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Summary of our market study
In France, the manga market represents around 20% of the literary publishing market and is worth some 40 million euros.
In France, manga has established itself as a unique cultural product, at the crossroads of literature and the visual arts. With a history dating back to the Meiji era in Japan, manga has adopted right-to-left reading and predominantly black-and-white illustrations.
The French manga market doubled between 2020 and 2022. Digital manga sales have overtaken physical sales. Paper manga sales are declining (22.7% drop in 2023).
Manga is particularly popular among young French people, with 58% of readers aged under 30.
Initiatives such as the French "pass culture", which offers 18-year-olds 300 euros for cultural purchases, have made a significant contribution to manga sales.
The French market saw a sharp rise in the popularity of manga in the 1980s, with titles such as Dragon Ball and One Piece.
Popular new titles such as "Jujutsu Kaisen" and "Demon Slayer" stimulated further market expansion. The rise of the South Korean webtoon is also noteworthy.
Manga encompasses a variety of sub-genres such as Shōnen, Seinen, Shōjo and Josei, each targeting different age groups and interests. Shonen is the dominant genre, accounting for 74% of sales in 2023.
Scantrad (the illegal digitization and distribution of manga) is causing problems. It is estimated that over half of the 400 million manga chapters read online in France come from illegal sources.
Manga exports are part of Japan's and Korea's "soft power" strategy.
Manga industry players
- Shueisha: one of the world's largest manga publishers (One Piece) holds a stake in VIZ Media Europe
- Glénat: a pioneer in the introduction of manga in France, with famous titles such as "Dragon Ball"
- Kazé: member of VIZ Media Europe
- Interforum Editis: major French manga publisher
- Hachette, MDS and Delsol: major manga publishing and distribution group.
- Media Participations, publishing group for novels, comics, magazines and manga
- FNAC and Amazon: FNAC and Amazon have established themselves as virtual hubs for the manga trade.
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Summary and extracts
1 Market overview
1.1 Definition and scope of study
Manga are books halfway between comic strips and American comics. A category in its own right, a manga can be recognized by certain characteristics that distinguish it from traditional Franco-Belgian comics:
- Manga is read from right to left,
- Drawings are generally in black and white,
- They are often published episode by episode.
Born in Japan during the modernizing and nationalist Meiji era, the first mangas were inspired by European cartoons and published in newspapers. Influenced by post-war American comics, mangaka began to draw their manga in the form we know today. Imported into France in the 1980s and translated by Glénat, they enjoyed growing success with iconic titles such as Dragon Ball and One Piece. Publishing houses, mostly French, gradually established themselves and cornered the market. Publishers are issuing tomes, a collection of chapters usually published weekly in Japan. Usually, a manga's story is broken down into arcs told over several chapters.
However, there are sub-genres within manga. The most common, with their target audience, are :
- Shônen (boys under 15 - action and adventure)
- Seinen (teenagers aged 15 to 24 - action and psychology)
- Shôjo (girls aged 10 to 18 - romance)
- Josei (adult women - romance and action)
The French manga market faces a number of challenges, such as the growing prevalence of digital technology for books, comics, etc., which makes pirated versions of manga freely available and threatens the ecosystem. The main mission of the new mangas is to appeal to the new generation, born after 2000 and 2010, and perpetuate the craze that had been created among previous generations.the challenge seems to have been met, with the French market doubling in value between 2020 and 2022.
1.2 The global market: the case of Japan and the rise of Korea
The case of Japan:
According to the AJPEA (***), the manga market in Japan regained some color from **** onwards, with growth of **.**% in value between **** and ****. The covid pandemic was beneficial for the manga market, as evidenced by the market 's exceptional **.**% growth in value between **** and **** .
on a global scale, the ...
1.3 A French market slowing down after strong post-pandemic expansion.
France is considered the world's second-largest manga market by volume, according to the press. [***]. While this information is difficult to verify, it nevertheless remains true that France is one of the largest markets for this product, as demonstrated by the popularity of manga in France.
Development of the Comics/Manga sub-sector ...
2 Demand analysis
2.1 Consumer typology
Consumer typology:
According to a joint study by GFK - Growth From Knowledge - and the Syndicat National de l'Édition, in ****, the average buyer is characterized by his or her young age - more than **% of readers are under ** - and by its tendency to be more male - **% of ...
2.2 The rise of scantrad
Any cultural work can be stolen and copied. Illegal downloading has made headlines in the media, with Game of Thrones breaking records in this area. Manga is no exception to this phenomenon, quite the contrary. Scantrad is a process that involves scanning pages from chapters published in Japan in specialized magazines ...
2.3 A fast-growing market that is now stabilizing.
A market with three phases in ten years:
If before the covid period, the manga market seemed to be running out of steam, with stagnant growth and a drop in the number of "manga" searches on the Internet - see graph below - it now appears that the pandemic period reversed ...
3 Market structure
3.1 Market organization: Value chain and player margins
Currently fragmented into a number of players in France, the manga market is a sub-section of the publishing market as a whole. As a result, a few major groups have positioned themselves against others, independent or not necessarily successful in emerging, whose market shares remain minor.
A study by MangaMag shows ...
3.2 Distribution and broadcasting
Representing more than half the sales costs of a manga volume, distribution and diffusion play an essential role in the book chain. The first stage is completed by distributors and diffusers. These are large companies with substantial sales - €*** million for Interforum Editis. This concentration is somewhat forced, since the role ...
3.3 Main publishing houses
Source: ****
This market is controlled by a few major publishing groups, Glénat or Pika Éditions, whose core business is not necessarily manga distribution. Other independent publishers also share a relatively small share of the market - **.*% in ****.
3.4 Conventions: a privileged means of communication
The main conventions take place in Paris
Paris Manga is a bi-annual convention that attracts ***,*** people every year. Traditionally held at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center, the latest edition was held at Paris Nord, Villepinte. Celebrating Japanese culture in its entirety - manga, anime, merchandise, music and fashion - numerous ...
3.5 The gradual growth of French manga
French-style manga, also known as Manfra or Franga, are comics produced by French-speaking authors whose work is inspired by the codes of Asian comics.
The manfra segment is very young, but is only just beginning to develop. In ****, out of *** mangas sold by Glénat, only ten or so were by ...
4 Offer analysis
4.1 Types of manga
Manga is sold in volumes, each containing several chapters. The story of a manga is broken down into arcs, each sold in one or more volumes. The story thus has a meaning, and generally continues chronologically. There are several categories of manga:
Kodomo, aimed at children under **, the story is often ...
4.2 Prices
Impact of rising paper prices on manga prices:
Because of the inflation in the price of paper (***) such as Berserk, Dragon Ball or One piece from €*.** in **** to €*.** in July ****. Other publishers, such as Pika and Kurokawa, have already passed this milestone, with their standard manga priced at *.**€.
Relatively similar prices ...
4.3 Sales rankings and comparison with Japan
Ranking of best sellers in France in **** on Amazon :
Source: ****
Several trends stand out in this best-seller ranking:
The predominance of historical series: One piece and Naruto appear in the ranking, while Naruto, released in ****, and One Piece, released in ****, are among the oldest mangas on the French market. While One ...
5 Regulations
5.1 Regulatory framework
Manga meets the tax definition of a book: "a book is defined as a printed set, illustrated or not, published under a title, the purpose of which is the reproduction of a work of the mind by one or more authors for the purposes of teaching, the dissemination of thought and ...
5.2 Growing scantrad regulations
The excesses of certain readers, and in particular scantrad, which represents a gigantic loss for Japanese publishing houses, have led them to take action against the illegal distribution of chapters. Shûeisha, Japan's leading manga publisher, has promised to deal "severely with any illegal copies found on the Internet".
The first ...
6 Positioning the players
6.1 Player segmentation
- Shûeisha
- Pika Édition
- Kana Editions (Dargaud Media Participations)
- Kurokawa Univers Poche (Editis)
- Kazé Crunchyroll
- Ototo Euphor
- Delcourt Groupe - Soleil Manga
- Nobi Nobi Pika Editions
- KiOon
- Komikku Éditions
- Delsol Diffusion
- Interforum (Editis Groupe)
- Scantrad
- Jaimini’s Box
- Media Participations
- Bamboo Edition
- Mangas.io
- Sony Music Entertainment France
- Shin Sekai
List of charts presented in this market study
- Sales value in billions of yen on the Japanese manga market
- Sales value in billions of yen on the Japanese manga market, segmentation between digital and paper sales.
- Paper manga sales by distribution channel
- Different profiles in publishing markets
- Profiles of manga buyers by genre
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Latest news
Sony aims to consolidate its presence in webtoons and digital manga - 13/05/2024
- - Proposed purchase of Infocom by Sony Music Entertainment: $1.3 billion.
- - Infocom owns Mecha Comics, a manga and webtoon distribution platform
- - Mecha Comics revenues for last fiscal year: 340 million euros.
- - Japanese manga publishing sales in 2022: 677 billion yen (4.3 billion euros).
- - Sales of digital manga in 2022: 447.9 billion yen (2.8 billion euros).
- - Paper manga sales in 2022: 175.4 billion yen (1.1 billion euros).
Comics: how Delcourt continues its rise in the comics world - 24/01/2024
- The Delcourt-Soleil group exceeded the 100 million euro sales mark during the Covid period.
- Delcourt-Soleil is the third-largest player in the comics market, with a 10% share.
- Rival Glénat holds 13%.
- Market leader Média-Participations holds 20% of the market.
- Delcourt publishes 700 titles every year.
- 50% of these titles are mangas.
- The comics market has tripled in four years.
- Delcourt bought Soleil in 2011 and Tonkam in 2014.
- Delcourt owns Delsol, a distribution company that provides services for some twenty comic publishers.
- In 2021, Delcourt was the first to take an interest in Korean comics.
- The "Solo Levelling" series sold 1.5 million copies.
- The publisher's "Les Légendaires" series is its bestseller, with ten million albums sold.
Mangas.io: 2 million euros and aims to become the "Spotify of manga" in France - 14/12/2023
- Online reading platform Mangas.io raises 2 million euros.
- Company created in 2020.
- France is the world's second-largest manga market, behind Japan.
- Mangas.io has signed agreements with 30 publishers, including 20 French-speaking ones.
- Mangas.io returns 70% of revenues to publishers.
- The start-up employs a dozen people. 200.000 registered users on the Mangas.io platform.
- The company is not yet profitable, but has tripled its revenues in one year and is aiming for a million euros in 2024.
- Distribution agreements signed with SNCF and Cafeyn in 2023.
Webtoon: Media Participation's Ono platform joins forces with Korean studio - 29/11/2023
- Ono is the platform of France's third-largest publishing company, Média-Participations.
- Ono moves into the original territory of the webtoon.
- Onovient joins forces with Kenaz, South Korea's largest independent webtoon producer Creation of a 50/50 joint venture
- Kenaz works with over 400 creators worldwide.
- Kenaz supplies content to various international clients, including Piccoma (Kakao), Webtoon (Naver), Apple Books (Japan and USA) and ByteDance (TikTok) in China.
- Ono plans to produce webtoons in France in the coming months.
- Translation and lettering costs from Korean to French are three times higher than the purchase of rights for Ono.
- The Ono platform, launched eight months ago, boasts over 250,000 downloads.
- Ono's ambition is to become the third major player in the sector in Europe, behind Naver and Piccoma.
- Ono's catalog of web series will total 300 by the end of the year.
- Ono has acquired some 50 series from Verytoon and 100 from Delitoon.
- Ono plans to offer manga on their platform early next year.
Saône-et-Loire: Bamboo Edition celebrates its 25th anniversary - 14/09/2023
- Bamboo Edition founded: 25 years ago by Olivier Sulpice
- Recognition of the publishing house: early 2000s with the release of the "Les Profs" series
- Publication of "Les Sisters" comic series: 2008
- Adaptation of "Les Sisters" into an animated series: 2017 by Bamboo Edition
- Broadcasting of "Les Sisters": on M6, Canal+ and Gulli, then Netflix
- Creation of Bamboo Films: 4 years ago by Olivier Sulpice and Matthieu Zeller
- Purchase of "Les aventuriers de l'étrange" publishing house
- Bamboo Group: around 70 employees, including a dozen freelancers
- Bamboo Group comprises five companies: Bamboo Edition, Fluide Glacial, Drakoo, Bamboo Films and a holding company
- Bamboo group sales in 2022: 34 million euros
Media Marticipation: Ono, the Frenchman who wants to become Europe's number three webtoon maker - 13/07/2023
- Competition between the Piccoma (Kakao) and Webtoon (Naver) platforms to dominate the French webtoon market.
- The Ono platform, owned by Media-Participations (Dargaud, La Martinière, Dupuis), aims to become France's number three webtoon platform
- The Ono platform, which has merged with Webtoon Factory, has a development budget of almost 15 million euros.
- Ono, which was launched 4 months ago, has 125,000 downloads and aims to reach the million mark within three years.
- Webtoon claims 2 million monthly active users, while Piccoma has passed the million mark.
- Ono currently has 150 series in its catalog, 100% of which are webtoons.
- Izneo, another digital Franco-Belgian comics application, will operate in parallel with Ono.
- Ono's content is monetized through the sale of reading credits ("coins").
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