【悲報】10代の「マンガ離れ」が進行…デジタルコミック市場は課金できる大人向けの作品が中心
Recent surveys reveal a concerning trend: teenagers are increasingly disengaging from manga, sparking widespread discussion. This comes as a shock to many.
Concurrently, the digital comic market is expanding, but it's predominantly driven by titles catering to adults who are willing to pay for content.
Online, opinions are rife, suggesting reasons like time being consumed by mobile games and videos, or the declining opportunities to read physical manga.
Related Keywords
Digital Comic Market
The digital comic market refers to manga works that can be read on digital devices like smartphones, tablets, and PCs, as well as the entire distribution and sales services for them. In recent years, this market has seen astonishing growth, even surpassing the size of the print manga market. Its growth is driven by high convenience and diverse content. Readers can easily enjoy manga anywhere, accessing niche genres and pre-released works that might be hard to find in bookstores. The diversification of monetization models is also a characteristic, with purchase methods like "volume-based" or "chapter-based" reading, monthly subscription services, and "freemium" models that allow free reading of part of a work becoming widespread. The reason why adult-oriented works are central to this market is largely due to the primary purchasing demographic being those aged 30 and above, who have more disposable income. They are less resistant to paying for works, and the habit of enjoying digital manga during commutes or relaxing at home has become ingrained. The trends in this market are bringing about significant transformations in manga production and distribution systems, and even in readers' consumption behavior itself.
Webtoon
Webtoon is a coined term originating in Korea, combining "Web" and "Cartoon," referring to a new format of digital comic specialized for smartphone viewing. Its biggest feature is that it's a full-color manga read by vertical scrolling. While traditional Japanese manga is paneled page by page and read from left to right, webtoons are like one long continuous image read from top to bottom, allowing smooth progression with just a flick. This format is highly compatible with smartphones, making it easy to read with one hand, especially on crowded trains or during breaks, and has rapidly spread, particularly among young people aged 10-20. The visual impact of being full-color and the fast-paced storytelling style, much like dramas or movies, also strongly resonate with modern youth accustomed to visual information. Platforms encourage habitual use by introducing "daily serials" updated every day and models where parts can be read for free but continued reading requires payment. Webtoons have created a new trend in manga production processes, expression methods, and consumers' reading experiences, becoming one of the major contents in the digital comic market.
Disposable Time and Content Consumption
Disposable time refers to the free time we have in our daily lives, excluding essential activities like work, sleep, and eating. The "struggle for this limited disposable time" is one of the biggest challenges in the modern content consumption market. Especially among teenagers, with the widespread use of smartphones, a diverse range of entertainment such as video streaming services like YouTube and TikTok, social media like Instagram and X (formerly Twitter), and a vast number of smartphone games are fiercely competing for their disposable time. These contents share common characteristics: ease of access, immediacy, interactivity, and being free or low-cost. The act of reading manga requires a certain level of concentration and time, and often requires payment to continue reading. From the perspective of competing for disposable time, manga can be at a disadvantage compared to other entertainment content. Specifically, for physical manga, time is needed to visit a bookstore; for digital manga, steps are involved in opening an app, selecting a work, and focusing on reading. This time competition is cited as one cause of teenagers' disengagement from manga, suggesting that their interest is shifting towards shorter, instantly gratifying content.