how anime make money

by Jasen Welch 5 min read
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  1. Lots and lots of licensing. The money is in the licensing. It’s what I call “fast money ” for the anime industry. ...
  2. Manga and light novels. Manga and light novels are the reason anime exists. Not completely, but a lot of anime are adapted from manga and light novels.
  3. Product sales ( DVD’S) Anime DVD’S have been declining since 2006 and haven’t stopped declining since. ...
  4. Affiliates. Affiliates are companies, influencers, publishers and websites that promote anime products and take a percentage of each sale made.
  5. Merchandise. Merchandise is an obvious one, but it’s still gotta be mentioned. It’s a big part of the industry. Whenever an anime gets released, merchandise is likely to follow.
  6. Live Events and conventions. Because of COVID-19 virtual events have become more of a thing now. Funimation, Crunchyroll and others have took part in it.
  7. Anime cinema tickets. Anime cinema tickets is one a lot of anime fans don’t think of. ...

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.Nov 30, 2017

Full Answer

How to make money while watching anime?

This is one of the most difficult and time-consuming method to earn money while watching anime. However, if done right, it will provide a lucrative income to your anime channel whether using vimeo, Dailymotion, but especially YouTube.

How do anime licensing companies make money?

Licensors don’t report the revenue splits (and they have no reason to), but a portion of it does go back to animation studios. Other revenue streams for studios include theatrical releases, producing animation for pachinko, and small portions of merchandise sales.

Why is anime so expensive to make?

Creating animations is expensive because there is a lot of work going into creating it. Even if it is a very Simple Animation it still needs a lot of work. Anime already is one of the more cheaper variations of Animation, because it is comparably simple in style.

How long does it take to make an anime?

So all this work goes into creating every minute of every Anime and depending on the studio creating only 60 seconds of Animation can take anywhere between three weeks and up to two months! I hope, you got a little bit of an idea of how much work actually goes into making pretty much any Animation.

Why are animators paid so low?

What is an anime studio?

Is the sales of anime down?

Is piracy a zero sum issue?

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How much money does a anime make?

Salary Ranges for Anime Artists The salaries of Anime Artists in the US range from $36,930 to $113,600 , with a median salary of $63,970 . The middle 60% of Anime Artists makes $63,970, with the top 80% making $113,600.

How does an anime earn money?

Animes pay the channel to air the show and earns nothing in return. In other words, Anime on TV and websites is an advertisement of its merchandise. That's one of the reasons why anime isn't that big(at least in my opinion).

Is the anime industry profitable?

In terms of profit, 31.1% reported an increase in profits, while 29.5% of companies had a drop in profits. Nearly 38% of the companies suffered losses last year. Meanwhile, anime is globalizing. Of the 300 companies, 68 reported that they have struck business deals with overseas companies.

How much does Netflix pay for anime?

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.

How much has Naruto earned?

$10 billionEven though the anime is what helped propel Naruto into the mainstream, the manga series is still the highest source of revenue for the franchise. Naruto has impressively amassed over $10 billion since its creation.

Is the anime industry dying?

The Anime Market Shrinks For the First Time in 11 Years The market size in 2020 was 2.4 trillion (or 2,426.1 billion) yen, a 3.5% shrink compared to 2019. Nevertheless, the fact that it was a small-scale contraction can be actually seen as a positive surprise for the industry.

Are animators paid well?

BLS data lists the 2017 median pay for animators at $70,530 a year. Glassdoor has the national average a bit higher at $74,000. Like many other fields, compensation for animators also depends on experience: it's not uncommon for senior-level animators or art directors to earn well into six figures.

Why do animators get paid so little?

The main reason that a low-level animator's salary is so low is because they don't actually receive an hourly salary. Most studios pay out per frame, so that the pay is dependent on how much the animator is able to get done and also on how complicated the frame might be.

How much do Netflix taggers make?

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.

How long does it take to set up a Patreon account?

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.

Is affiliate marketing good for anime?

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!

Other Anime Niches with affiliate program payments

Anime’s in general, create content around trending anime or review your favorite old-school anime. Could sub-niche into various genres of anime, or niche it out via the times. Anime from 2000-2010, retro anime, Greek God anime, anime with ninja, anime with monsters, etc and so forth.

How to create any kind of content you want in the anime niche and make conversions no matter what!

Anime is one of my favorite niches because the monetization conversion factors are based on the trust that the audience has with the reader, and not review posts.

Example of a big money-maker anime blog with a simple premise

Very simple easy content geared towards anime fans. Examples of the content include:

Okay, but do they actually make money?

They make an estimation of $70,000 a month and have over a million people coming to their site a month.

How do they Monetize?

Quote The Anime monetizes with ads in the bottom and corner widgets of their posts.

More big-money anime blogs

The same type of site as Quote The Anime, but they use affiliate links for their store tab, not manufacturing partnership

The tools and training that you need to guarantee success

I hope that reading this far has given you the lightbulb you needed to go off in your head to have an understanding of how to make money talking about your favorite things in the anime world.

What is the most expensive anime?

You can find the official entry on the Guinness world records page here. The Name of the Anime is “Steamboy” by Katsuhiro Otomo’s. It was released in 2004 and was over 10 years in development.

Why is animation so expensive?

Creating animations is expensive because there is a lot of work going into creating it. Even if it is a very Simple Animation it still needs a lot of work. Anime already is one of the more cheaper variations of Animation, because it is comparably simple in style.

How much money did the anime Tale of the Princess Kaguya cost?

However, according to Wikipedia the Anime-Movie “The Tale of the Princess Kaguya” made by Studio Ghibli had a Budget of 49.3 Million US Dollars. With is more than double the Budget of Steamboy. You can find the Wikipedia article here. So these are the two most expensive Animes I could personally find.

What is the first phase of animation?

First of, is the concept phase. In this Phase, the Animators will d raw concepts to the characters. They will do little test Animations and work out how the characters move. Then they will start to conceptualize the backgrounds, lighting, and style of Animation. In this phase, they will also settle on an overall mood and color to match the story. ...

Is anime in Tokyo?

In the inner city of Tokyo Anime is literally everywhere. The Anime Market in Japan is booming since the late 1990s and there is no sign that it is stopping anytime soon. More Animes are being produced than ever before and in Japan, it has become a new dream job to work in the Animation industry.

Animators

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.

Voice Actors

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.

Directors

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.

The Verdict

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.

How is anime production managed?

Nowadays anime production is almost always managed by a “Production Committee”, which consists of a diverse set of companies, each taking a portion of the pie.

What is an anime studio?

Anime studios are the actual anime makers, yet usually the least powerful in the industry . In most cases anime studios are not members in Production Committee, which means what it gets is simply a fixed amount to cover production fee. Of course there are exceptions like Studio Ghibli.

How much did Shirobako cost?

In a July interview, Takayuki Nagatani, producer of Shirobako (itself an anime about anime production), claimed that his show cost 500 million yen (or $4 million) for 24 episodes. In order to make it sell, he had to "advertise it, plan events, and make merchandise.".

How much was the anime episode in 2010?

According to an investigation by Media Development Research Institute Inc., a 30 minute episode of a TV anime in 2010 that totaled 11,000,000 yen (about US $145,214 at the current exchange rate) consisted of the following expenses: (Note: All US dollar conversions are approximate based on current exchange rate.)

Does Akira get all the money from Dragonball?

For instance Akira Toriama gets almost all the Merch Money from Dragonball. But Almost none of the DVD money. Localization: This is when the company lets another company (Like funamation) Distribute the show outside Japan. A lot of times most of this money is not going to go to the Anime Studio.

Do Japanese TV companies rob content producers?

And its not from add, Japanese TV companies basically rob content producers. DVD’s: Most of the money is made off of the sell of DVD’s. There is a general ‘target’ number for each Project, and a lot of people are often stunned by how low the number is.

Is anime a shrinking market?

Anime in general is a shrinking market is so much as its becoming much harder to actual make money back in any amount of time that they consider ‘short’. The industry as a whole is going to have to adapt to a longer term business plan. (and has to some extent, but is still behind right now) J Jien. , 1000+ watched.

Why are animators paid so low?

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.

What is an anime studio?

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.

Is the sales of anime down?

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.

Is piracy a zero sum issue?

Piracy isn’t a zero-sum issue that can be easily solved. In fact, various academic studios from independent agencies have found that piracy has a minuscule effect on sales numbers for most industries since not all revenue streams can be pirated.

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Production Committees

Animation Costs

  • 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. A late night anime can cost $5 million USD to produce, and that money has to be stretched to pay everyone working on ...
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The Importance of Discs

  • Home video is still vital for animation studios. Production committees and studios will rarely if ever comment on revenue splits, but it’s been implied that home video is extremely important for an anime studio’s bottom line. Discs sales have also been falling in Japan every year since 2005, meaning that this revenue stream is drying up. This is one of the reasons anime is so expensive …
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The Importance of International Licensing

  • It tends to clash with the “international fans don’t matter” narrative people love to peddle, but international licensing has become the life-bloodof anime. In 2015, licensing was the second largest revenue stream for the industry. This includes legal streamingand purchasing localized home video releases. Licensors don’t report the revenue splits (and they have no reason to), but …
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The Effect of Piracy

  • Piracy isn’t a zero-sum issue that can be easily solved. In fact, various academic studios from independent agencies have found that piracy has a minuscule effect on sales numbers for most industries since not all revenue streams can be pirated. However, academics do agree that piracy hurts home video sales, which is what studios rely on. The availability of pirated streams …
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Anime Industry Growth, But Lack of Studio Profits

  • How is that the anime industry posted a record 2 trillion yen revenue line, but anime studios are struggling to pay their artists? It’s because the actual anime itself isn’t profitable. The industries three largest revenue streams are merchandising, international licensing, and anime-themed pachinko machines. The three lowest revenue streams are Japanesehome video, Japanese digit…
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