Digital Sales of Manga Volumes Surpass Print Edition Sales
©ITmedia
Statistics published by the Institute for Publication Science (IPS) in Japan show digital sales of individual manga volumes (tankoubon) exceeded print sales in 2017, marking the first time that the tankobon market has shifted in favor of digital.
While overall manga sales decreased to ¥433.0 billion in 2017, down 2.8% from ¥445.4 billion in 2016 (charted), digital tankobon sales increased by 17.2%, from ¥146.0 billion to ¥171.1 billion. It should be noted that combined print sales of tankoubon and manga magazines, totaling ¥258.3 billion, still dwarfed combined digital sales due to the massive gap between print and digital magazines. Print magazine sales totaled ¥91.7 billion in 2017, compared to ¥3.6 billion in digital.
It is unlikely digital magazine sales will surpass print sales soon, but the combined digital market could surpass print as it trends upward. Total digital sales have nearly doubled since 2014, while total print sales fell for the 16th consecutive year. The IPS believes this past year's decline was due to the completion of many popular print titles, as well as niche genres like boys' love and teen love being more readily available online.
The top ten manga in total print volumes sold in 2017 was consistent with 2016. Only Ansatsu Kyoushitsu dropped out in 2017 due to its conclusion, with Magi taking its place and rounding out the top ten. However, overall sales fell by 3,262,676 total volumes in the top ten. Some manga with consistent tankobon print releases, such as Nanatsu no Taizai and Haikyuu!!, saw plummeting sales that could be attributed to neither series having an anime adaptation air in 2017.
Further analysis on a case-by-case basis is unlikely to prove 2017 an anomaly, as evidence from sales in other industries indicate this is the product of a widespread jump to digital. Sales of print publications, in general, fell 6.9% in 2017, marking their 13th consecutive year in decline, while e-book sales increased 16%. The number of combined DVD and Blu-ray units sold also dropped by 10% as streaming continues to gain popularity.
Source: AJPEA, ITmedia, Anime! Anime! Biz
Thanks to keragamming for the news tip.
20 of 32 Comments Recent Comments
kuuderes_shadow said:
I wasn't giving any reasons why things have happened as they have - these are myriad, can be read up on elsewhere, and are not particularly important to the topic at hand anyway.
An industry whose market share stopped increasing several years ago whilst still remaining a minority is not one on course to dominate it to such an extent that the industry that still makes up a considerable and increasing majority of the market is about to be wiped out by it.
Japan has so far followed several years behind the English-speaking world. In the US or UK this sort of news article would have come out 5 years ago - and such articles did come out in large numbers. But then the rapid growth in ebooks stopped and even seems to be going backwards slightly. Will Japan follow the same trend? I don't know. But it isn't going to kill off the physical book any time soon.
Those are the points I was making.
orkuncan said:
So you tell me financially it may seem equal but taste of print is different and people will always search for that? İ really couldnt understand your point
So you tell me financially it may seem equal but taste of print is different and people will always search for that? İ really couldnt understand your point
I wasn't giving any reasons why things have happened as they have - these are myriad, can be read up on elsewhere, and are not particularly important to the topic at hand anyway.
An industry whose market share stopped increasing several years ago whilst still remaining a minority is not one on course to dominate it to such an extent that the industry that still makes up a considerable and increasing majority of the market is about to be wiped out by it.
Japan has so far followed several years behind the English-speaking world. In the US or UK this sort of news article would have come out 5 years ago - and such articles did come out in large numbers. But then the rapid growth in ebooks stopped and even seems to be going backwards slightly. Will Japan follow the same trend? I don't know. But it isn't going to kill off the physical book any time soon.
Those are the points I was making.
Well i mean its still growing but slowly, 10 years ago if one would say that digital manga would surpass print it would sound funny and not so easily imaginable. Those things my friend enact fast adapt slowly, for instance its been only 50~ years since we launched space projects but now we can discuss traveling to Mars. So how are you so sure growth would slow down like it is now and not increase growth rate? İ didnt think VR would be something couple of years ago but now its the den of weebs. Those get invented/evolve because they are a need and pretty far im afraid i will not change my mind about digital mangas future and share on manga market. İts pretty clear, print decreases as much as digital increases and magazines dont seem like they have a place. As i said, its the result of human needs and satisfaction. İf it keeps going like how they decided for now, i will make a sharp calculation: print book+print mag=50-60~ bn yen in 2025-2030s digital=300 bn yen. Mark mah words. Have a good day
Apr 14, 2018 6:17 AM by orkuncan
orkuncan said:
So you tell me financially it may seem equal but taste of print is different and people will always search for that? İ really couldnt understand your point
kuuderes_shadow said:
E-books reached 50% of the adult fiction market (by volume, not by value) in the US in late 2012, and the internet was awash with cconfident predictions that e-books would overtake the print market by value as a whole in either 2017 or 2018, and that physical books' days were numbered.
Now here we are in 2018, and print's share of both the fiction market (where it has returned to being a minority, although a very large one) and overall market has increased for 3 years in a row. E-book's share of the total book market by value last year was only around 20% - and among traditional publishers it had dropped from a little over a quarter at its peak to a little over a sixth last year, with physical books taking up most of this drop.
Some sections of the physical publishing industry may cease to exist, and magazines are one of the more likely ones - but the drop in the value of adverts is a bigger threat than the loss of circulation (indeed certain sectors of the magazine market have seen their circulation go up in recent years, although the overall trend is downwards).
A new technology may come along which eliminates the print book entirely, but that technology is very definitely not the e-book.
E-books reached 50% of the adult fiction market (by volume, not by value) in the US in late 2012, and the internet was awash with cconfident predictions that e-books would overtake the print market by value as a whole in either 2017 or 2018, and that physical books' days were numbered.
Now here we are in 2018, and print's share of both the fiction market (where it has returned to being a minority, although a very large one) and overall market has increased for 3 years in a row. E-book's share of the total book market by value last year was only around 20% - and among traditional publishers it had dropped from a little over a quarter at its peak to a little over a sixth last year, with physical books taking up most of this drop.
Some sections of the physical publishing industry may cease to exist, and magazines are one of the more likely ones - but the drop in the value of adverts is a bigger threat than the loss of circulation (indeed certain sectors of the magazine market have seen their circulation go up in recent years, although the overall trend is downwards).
A new technology may come along which eliminates the print book entirely, but that technology is very definitely not the e-book.
So you tell me financially it may seem equal but taste of print is different and people will always search for that? İ really couldnt understand your point
I wasn't giving any reasons why things have happened as they have - these are myriad, can be read up on elsewhere, and are not particularly important to the topic at hand anyway.
An industry whose market share stopped increasing several years ago whilst still remaining a minority is not one on course to dominate it to such an extent that the industry that still makes up a considerable and increasing majority of the market is about to be wiped out by it.
Japan has so far followed several years behind the English-speaking world. In the US or UK this sort of news article would have come out 5 years ago - and such articles did come out in large numbers. But then the rapid growth in ebooks stopped and even seems to be going backwards slightly. Will Japan follow the same trend? I don't know. But it isn't going to kill off the physical book any time soon.
Those are the points I was making.
Apr 14, 2018 5:55 AM by kuuderes_shadow
kuuderes_shadow said:
E-books reached 50% of the adult fiction market (by volume, not by value) in the US in late 2012, and the internet was awash with cconfident predictions that e-books would overtake the print market by value as a whole in either 2017 or 2018, and that physical books' days were numbered.
Now here we are in 2018, and print's share of both the fiction market (where it has returned to being a minority, although a very large one) and overall market has increased for 3 years in a row. E-book's share of the total book market by value last year was only around 20% - and among traditional publishers it had dropped from a little over a quarter at its peak to a little over a sixth last year, with physical books taking up most of this drop.
Some sections of the physical publishing industry may cease to exist, and magazines are one of the more likely ones - but the drop in the value of adverts is a bigger threat than the loss of circulation (indeed certain sectors of the magazine market have seen their circulation go up in recent years, although the overall trend is downwards).
A new technology may come along which eliminates the print book entirely, but that technology is very definitely not the e-book.
orkuncan said:
For some dudes who couldnt figure out conclusion:
Probably in 15 years magazines will be dead, not only manga.
İn 40 years, everything print will be dead.
This is just a replacement.
Edit: Much funny thing is that those products didnt start with internet sites and smart phones, for anybody who has interest in both cogs of modern bussiness administration and history of printed press and entertainment, those times are gold, dig as much as you can. No print, no magazine at all but you see books in phones, damn. So regards sales numbers we not gonna see that much print later. Have image of a printed press in your mind grandchildren are gonna ask bros and sis :D
For some dudes who couldnt figure out conclusion:
Probably in 15 years magazines will be dead, not only manga.
İn 40 years, everything print will be dead.
This is just a replacement.
Edit: Much funny thing is that those products didnt start with internet sites and smart phones, for anybody who has interest in both cogs of modern bussiness administration and history of printed press and entertainment, those times are gold, dig as much as you can. No print, no magazine at all but you see books in phones, damn. So regards sales numbers we not gonna see that much print later. Have image of a printed press in your mind grandchildren are gonna ask bros and sis :D
E-books reached 50% of the adult fiction market (by volume, not by value) in the US in late 2012, and the internet was awash with cconfident predictions that e-books would overtake the print market by value as a whole in either 2017 or 2018, and that physical books' days were numbered.
Now here we are in 2018, and print's share of both the fiction market (where it has returned to being a minority, although a very large one) and overall market has increased for 3 years in a row. E-book's share of the total book market by value last year was only around 20% - and among traditional publishers it had dropped from a little over a quarter at its peak to a little over a sixth last year, with physical books taking up most of this drop.
Some sections of the physical publishing industry may cease to exist, and magazines are one of the more likely ones - but the drop in the value of adverts is a bigger threat than the loss of circulation (indeed certain sectors of the magazine market have seen their circulation go up in recent years, although the overall trend is downwards).
A new technology may come along which eliminates the print book entirely, but that technology is very definitely not the e-book.
So you tell me financially it may seem equal but taste of print is different and people will always search for that? İ really couldnt understand your point
Apr 14, 2018 5:44 AM by orkuncan
orkuncan said:
For some dudes who couldnt figure out conclusion:
Probably in 15 years magazines will be dead, not only manga.
İn 40 years, everything print will be dead.
This is just a replacement.
Edit: Much funny thing is that those products didnt start with internet sites and smart phones, for anybody who has interest in both cogs of modern bussiness administration and history of printed press and entertainment, those times are gold, dig as much as you can. No print, no magazine at all but you see books in phones, damn. So regards sales numbers we not gonna see that much print later. Have image of a printed press in your mind grandchildren are gonna ask bros and sis :D
For some dudes who couldnt figure out conclusion:
Probably in 15 years magazines will be dead, not only manga.
İn 40 years, everything print will be dead.
This is just a replacement.
Edit: Much funny thing is that those products didnt start with internet sites and smart phones, for anybody who has interest in both cogs of modern bussiness administration and history of printed press and entertainment, those times are gold, dig as much as you can. No print, no magazine at all but you see books in phones, damn. So regards sales numbers we not gonna see that much print later. Have image of a printed press in your mind grandchildren are gonna ask bros and sis :D
E-books reached 50% of the adult fiction market (by volume, not by value) in the US in late 2012, and the internet was awash with cconfident predictions that e-books would overtake the print market by value as a whole in either 2017 or 2018, and that physical books' days were numbered.
Now here we are in 2018, and print's share of both the fiction market (where it has returned to being a minority, although a very large one) and overall market has increased for 3 years in a row. E-book's share of the total book market by value last year was only around 20% - and among traditional publishers it had dropped from a little over a quarter at its peak to a little over a sixth last year, with physical books taking up most of this drop.
Some sections of the physical publishing industry may cease to exist, and magazines are one of the more likely ones - but the drop in the value of adverts is a bigger threat than the loss of circulation (indeed certain sectors of the magazine market have seen their circulation go up in recent years, although the overall trend is downwards).
A new technology may come along which eliminates the print book entirely, but that technology is very definitely not the e-book.
Apr 14, 2018 5:20 AM by kuuderes_shadow
For some dudes who couldnt figure out conclusion:
Probably in 15 years magazines will be dead, not only manga.
İn 40 years, everything print will be dead.
This is just a replacement.
Edit: Much funny thing is that those products didnt start with internet sites and smart phones, for anybody who has interest in both cogs of modern bussiness administration and history of printed press and entertainment, those times are gold, dig as much as you can. No print, no magazine at all but you see books in phones, damn. So regards sales numbers we not gonna see that much print later. Have image of a printed press in your mind grandchildren are gonna ask bros and sis :D
Probably in 15 years magazines will be dead, not only manga.
İn 40 years, everything print will be dead.
This is just a replacement.
Edit: Much funny thing is that those products didnt start with internet sites and smart phones, for anybody who has interest in both cogs of modern bussiness administration and history of printed press and entertainment, those times are gold, dig as much as you can. No print, no magazine at all but you see books in phones, damn. So regards sales numbers we not gonna see that much print later. Have image of a printed press in your mind grandchildren are gonna ask bros and sis :D
Apr 14, 2018 3:02 AM by orkuncan
kuuderes_shadow said:
Generally just retailer rankings like those on bookwalker or honto or amazon or whatever. Someone posted a collated ranking on refugee-chan a couple of times a year or so back but not since and it was never regular (and it was for light novels anyway - I'd be surprised if something like that existed on a regular basis for manga and I hadn't stumbled across it by accident though).
Kuma said:
can you give example from those? look interesting...
can you give example from those? look interesting...
Generally just retailer rankings like those on bookwalker or honto or amazon or whatever. Someone posted a collated ranking on refugee-chan a couple of times a year or so back but not since and it was never regular (and it was for light novels anyway - I'd be surprised if something like that existed on a regular basis for manga and I hadn't stumbled across it by accident though).
then yeah, looks very unlikely... most of them anounced by the series it self rather than accumulated then published...
Mar 1, 2018 10:24 AM by Kuma
Kuma said:
kuuderes_shadow said:
There are digital sales rankings but I don't know of any that put actual figures to them. There also aren't any regular rankings that could give us weekly/monthly sales ranks which capture a large number of retailers in the way that Oricon does with physical sales, and most are specific to a single retailer
can you give example from those? look interesting...There are digital sales rankings but I don't know of any that put actual figures to them. There also aren't any regular rankings that could give us weekly/monthly sales ranks which capture a large number of retailers in the way that Oricon does with physical sales, and most are specific to a single retailer
Generally just retailer rankings like those on bookwalker or honto or amazon or whatever. Someone posted a collated ranking on refugee-chan a couple of times a year or so back but not since and it was never regular (and it was for light novels anyway - I'd be surprised if something like that existed on a regular basis for manga and I hadn't stumbled across it by accident though).
Mar 1, 2018 9:41 AM by kuuderes_shadow
Now if the anime industry also goes more digital and reduces the prices, maybe more people in Japan will buy anime titles, rather than just the most loyal fans.
Feb 28, 2018 11:53 PM by Vhailor
kuuderes_shadow said:
There are digital sales rankings but I don't know of any that put actual figures to them. There also aren't any regular rankings that could give us weekly/monthly sales ranks which capture a large number of retailers in the way that Oricon does with physical sales, and most are specific to a single retailer
can you give example from those? look interesting...
Kuma said:
no, he mean news teams should report digital sales of manga too, not only rely on oricon physical manga sales report for each particular series and volume each time (either, weekly, monthly, or yearly)... but honestly i doubt it since pretty sure no one already done that?
no, he mean news teams should report digital sales of manga too, not only rely on oricon physical manga sales report for each particular series and volume each time (either, weekly, monthly, or yearly)... but honestly i doubt it since pretty sure no one already done that?
There are digital sales rankings but I don't know of any that put actual figures to them. There also aren't any regular rankings that could give us weekly/monthly sales ranks which capture a large number of retailers in the way that Oricon does with physical sales, and most are specific to a single retailer
Feb 28, 2018 11:47 PM by Kuma
Kuma said:
no, he mean news teams should report digital sales of manga too, not only rely on oricon physical manga sales report for each particular series and volume each time (either, weekly, monthly, or yearly)... but honestly i doubt it since pretty sure no one already done that?
ImperfectBlue said:
Digital sales are included in the rankings. The significance here is that, for individual volumes (tankobon), digital sales exceeded print sales for the first time. Ever.
Digital sales are included in the rankings. The significance here is that, for individual volumes (tankobon), digital sales exceeded print sales for the first time. Ever.
no, he mean news teams should report digital sales of manga too, not only rely on oricon physical manga sales report for each particular series and volume each time (either, weekly, monthly, or yearly)... but honestly i doubt it since pretty sure no one already done that?
There are digital sales rankings but I don't know of any that put actual figures to them. There also aren't any regular rankings that could give us weekly/monthly sales ranks which capture a large number of retailers in the way that Oricon does with physical sales, and most are specific to a single retailer.
True, but it would be good to have digital sales figures as well as physical ones.
Feb 28, 2018 11:42 PM by kuuderes_shadow
_Ako_ said:
Anyway congrats being a News Mod! Aside from that the pics are in Japanese... Sadly, I cannot understand that. Anyway, on the bright side, will Japan move to digital copy or not?
complitely? look like not gonna happen anytime soon... but most big magazine already release apps where you can purchase the magazine or particular manga volume digitally... shueisha has shounen jump +, kodansha has manga pockets, shogakukan has manga one, ETC.... probably, physical manga volume will turn out to be some pricy collector thing...
Anyway congrats being a News Mod! Aside from that the pics are in Japanese... Sadly, I cannot understand that. Anyway, on the bright side, will Japan move to digital copy or not?
Feb 28, 2018 10:45 PM by Kuma
The problem is I ran out of space to store my manga (or book in general), it takes 2 large room to store them (3 if I count my bedroom) and it seems unlikely I will build another room just to store new books. So lately I buy my manga digitaly except for some fav series and/or limited edition releases.
Feb 28, 2018 10:41 PM by Suntears
Honestly prefer print in general both for Manga and readable material so I hope this doesn't lead to the death of print publishing. I need paper in my hand....
Feb 28, 2018 10:33 PM by BilboBaggins365
Now if they only dual release all the digital series in english.
Feb 28, 2018 9:01 PM by ichii_1
Thanks @_Ako_! Will do my best. And I totally get you, @Klefki_of_Awsome. I don't think print is going anywhere soon as there are still plenty of people who prefer having a physical copy. I don't even read manga and I have a few physical copies haha. Though I would prefer physical to digital, I appreciate what digital brings to the table in terms of affordability and ease of distribution (and probably other things that I would know if I read manga haha).
Feb 28, 2018 8:42 PM by ImperfectBlue
_Ako_ said:
Aside from that the pics are in Japanese... Sadly, I cannot understand that. Anyway, on the bright side, will Japan move to digital copy or not?
The chart has been rewritten as the article's second paragraph for everyone to understand. We hope you did! :)
Aside from that the pics are in Japanese... Sadly, I cannot understand that. Anyway, on the bright side, will Japan move to digital copy or not?
Feb 28, 2018 8:41 PM by removed-user
ImperfectBlue said:
Digital sales are NOT* included in the rankings. I'm dumb. But still, the significance here is that, for individual volumes (tankobon), digital sales exceeded print sales for the first time. Ever. Overall print sales are still ahead of digital sales with magazines included, something a couple other articles failed to mention.
isekai said:
weekly/yearly manga rankings should include digital sales already too, or its included already and im wrong?
weekly/yearly manga rankings should include digital sales already too, or its included already and im wrong?
Digital sales are NOT* included in the rankings. I'm dumb. But still, the significance here is that, for individual volumes (tankobon), digital sales exceeded print sales for the first time. Ever. Overall print sales are still ahead of digital sales with magazines included, something a couple other articles failed to mention.
aight thanks for the info man
Feb 28, 2018 7:54 PM by deg
Not really surprising to be honest. It still boggles my mind CDs are still a thing in Japan. Just fully embrace digital distribution already.
Feb 28, 2018 7:44 PM by Impala
Good to hear. It's a lot easier to do translations of digital copies, since you don't have to rely on poor quality scans with kanji so small and blurry it's nearly indecipherable at times.
Feb 28, 2018 6:34 PM by ItsXolo
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