Anime Is on Course to Become a $68 Billion Industry by 2034

Anime has arrived. Not in a quiet, cult-corner-of-the-internet kind of way either. We're talking mainstream, billion-dollar, breaking-box-office-records arrived. And according to fresh market research, the next decade is going to make the last look like a warm-up act.

Research firm IMARC estimates the global anime market stood at $36.1 billion in 2025 and is on course to hit $68 billion by 2034, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 7.08%. For Japan specifically, the domestic anime market reached $2.1 billion in 2025, projected to double to $4.1 billion by 2034 at a CAGR of 7.28%. These aren't numbers you can ignore.

How Did We Get Here?

Rewind to the late 90s and early 2000s. Anime was creeping into Western households through TV blocks like Cartoon Network's Toonami and Adult Swim, which introduced enormous numbers of young people to series like Dragon Ball Z, Sailor Moon, Gundam Wing, Cowboy Bebop, and Inuyasha. More niche fare like Paranoia Agent, The Big O, and Outlaw Star also found homes there. These weren't just shows. They planted seeds.

Those seeds have grown into something no one on those Saturday morning sofas probably anticipated. Anime is no longer contained to small fan communities or late-night TV blocks. It's promoted, celebrated, and consumed by the mainstream globally.

Smartphones helped. Streaming services helped even more. And then COVID-19 essentially locked millions of people inside with nothing but time and a Crunchyroll subscription. The medium's audience exploded during the pandemic and, crucially, it hasn't retreated.

Cinema Is Where Things Get Really Interesting

Early anime films found limited success in the West. The 1998 Pokémon movie and 2000's Digimon: The Movie were novelties. Fun, sure, but niche.

What's happening now is a completely different story.

Demon Slayer: Mugen Train shocked the world in 2020, pulling in $512 million to become the highest-grossing anime and Japanese film of all time. Then in 2025, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle smashed its own predecessor. The film grossed $781 million worldwide, becoming the seventh-highest-grossing film of 2025 globally and, notably, the highest-grossing international film ever at the North American box office — a record previously held by Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon since 2000.

Worth noting: this is only the first of a planned Infinity Castle trilogy. The ceiling hasn't been found yet.

Beyond Demon Slayer, recent releases like Jujutsu Kaisen 0 and Chainsaw Man - The Movie: Reze Arc have also drawn massive global audiences. Anime films are no longer events for dedicated fans. They're mainstream cinema releases competing directly with Hollywood blockbusters.

Streaming Has Changed Everything

The role of platforms like Netflix, Crunchyroll, and Amazon Prime in this growth isn't subtle. Over 50% of Netflix's global members watched anime in 2024, with titles appearing in the Top 10 in 33 countries. Sony's Crunchyroll, meanwhile, saw paid subscriber growth significant enough to drive a 21% year-on-year increase in Visual Media sales for Sony Group as of late 2025.

Subscription revenue has opened entirely new income streams for Japanese studios. Simultaneous global releases, dubbed and subtitled versions in dozens of languages, and algorithmically recommended series reaching entirely new audiences — streaming has done for anime what it did for K-drama a decade earlier, but at a larger scale.

Overseas anime revenues jumped 26% year-on-year to approximately $14.27 billion in 2024, according to the Association of Japanese Animations. International markets now outweigh Japan's domestic earnings.

AI in Anime Production: A Debate That Isn't Going Away

Studios have been quietly using AI tools to manage production demands, and some have been more open about it than others. The consensus among studios is that AI helps meet the pace of demand while maintaining quality. The audience consensus is... considerably more divided.

Netflix faced backlash in 2025 for experimenting with AI-generated background art. Japanese studio KaKa Creation released an AI-animated feature film the same year. These aren't isolated incidents. As the market grows and demand accelerates, expect this conversation to become louder and messier before any kind of resolution appears.

Japan Tourism and the Anime Effect

This is perhaps the most underreported part of the story.

Japan recorded a staggering 42.7 million international visitors in 2025, a 15.8% increase on 2024's previous record and the first time the country has surpassed 40 million arrivals. The weak yen has played a significant role, with the exchange rate hovering around ¥150 to the dollar throughout the year, making Japan genuinely affordable for international travellers. Tourist spending also hit a record ¥9.5 trillion.

A meaningful portion of these visitors came specifically for anime-related experiences. Shopping for merchandise in Akihabara. Visiting locations featured in their favourite series. Attending events tied to major franchises. Anime tourism isn't a fringe phenomenon any more — it's a documented and growing subset of Japan's broader inbound travel boom.

Japan's government has set an ambitious target of 60 million annual visitors by 2030. Given the trajectory of both anime's global reach and the sustained weak yen, that figure looks more achievable by the day.

The Road to 2034

Merchandising remains the biggest revenue driver in the industry, accounting for over 35% of the global anime market in 2025. Internet distribution is the fastest-growing segment. The US market alone was valued at $8.9 billion in 2025 and is forecast to reach $15.7 billion by 2034.

What started on a Saturday morning cartoon block is now a global cultural and economic force. The next decade will bring more debate around AI, more record-breaking theatrical releases, and more people booking flights to Tokyo with a list of filming locations in their pocket. The seeds planted in the late 90s have become something considerably harder to ignore.