MPA Projects Gains for Japanese Online Video Sector

The online video sector in Japan is set for a 7 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the next five years, according to Media Partners Asia (MPA), and will account for 45 percent of all screen revenues by 2029, up from 35 percent this year.

The report, The Future of Japan’s Video Industry, projects total screen industry revenues in Japan will hit $34.1 billion in 2029, up from $31.8 billion. Of that, online video will bring in $15.3 billion in 2029, led by UGC/social video. In the SVOD space, Netflix, Prime Video and U-Next lead, while premium AVOD is dominated by the TVer joint venture.

Anime leads in premium VOD engagement, accounting for 36 percent in the first nine months of 2024. Monetization for Japanese anime across TV, streaming and theatrical hit $2.5 billion in 2023, accounting for 8 percent of screen industry revenues. Today, streaming is the main platform for anime monetization, at about 50 percent of revenues, followed by TV at 27 percent.

The MPA report also discovered that 70 percent of the top 200 titles on SVOD services came from 20 studios. Of those, 117 titles were anime. Premium SVOD is also seeing demand for titles from the U.S. and U.K., particularly from the Hollywood studios.

Vivek Cout, executive director of MPA, noted, “Japan’s addressable market for online VOD streaming continues to improve with fiber broadband accounting for 82 percent household penetration, while active connected-TV penetration will expand to 51 percent by 2029. Telco KDDI has emerged as an impactful partner for SVOD and freemium OTT services along with NTT. Netflix, Prime Video and local giant U-Next will lead SVOD monetization in the future, while Disney+ will remain the fourth largest player and Max will emerge with a material share through its B2B partnership with U-Next and eventual D2C rollout. TVer, owned by the major FTA broadcasters, will continue to grow its share of the premium AVOD category with strong CTV monetization. Encouragingly, the number of theatrical releases has recovered back to pre-Covid levels, and local movies continue their dominance at home with about 70 percent share of gross box office.”