Interest in anime has been rising steadily for over a decade, and Western Europe’s current animated output increasingly mirrors this trend, says the expert at MIA

Guy Bisson during the panel (© MIA Market)

On 8 October, Rome’s MIA Market talk “Engaging Audiences Today: Data-Driven Storytelling in a Fragmented Market” offered a sharp reality check on the current state of global animation and audience trends. Led by Guy Bisson, Executive Director at Ampere Analysis (UK), the session combined exclusive market insights with strategic reflections on how animation can continue to thrive in an increasingly volatile media environment.

Bisson opened by describing the situation as a “perfect storm.” After years of expansion, the global content industry is facing what he defined as the end of Peak TV. Series orders across all scripted genres fell from 434 in the second half of 2022 to 375 in the first half of 2024, marking a 25% drop from the peak period. “The market isn’t going back,” he stressed, calling the current contraction “the new reality.”

Despite the downturn, animation has proven comparatively resilient. Ampere’s data show that while overall TV orders declined sharply, animation orders dropped by just 8% compared to their peak—16% if animated features are included. Notably, Asia is the only region still showing growth in demand, up 26% since Peak TV, with Japan driving a 12% rise. By contrast, demand has fallen 25% in Europe and 39% in North America.

Western Europe reflects this mixed picture. France stands out with a 20% increase in orders, while the UK (-48%), Spain (-58%), and Italy (-25%) are all experiencing steep declines. Ireland has remained stable, and other parts of Europe have grown modestly (+8%).

Strategically, major streamers have pulled back from original animation investment over the past 18 months. During the boom years of 2020–2021, platforms like Netflix significantly expanded their animation output, buoyed by the pandemic and the era of Peak TV. Since then, however, Netflix has shifted its focus toward licensing animated content rather than producing it in-house.

That said, overall animation availability on the platform continues to rise, with around 3,100 animated titles listed in 2025. The bulk of this growth comes from anime, which now makes up 62% of Netflix’s animation catalogue, compared to 45% in early 2023.

With the global streamers scaling down their commissioning activity, the field in Europe has been left largely to traditional broadcasters and independent producers. In Western Europe, broadcasters (including BVOD services) now account for 57% of animation orders, followed by pay-TV channels (20%) and producers/distributors (16%). Streamers, both paid and free, represent a mere 2%.

Bisson highlighted a further consequence of the downturn: a shrinking appetite for creative risk. Currently, around one-third of new animation orders in Western Europe are based on existing IP, mostly drawn from children’s books, which represent over 80% of such adaptations. In Asia, this tendency is even more pronounced—67% of all new orders are based on pre-existing material, with manga accounting for 56% of the source IP.

Within such as cautious context, global franchise brands predictably continue to dominate the market, from Marvel, DC, and Star Wars to Lego, Mickey Mouse, SpongeBob, Paw Patrol, and Looney Tunes. These established universes illustrate what Bisson described as “the growing importance of world-building” and the ability to generate “enduring storytelling ecosystems.”

Interest in anime has been rising steadily for over a decade, and its influence on global production is increasingly visible. Over the past two years, audience engagement has been driven by genres such as romance, fantasy, adventure, isekai/reincarnation tales, school life, workplace stories, and supernatural or sci-fi narratives. The anime industry has also proven remarkably adept at spinning off secondary IPs since 2020, reinforcing its role as a creative and economic engine.

Bisson noted that Western Europe’s current animated output often mirrors these trends, using the word “anime-cation” during his presentation. Many new European animated series revolve around fantasy quests, animal protagonists, and stories of transformation, where heroes wield magical powers to confront dark forces. These tales, he observed, may not look “too European” but remain rooted in timeless values—friendship, teamwork, and destiny—as characters strive to “save their world or find their place within it.”

The presentation concluded with a look at AI’s disruptive potential in animation production. Citing the example of Critterz, a forthcoming AI-assisted animated feature produced for just $30 million—around a third of a typical major US studio budget—Bisson described the technology as a double-edged sword.

AI tools can reduce production costs and timelines by up to tenfold, enabling faster and more affordable content creation. This may encourage franchise owners to explore animated spin-offs, expand episode counts, and deliver formats better suited to ad-supported streaming. However, such efficiencies come with serious caveats: potential job losses for animators, greater dominance of user-generated platforms like YouTube, and unresolved issues around copyright and IP ownership.

As Bisson summarised, AI could democratise access to animation but also reshape the balance between professional and creator-driven production, forcing traditional commissioners to rethink their strategies in an already turbulent market.