TOKYO - June 25, 2026 - Parrot Analytics today released new analysis showing that live-action series and films adapted from Japanese properties connected to the anime ecosystem are scaling rapidly among international audiences. The release also draws on Parrot Analytics’ joint research with the Association of Japanese Animations (AJA) for the Anime Industry Report 2025 (アニメ産業レポート2025), which quantifies the growing global anime economy across streaming and merchandising.
Parrot Analytics’ analysis shows that live-action series and films adapted from Japanese properties connected to the anime ecosystem have nearly tripled their share of global demand between 2020 and 2025, rising from 0.09% of total global audience demand in 2020 to 0.26% in 2025. This surge has been accompanied by a more than fivefold increase in the category’s title count, from 73 titles in 2020 to 395 titles in 2025. Within Japan, these titles’ share of total audience demand peaked at 4.7% in 2023 and declined to 3.4% in 2025, suggesting that recent momentum is increasingly international.
The titles driving the category’s 2025 performance illustrate how globally resonant Japanese IP connected to the anime ecosystem is translating into live-action hits across markets, led by Alice In Borderland (今際の国のアリス), Gannibal (ガンニバル), City Hunter (シティーハンター), Demon City (鬼ゴロシ), and Drops Of God (神の雫).
The broader franchise opportunity was underscored at a June 23, 2026 press conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan. Tetsu Fujimura, CEO of Filosophia Inc. and an executive producer on Netflix’s live-action One Piece, described Japan’s manga magazine system as an incubator for manga creators and source material, and said the publicly announced slate represents only part of a much larger pipeline of Japanese IP adaptations.
Douglas Montgomery, CEO of Global Connects Media, presented Parrot Analytics data showing that Japanese content captured almost 29% of global demand for non-English-language content from 2020 to 2025. He framed that momentum against a market in which audience time and inflation-adjusted spending are largely flat, meaning Japanese content is gaining share, and pointed to increasing attention for Japanese live action. “As manga goes, as anime goes, live action goes, it’s somewhat all connected,” Montgomery said, describing manga, anime and live action as an interconnected pipeline for Japanese IP.
The live-action surge is unfolding alongside a step-change in the economics of Japanese anime. Japanese anime delivered $21.9 billion in combined global streaming and merchandising revenue contribution in 2024, up 12.5% year over year. Streaming reached $6.42 billion, an increase of 23.4%, while merchandising generated $15.49 billion - more than twice the streaming total.
Platform and regional dynamics underscore why anime is now treated as a strategic business driver, not a niche content vertical. Japanese anime contributed $2.7B to Netflix globally in 2024, with Netflix accounting for 42.6% of global Japanese anime streaming revenue contribution across platforms. The US and Canada led all regions in Japanese anime streaming revenue contribution with 40% ($2.57B), followed by Asia at 24.5% and Europe at 22.4%. Across the full animation category, Japanese anime accounted for 31.1% of global animation streaming revenue contribution.
The 2024 revenue findings build on Parrot Analytics’ ongoing contribution to AJA’s Anime Industry Report, widely used across the industry as a reference point for understanding the health and global expansion of Japanese animation. As Japan’s “New Cool Japan Strategy” targets expansion of the overseas content market to ¥20 trillion (approximately $130 billion) by 2033, the strategy’s emphasis on data-driven planning and measurable KPIs further reinforces the importance of rigorous global market intelligence for sustainable growth across the anime ecosystem.
“Anime has entered a global franchise era, where success is no longer confined to a single format,” said Alejandro Rojas, VP of Applied Analytics and Global Head of Parrot IQ at Parrot Analytics. “The rapid rise of live-action adaptations - paired with the scale of streaming and merchandising economics - shows that anime IP is now a core growth engine for platforms and rights holders. In a market moving this quickly, executives need precise measurement that connects demand to monetization across markets, platforms, and formats, so they can price rights correctly and invest with confidence. By working with AJA on global measurement, we clarify where demand is rising and strengthen the industry’s ability to capture and distribute the value anime creates.”
VIDEO: June 23, 2026 press conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan: The future of Japanese IP (Manga, Anime and Game) in Global Adaptations
About Parrot Analytics
Parrot Analytics is the global authority on media, entertainment and sports intelligence, providing the strategic decision support that the world’s leading studios, producers, streamers, investors, sports organizations, government bodies and brands rely on to de-risk investment and maximize returns.
Trusted across the global media economy - from studios and streaming platforms to film funds, sports leagues and government bodies - Parrot Analytics informs capital allocation, acquisitions, programming and distribution strategy, and the valuation of IP and rights at the highest levels of the industry.
Measuring the demand and preferences of more than 2 billion audiences worldwide, Parrot Analytics’ enterprise-grade AI platform - with safeguards that keep customer data from being used to train general-purpose AI models - quantifies the value of content, talent, franchises and sports rights. This enables partners to forecast revenue, assess risk, optimize portfolio strategy and deliver predictable success.
For Parrot Analytics, contact:
Samuel Stadler
VP Marketing
samuel@parrotanalytics.com
