What Can Save The Anime Industry From Dying?

Is the anime industry dying out?

Some anime fans wonder about this and have asked this question dozens of times.

There are even YouTube videos about the topic. As well as bloggers who’ve attempted to answer this.

The anime industry isn’t dying, not as far as I see it.

After all when you look at the trends, graphs and reports, there’s a lot of growth globally.

BUT…

To stop the anime industry from dying, 3 things are needed:

Innovation.
Looking towards the future, and creating it today.
Accepting the facts and leaving the past behind.

What does that even mean?

Innovation is simple: Finding new ways to do something 10X better.

Let’s use the book industry as an example.

Amazon knew that the “physical book” industry was dying.

And becoming less relevant because of free information online (among other things).

So they innovated.

They created the Kindle store. And now the book industry is thriving better than it ever did.

Netflix did the same.

They took rental dvd’s (which was an offline business) and brought it online and made it more convenient.

They knew physical rental dvd’s was a thing of the past.

But the anime industry? A lot of publishers and creators are stuck in the past.

Image courtesy of Deviant Art.

DVD’S and their sales have been declining for years, yet they still insist on “fixing it”.

This is regardless of the fact that FEW fans are willing to buy an anime dvd that’s overly priced.

You’d be surprised at how some brilliant, famous anime’s only sell less than 8,000 copies.

–

That’s why so many people use free streaming sites.

It’s not a case of whether it’s legal or illegal, it’s a case of what’s convenient.

If you have a choice to use Google to get FREE information, or travel to a Library with limited info, you’ll obviously choose Google.

In the same way, free streaming sites are easier to choose over legal sites that are inconvenient.

Plus legal streaming sites aren’t available in tons of countries. And anime shows that legal streaming sites have, can’t even be played in some countries (like the UK).

So what’s the solution for the anime industry?

1. Eradicate issues with licensing

Imagine if anime was available to everyone, everywhere, no matter where in the world via legal streaming?

Fans would be more willing to spend $4.99 (or whatever the cost per month) to watch the anime’s we love, on-demand.

And this would MASSIVELY help the anime industry.

Licensing causes so many problems in the anime industry. And that’s one of the biggest obstacles right now to deal with.

2. If #1 comes true, we’ll have a wider range of anime’s via streaming services

The reason people use free sites is because they have EVERY anime show available to watch.

Because of licensing issues, even sites like anime content. So fans go elsewhere.

If legal sites and services can make “watching anime” more convenient and easier than FREE sites, the problem will be solved. Because anyone’s willing to pay for convenience.

Especially if it’s a no-brainer.

Apart from that, it really comes down to getting with the times and people coming together to figure out how to push the anime industry forward.

As well as coming up with “extra” services that add value, which make paying for streaming more attractive.

There’s only so far you’ll be able to go based on “what worked” well over a decade ago.

What are your thoughts on the anime industry?

Is it dying? And what can be done to improve it?

Recommended:

Anime’s Bad Repuation: Is There Truth To It, And WHAT Caused It?

Is Anime A Bad Influence?