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Japanese Physical Home Video Sales Dip 7.9% in Japan in 1st Half of 2020

The Japan Video Software Association (JVA) released on August 6 its statistical report on physical home video sales in Japan for the first half of 2020 from January to June, which stated that domestic DVD and Blu-ray Disc sales (including rentals) amounted to 71.439 billion yen (about US$675 million), a 7.9% decrease from the same period last year. Total DVD sales amounted 33.937 billion yen (about US$320 million), an 8.2% decrease from last year, while Blu-ray Disc sales amounted 37.520 billion yen (about US$354 million), a 7.7% decrease from last year.

Comparing home video purchases to rentals, purchases amounted to 57.980 billion yen (about US$548 million), a 6.4% decrease from the same period last year, while rentals amounted to 12.950 billion yen (about US$122 million), a 13.5% decrease from last year.

Of the overall purchases market, general audience Japanese animation accounted for 25.7% of the sales.

Japanese animation for general audiences increased DVD sales by 5.4% compared to the same period last year. Japanese animation for general audiences also made up the largest share in Blu-ray Disc purchases by genre, making up 33.5% of the market, although with 6.9% less revenue than the previous year. In the rental market, Japanese animation for general audiences made up the second-largest share by genre, making up 20.7% of the market, and with a 2.3% growth compared to last year.

The JVA's 12-month statistical report for January-December 2019 reported a 0.8% decrease in the market from 2018. The JVA also reported in May that the internet distribution market for anime overtook the home video market in Japan for the first time since the survey on internet distribution started 16 years ago.

Sources: JVA report, Animation Business Journal (Tadashi Sudo)