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In 2025, Netflix was the leading subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service in Japan. The service held a market share of **** percent that year. The estimated value of the domestic SVOD market that year amounted to  billion Japanese yen, up from  billion yen in the previous year. According to the estimate, which was based on user fees paid to service operators and excluded advertising revenues, Netflix's market share increased compared to the previous year. 

Netflix in Japan

Netflix entered the Japanese video-on-demand (VOD) market in September 2015, making it the first Asian market the company ventured into. According to news reports, Netflix expected Japan to be one of the slowest markets to penetrate due to the brand sensitivity of Japanese audiences. At the same time, this brand sensitivity was seen as a key to long-term payoffs once the service was embraced by Japanese consumers. In order to achieve this, the company secured long-term partnership deals with Japanese content creators throughout the years. Notably among them were several high-profile anime studios, whose products were also seen as a way to counter Disney. Other shows featuring domestic content include "The Naked Director," "Terrace House," and "Tidying Up with Marie Kondo." A lack of local content is considered to be one of the factors that hampered Hulu's initial uptake when it started its operations in Japan back in 2011.

The Japanese video streaming market

Video streaming has become an increasingly contested business in Japan as the market has shown strong growth figures in recent years. One major reason for this development can be found in the entry of several foreign services into the Japanese market, with Netflix and Amazon Prime Video both launching in 2015, DAZN following in 2016, and Disney joining the competition in early 2019. The share of people who use SVOD services has multiplied since the mid-2010s and the average time people spend on VOD consumption per weekday has also increased significantly since then.