Japan's video streaming market in 2024: estimated at 526.2 billion yen, U-NEXT shows the largest share growth, closing in on Netflix, which remains in the first place for six consecutive years
GEM Partners has estimated the 2024 video streaming (VOD) market size and projected its growth through 2029 under three scenarios: base, optimistic, and pessimistic. In this article, we present the size and share of the subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) market in Japan by service.
Related article：Japan's VOD market size is 593 billion yen (2024, 3.3% growth YoY), estimated to be 787.3 billion yen by 2029
Japan's subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) market is estimated at 526.2 billion yen in 2024 (+4.1% YoY)
Japan's market for subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services in 2024 is estimated to be 526.2 billion yen, up 4.1% from the previous year. Market share is calculated by the estimated total amount consumers pay to subscription service providers and does not include advertising and other revenues.
The market size has continued to expand: 322.2 billion yen in 2020 (+34.7% YoY), 386.2 billion yen in 2021 (+19.9% YoY), and 450.8 billion yen in 2022 (+16.7% YoY), 505.4 billion yen in 2023(+ 12.1% YoY) reflecting the growing demand for home entertainment during the Pandemic. However, in 2024, the growth rate fell below 10%, recording a 4.1% increase from the previous year, indicating a slowdown in growth.
Netflix tops market for 6th year, but declines; U-NEXT holds 2nd with largest share growth.
Looking at the share of each service in Japan's SVOD market in 2024, Netflix holds the largest share at 21.5% (-0.4 pt YoY). Although its share has declined for three consecutive years, Netflix has maintained the top position since 2019, marking its sixth consecutive year at No.1.
The second-largest market share was held by U-NEXT, which accounted for 17.9% (+2.7% YoY). The service overtook Prime Video in 2022, rising to the second position. In 2023, its market share further expanded, partly due to the integration with Paravi from July onward. In 2024, despite stagnation in the overall market growth, U-NEXT was the only service to achieve an increase of over 1.0 points YoY. Among the 13 services surveyed, only five expanded their market share compared to the previous year: U-NEXT, FOD, DMM TV, ABEMA Premium, and Prime Video.
The product report estimates the market size forecast to 2029 for the video distribution market as a whole, as well as by " Subscription Video On Demand (SVOD)," " Transactional Video On Demand (TVOD)," and " Electronic Sell Through (EST)," with "base," "optimistic," and "pessimistic" scenarios. This annual report also includes the above estimation logic detailed, so readers can confirm the estimation method.