Japan is home to a large and highly developed media industry. The
alone, which does not include devices or live events, amounted to about 12.5 trillion Japanese yen in 2021. The media content market can be divided into three segments: video-based, audio-based, and text-based content. Text-based media, which includes products such as newspapers, magazines, and books, historically predated other types of mass media. In the case of Japan, text-based media forms were understandable for many people even during pre-modern times, as private educational institutions, such as temple schools, ensured a relatively high literacy rate of the Japanese population. More recently, print media experienced a considerable loss in reach due to the competition posed by online media. This can be seen, for instance, in the
Development of the modern media industry
Media environments tend to undergo changes in tandem with new technological developments. One of the major changes of the twentieth century was the advent of broadcasting. Terrestrial broadcasting started in Japan during the 1920s with radio broadcasts. Television became important from the 1950s on, as both the public broadcaster Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) as well as commercial broadcasters began their television-related operations in 1953. As a
breakdown of the media content market by medium shows, terrestrial television broadcasting continues to be the largest medium today. Next to broadcasting, Japan spawned a number of highly creative media industries whose products were not only consumed domestically, but also became increasingly demanded by consumers in other countries. This includes the Japanese film industry, the music industry, the
anime industry, the
manga industry, and the
video game industry. All sectors of the media industry currently face the challenge of adapting to a relatively new media environment that is increasingly influenced by the internet.
The spread of online media
Internet usage became widespread in Japan during the early 2000s. By 2021, the
online media content market made up more than 43 percent of the total media content market size. While many traditional media forms are stagnating or declining, internet-related media, such as
video and music streaming services, continues to grow.
Social media platforms and apps enable new ways of communicating with friends and customers. Digitalization forces media companies to employ different strategies to cope with this situation, such as introducing paywalls for digital content or using synergies between an already existing physical infrastructure and online purchase or advertising channels. The growing importance of the internet can also be observed when looking at current developments within the
Japanese advertising industry. While television broadcasting remains one of the most important venues for the advertising industry in Japan, it was surpassed in terms of advertising expenditures by the internet for the first time in 2019.
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