn the streaming giant, claiming that artists working on a Netflix show at Tokyo studio Mappa were paid as little as 3,800 (USD$34) per cut.
The records have not stopped there: it not only dethroned One Piece, it slaughtered it. One Piece's manga sold 7.7 million volumes in 2020, Kingdom somehow finally edged past it too with 8.25 million, and then Demon Slayer sold not 8.23 million but 82.3 million volumes, blowing everyone else out of the water.
Some studios are directly owned by big and well known production committee members who have produced not only anime but also video games, soundtracks, merchandise & food companies. All of which can act as a source of money for the production of a anime.
But since a big company like Netflix generates approximately ‘$20.16 billion revenues per year’ , it’s reasonable to assume part-time taggers earn hundreds of dollars per week, or a 5-digit salary per year while watching at least 20 hours of television content.
Setting up Patreon membership levels takes 1-2 hours, then, another 1-2 hours in customizing and personalizing your Patreon homepage to attract users; but your Patreon advertisement is also dependent on other sites like how your blog attracts readers or how your YouTube attracts viewers.
Affiliate marketing should not be underrated. It is a powerful strategy to get you to watch anime while you earn commission fees on the side. Although difficult at the beginning, you’ll get the ball rolling in no time once you establish a sizable target audience that keeps returning to your anime reviews!
One of the reasons animators have low wages is due to the production and sheer amount of animators employed with some projects having over 100 artists! Of course, studios do manage their finances. They try to save profits from past hits to help pay their employees or outsource to other studios if it’s cheaper.
Most anime studios are contractors. Meaning, the production committee puts together a budget and hires a studio to work on the anime. Typically a studio doesn’t get to choose the anime they work on but are paid upfront for the work.
In 2015, licensing was the second largest revenue stream for the industry. This includes legal streaming and purchasing localized home video releases. Licensors don’t report the revenue splits (and they have no reason to), but a portion of it does go back to animation studios.
Digital sales of anime series are also down, highlighting that fans don’t feel a need to own their favorite anime. However, these sales are still relied upon by studios to help cover their costs, which has led to 25% of all studios reporting a net loss of profits.
However, academics do agree that piracy hurts home video sales, which is what studios rely on. The availability of pirated streams or torrents also hurts legal streaming services due to a price advantage as most people will choose free instead of paying.
These people are the lifeblood of a great show, yet their pay is actually pretty awful. A 2013 survey (only available in Japanese) showed that the average animator salary was around 1.1 million yen or $10,000 US dollars a year.
The stars of the show, voice actors bring your favourite characters to life. Yet, for the first three years of their careers, they earn very little. Rank 15 voice actors make around ¥15,000 ($130) per episode, with agents and the taxman also taking a cut.
The director is the person who projects their vision of what a show should be, and makes it a reality. So how much do they earn? Well, that depends. According to the Shirobako team, the average salary is around $42,000 a year, but the JACA’s 2015 survey reported that it’s actually closer to $60k a year.
Anime is a brutal industry to work in. It takes real dedication and passion to avoid burnout, which could be why 80% of animators quit in the first three years. Most people don’t realize just how much work goes into making even a single episode of any given anime, and when the truth hits, it hits hard.
In contrast, anime artists in the US make an average of $68,238 (Comparably). Notice that that’s for anime artists, not just animators. Like Japan, US animators have to diversify their portfolio with freelance work, commissions, and graphic design.
An episode of anime is produced frame by frame. A single episode may be composed of hundreds or even thousands of frames. A key-frame animator is one of the top positions available. These artists are responsible for the most important snapshots in the episode and the leading frames.
They typically work with lower-level animators, sometimes termed in-between animators. These animators handle the short frames in-between shots to animate the scene. This work is tedious and time-consuming for hand-drawn anime. Many anime artists work late nights and overtime in order to finish all their frames.
Typically only the creators of anime get a cut of the check , and the majority of the profits go to the studio (in fact, many creators of anime and manga see little to no of their merch profits–but that’s another story for another day).
Anime has grown even larger in Japan after it spread to international countries, further increasing its fan base and demand for more episodes and merchandise. Merchandise is another huge aspect of the anime industry. In some cases, merchandise comprises the entire profits for an anime.
It’s a common misconception that anime artists, especially those based in Japan, have some deep wallets. Some certainly do, but in most cases, these artists were the original creators of their series and have struck their gold in royalties and licensing rights.
One thing that is for certain is the anime industry continues to grow rapidly worldwide. Anime artists may not make a lot, but to them, it’s worth it. To see your hard work enjoyed by so many fans is enough for them, and it may be enough for you, too, if you’re considering a career in animation.