GEM Partners, an entertainment market research firm, released its “Video-on-Demand (VOD) Market 5-Year Forecast (2025-2029) Report” on February 25, revealing Japan’s subscription-based streaming market reached an estimated ¥526.2 billion ($3.5 billion) in 2024, growing 4.1% year-on-year.
While the market continued to expand to record levels, growth has significantly decelerated compared to previous years. The slowdown—from 34.7% growth in 2020 to just 4.1% in 2024—suggests Japan’s streaming market is approaching maturity.
Among platforms, Netflix maintained its leadership position with 21.5% market share, though this represents a slight decline from 21.9% in 2023. The most notable movement came from U-NEXT, which increased its share significantly from 15.2% to 17.9%, outpacing gains attributed to its integration with Paravi (previously 0.9% share).
Amazon Prime Video, despite reportedly leading in user numbers according to other surveys, ranked third with a 13.1% market share. This discrepancy likely stems from its lower per-user price point compared to Netflix and U-NEXT.
In the anime streaming segment, dAnime Store (operated jointly by NTT Docomo and KADOKAWA) captured a 4.6% share, outperforming Lemio (formerly dTV) at 3.2%. AnimeBangumi, managed by U-NEXT, held just 0.7% of the market, suggesting viewers may prefer comprehensive platforms over anime-specific services.
GEM Partners’ report includes detailed market research and projects future market size through 2029 under three different scenarios.
