Japan's Media Development Research Institute announced that the Japanese anime market grew to 241.5 billion yen (about $2.026 billion) in 2006, reports ANIME NEWS NETWORK. This is the highest level since the institute started surveying in 1990, and represents the third year of continuous growth.
The institute credits attributes the growth to movies like TALES FROM EARTHSEA, POKÃMON and DORAEMON, as well as the increase in television anime titles, but says that the number of DVD titles has dropped. The market has grown 220% since 1990 (then at 106.9 billion yen or $896.8 million) and 150% since 2000.
