Market Share Estimates, with extra ooma*
This isn’t as good a chart as it could be. This is just a quick and dirty calculation based on current scores and the number of titles I have for each publisher in my database.
Straight to the point:
Manga Market Share, by Publisher
Estimates based on Online Sales
(derived from the source data of the Manga 500 as of 10 August)
- Viz Media : 53.3% – Tokopop : 22.0% – Del Rey : 6.6% – Dark Horse : 3.9% – DMP : 3.9% (incl. 801 Media) – HarperCollins : 3.0% (incl. HC/Tokyopop, i.e. stupid Warriors-cat-sorta-manga, and Collins Design titles) –
let’s swap over to the fine vernier w/ another decimal:
- Yen Press : 1.01% – Vertical : 0.93% – Aurora : 0.66% – Broccoli : 0.57% – Media Blasters: 0.56% – ADV : 0.51% – Seven Seas : 0.51% – Netcomics : 0.38% – Japan Publications Trading Co. : 0.37% (the Japanese in Mangaland language series) – CMX : 0.37% – Manga University : 0.30% (Kanji de Manga, Manga Cookbook, Manga Moods, et al.) – Random House : 0.29% (Flight anthologies, et al.) – Oni Press : 0.25% (Scott Pilgrim) – First Second : 0.22% (New Abel & Madden title: Drawing Words and Writing Pictures) – Graphic Sha : 0.22% – Go! Comi : 0.21% – Archie Comics : 0.15% (Sonic the Hedgehog) – Udon: 0.13% – Last Gasp: 0.13% (Barefoot Gen) – Yaoi Press: 0.11% –
Less than a tenth of a percent each, but worth noting (and in order):
Be Beautiful, Watson-Guptil, Bandai, Minx, HNA Amulet, Cocoro Books, CPM, Antarcic Press, DrMaster, Fanfare/Ponent Mon, Stone Bridge Press, DramaQueen, Infinity Studios, Drawn & Quarterly,
Just for Simon (who claims to be unable to count past 36): Pretty Picture!
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Basic Method: Take the online rankings. Sort by publisher. Add ‘em up. Divide the subtotals by the grand total.
(Some days it can be that simple.)
Note 1:
I’m going to give this a margin of error of, like, 2%. That’s an ooma* figure (hell, all these are ooma figures) but given that margin of error you can see that past the Top 5, this is all just guess work. No point in arguing (or bragging about) the .05% that separates some of these pubs.
Note 2:
Manga has been estimated at roughly $210M a year, as of 2007. Small potatoes in this game are worth digging for: even half a percentage point nets you One Million Dollars.
Note 3: ooma = out of my ass. If this isn’t a statistical term already, then it damn well should be.
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& worth a look: select imprints, if considered as stand-alone pubs:
Viz Shonen Jump : 23.9%
Viz Shonen Jump Advanced : 11.0%
Viz Shojo Beat : 10.7%
Viz : 5.6%
Vizkids : 0.96% (Pokemon & Megaman)
Viz Signature : 0.95% (Naoki Urasawa’s Monster, Vagabond, et al.)
Tokyopop : 18.2%
HC/Tokyopop : 2.3%
Tokyopop Blu : 1.5%
DMP June : 1.9%
801 Media : 1.2%
DMP : 0.82%
Aurora Deux : 0.62%
Aurora LuvLuv : 0.04%
Aurora : 0.001%
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I’ll repeat this exercise in six weeks to post alongside the next quarterly chart (Summer ’08, scheduled for 22 September) but I think I’ll refine it a bit — if nothing else, 13 weeks of data instead of merely 2 will smooth out a few bumps and bury the one hit wonders.
