Julia Stoll
Research expert covering TV and video media
Video-on-demand (VOD) services in Japan - statistics and facts
The entry of Netflix and Amazon Prime Video in September 2015 ushered in a period of increased competition for the Japanese video-on-demand (VOD) market. Up until that point, the market had largely been dominated by domestic services, such as Fuji Television on Demand, Hikari TV, and U-Next. During the early 2010s, it expanded due to factors such as the increasing dissemination of smartphones and tablets, the improvement of content libraries, the lowering of prices, and the spread of subscription models. In the second half of the 2010s, the market steadily built momentum as more and more major services joined the competition. Next to Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, these included TVer in 2015, Abema and DAZN in 2016, as well as Disney and Apple in 2019. The heightened demand for home entertainment during the COVID-19 pandemic added to the momentum of the market and strongly pushed the penetration rate of subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services. As a result of these developments, the on-demand video streaming market reached a record 525 billion Japanese yen in 2023.
