Anime News - ICv2: North American Manga Sales Fell 15% in 2010

The retail news source ICv2 reported at its ICv2 Comics, Media, and Digital Conference last week that North American sales for manga fell from (US)$140 million in 2009 to (US)$120 million in 2010, a decrease of 15%. This is awful news because according to ANN.com, manga sales in 2007 and 2008 were (US)$210 million and (US)$175 million, respectively, which means that manga sales have actually decreased by aroung 43% between 2007 and 2010. That's not the end of it there; The sales drop in 2010 is actually smaller than the 20% assum that ICv2 estimated last October!

And converting this to yen doesn't help due to the fact that the dollar has weakened, as sales have dropped from 2007's ¥25 billion to the ¥10.5 billion reported for 2010.

But every cloud has its silver lining, right? ICv2 stated that there are signs that the US sales decline might actually be slowing this year, if not ending. According to animeanime.biz, first quarter sales in 2011 were down 10%, which is better than recent years (declines in 2008, 2009, and 2010 were 17%, 23%, and 15%, respectively.).

The overall North American comic marketplace, including Japanese manga, dropped 7% to (US)$635 million in 2010, making it the third straight year of decline. "Floppy" magazine-style comic sales dropped 8%, while compiled graphic novel volumes dropped 5%. ICv2 associated the slump to the overall economic situation as well as the downturn in retail as shown by the bankruptcy of the Borders bookstore chain.

Conversely, the North American digital comic market actually grew from (US)$500,000 to (US)$1 million in 2009, to (US)$6-8 million this year.

ICv2 referenced four topical points in the North American manga marketplace in the past year: Viz Media maintaining its strong #1 market share, Tokyopop's leaving the manga business, Kodansha entering the market, and Yen Press rising to #2 in market share.

(animeanime.biz)