Largest anime radio station ends 18-year run
Plus: Japan's female voice actor ranks continue surge; U.S. import tariffs to impact print manga; LINE Manga operator invests in webtoon studio; and more
This is your weekly Animenomics briefing, covering the business of anime and manga. Today is Wednesday, January 22, 2025.
In case you missed it: Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: The Super Live, a stage musical adaptation of Naoko Takeuchi’s manga, will tour the United States for the first time since 2019.
The musical first debuted in Tokyo in 2018 and was revived in Taipei in 2023 after the end of global restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Radio station closure stokes fear in anime radio’s future
Nippon Cultural Broadcasting (JOQR) will end after 18 years the operation of Super! A&G+, an Internet radio station dedicated to anime and video game programming, and move current shows to other broadcast mediums.
Why it matters: Super! A&G+ is Japan’s largest Internet radio station specializing in anime and video games, and its impending closure in March is stoking fears about the future of the anime radio genre that began in the 1970s.
By the numbers: Super! A&G+ reaches 4.45 million listeners a month, two-thirds of them ages 20–39, according to 2024 listener data provided by JOQR to media buyers.
The station was on the air for more than 20 hours a day when it first debuted in 2007, but airtime was cut by half in 2023.
What’s happening: JOQR is moving some of the station’s 100 programs to QloveR, a live and on-demand streaming platform launched last year with Dwango, best known as the operator of the popular video sharing site Niconico.
QloveR today hosts channels by virtual YouTubers using CG avatars, video game commentators, cosplayers, pop idol groups, and voice actors.
Select programs will move to JOQR’s Tokyo-based terrestrial radio station that airs anime and video game programming on late nights and weekends.
Zoom in: QloveR uses a monetization service that encourages paid subscriptions and reduces JOQR’s reliance on traditional revenue sources, Dwango said last year.
Radio stations typically earn money from advertising, events, and merchandise sales, but domestic ad spend data compiled by the Dentsu ad agency shows that radio ad spend in Japan has fallen 36 percent in the last 20 years.
The other side: Onsen, a rival Internet radio service that also specializes in anime and video game content, assured listeners on X that growth in anime radio hasn’t stalled.
“Subscriber numbers are reaching an all-time high, and the number of new listeners is also on the rise,” Onsen said about its operation.
Female voice actors surge with anime, mobile games
Seiyu Grand Prix will list more than 1,080 female voice actors in the 25th edition of the magazine’s annual voice actor directory published next month, Oricon reports, making it the 14th consecutive year that the directory’s size has grown.
Why it matters: More listings in Seiyu Grand Prix’s directory is a sign that the voice actor profession remains in high demand in Japan amid an anime industry boom.
A 2022 estimate puts the number of active voice actors in Japan at around 10,000, so the directory doesn’t include a majority of them.
The intrigue: Female voice actors’ ranks are surging ahead of their male counterparts and are also outpacing anime production volume.
About 113,000 minutes of anime was aired on television in 2023, according to data compiled by the Association of Japanese Animations. Growth is essentially flat compared to the 112,000 minutes of anime aired in 2013.
An analysis done by anime journalist Ko Kusano for Real Sound in 2020 found that a wave of mobile games based on anime with female teen idol characters since 2010 is driving the demand for rookie female voice actors.
In contrast, mobile games with male idol characters are less likely to hire rookie voice actors, so the gender gap in the profession continues to grow.
Zoom out: As previously reported by Animenomics, voice actors are increasingly becoming dissatisfied with stagnant wages despite anime’s current global surge.
A 2022 survey by the voice actor advocacy group Voiction found that one in two respondents in their 20s and 30s earn less than ¥1 million (US$6,400) annually.
What we’re watching: Male voice actor numbers for Seiyu Grand Prix’s directory will be announced next month.
Clippings: U.S. import tariffs would impact print manga
Impending import tariffs in the United States would disproportionately impact the country’s small comics publishers that are reliant on overseas printers for high-quality, yet low-cost orders. (The Comics Journal)
“I feel margins are a lot tighter for the manga industry. So this may end up hurting customers down the line if prices eventually do go up,” says Ed Chavez, publisher of indie manga publishing company Denpa.
Riyadh-based Manga Arabia launched a digital manga store within Saudi Arabian food delivery app Jahez in an effort to combat consumer piracy, months after the two companies entered into a strategic partnership. (Press release)
Manga app Kakao Piccoma was Japan’s highest-grossing consumer app last year for the second year in a row, according to mobile app analytics firm data.ai, bringing in an estimated US$497 million. (The Korea Economic Daily)
Kakao Entertainment’s Solo Leveling webtoon, whose anime adaptation has topped streaming charts in Japan and around the world, will be adapted into a South Korean live-action series. (Korea JoongAng Daily)
Anime director Rintaro has developed a much higher reputation in France than in Japan, leading to his autobiographical manga being published first in France before being reverse-imported into Japan. (The Yomiuri Shimbun)
Gege Akutami’s Jujutsu Kaisen manga and its anime adaptation have reignited local interest in a legendary figure from central Japan with conflicting historical legacies. (The Asahi Shimbun)
Anime competition intensifies as new IP players emerge
“Enthusiasm for original Japanese anime projects on global streaming platforms is cooling rapidly at the moment. This is because the exclusive titles that they have focused on for their own distribution haven’t produced the desired viewing results.”
— Tadashi Sudo, anime industry analyst and journalist
Context: Sudo, in a column for Japan Business Press, expects to see increasing anime investments by Japanese television networks and Internet companies like CyberAgent and DMM this year.
As previously reported by Animenomics, Japanese television stations continue to hold the rights to many of the country’s classic anime properties, and they are increasingly engaging with foreign partners for licensing deals.
LINE Manga operator invests in Tokyo webtoon studio
LINE Digital Frontier, the operator of Japan’s digital manga app LINE Manga, will take an undisclosed stake in Tokyo-based No. 9, a webtoon production studio, brokerage, and promoter, the two companies announced last week.
Why it matters: This is the first investment by LINE Digital Frontier parent Webtoon Entertainment (WBTN 0.00%↑) in a webtoon studio outside South Korea.
Driving the story: Investment in No. 9 comes as Nasdaq-listed Webtoon Entertainment reported triple-digit growth in IP adaptations revenue in Japan during the third quarter.
“We expect a huge growth in the US in the next couple years, but in the near term, Japan will be our fastest growing market,” chief strategy officer Yongsoo Kim told Bloomberg.
Yes, but: Webtoon Entertainment has also been under pressure from investors since announcing worse-than-expected second quarter results in August.
The bigger picture: Webtoons, also known in Japan as vertically-scrolling manga, make up about 10 percent of the country’s overall digital manga market, or about ¥50 billion (US$320 million), according to data compiled by Impress Research Institute.
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Are there any other otaku-focused radio stations in JP besides A&G? The only one that I can think of is Hibiki (owned by Bushiroad).
Also, keep up the good work, Richardson!
Richardson! Animenomics is the best English language B2B insights blog covering anime and manga industries. It’s amazing. You’re amazing.