As we enter 2025, the animation industry is thriving, with significant growth across various segments fueled by a lot of technological advancements and trends. In this article, we will cover the most important animation industry statistics that you need to know in 2025, from the general market details to emerging technological trends and everything in between.
Let’s jump in!
Animation Industry Statistics You Can’t Miss in 2025
1. Global Market Size will Grow Substantially
The size of the animation industry is getting bigger with each passing year, and its size is projected to reach about $462 billion by the end of 2025.
This stands as solid proof of the increasing influence of animation across every industry, including but not limited to entertainment, advertising, and education industries. If the growth continues at the same rate, the industry could be valued at $895 billion in 2034. (1)
2. North America is Still the Largest Market
Compared to Europe, Asia Pacific, and LAMEA, North America still holds the largest market share in the animation industry, having a staggering share of 33.94%—more than any other country in the world currently.
As we move forward, the North American market is projected to grow at the CAGR of 5.90%, keeping a major chunk of the overall global market share. (2)(3)
3. Asia Pacific Will Lead the Animation Industry in Coming Years
The Asia-Pacific region is drastically capturing the animation market and is projected to even surpass North America by 2026, with an annual growth rate of about 8%, which is 2.10% higher than North America.
At the forefront of this growth are countries like Japan, North Korea, China, and India, which are leading producers and exporters of top-notch animated content to the world. (4)(5)
4. The Leading Niche is Still Entertainment
Although the use of animation has grown significantly in every industry, the leading one still remains media and entertainment, holding over 29.75% of the total market share.
Gaming comes second with about 26.73% market share, followed by education with 18.56%, retail with 11.98%, healthcare with 8.07%, and the manufacturing industry with 4.91% market share. (6)(7)
5. 3D Animation is Growing Substantially
The 3D animation stood at a market value of about 21.58 billion USD in 2024 with a sustained growth rate of about 14.2%, capturing a major chunk of the overall animation market.
With the same growth rate, the 3D animation market value is projected to reach about 72.8 billion USD in 2032. The aspects that contributed the most to this substantial growth include 3D modeling, motion graphics, 3D rendering, and visual effects, both in the form of services and solutions. (8)
6. The Highest Grossing Movie is 3D
With the growing popularity of 3D animation, it’s no surprise to see why the highest-grossing movie of 2024 was “Inside Out 2,” which collected over 1.7 billion USD worldwide. However, that’s not all.
Along with being the highest-grossing animated movie in 2024, it is also the highest-grossing animated movie of all time, dethroning ‘Frozen 2,’ (also a 3D animated movie), previously the highest-grossing animated movie of all time. This is an excellent example of the kind of influence that animation has on the entertainment industry and its growing popularity among a wider demographic. (9)
7. Top Animation Companies are Still at the Top
The top animation companies in 2025 are still the same, with Disney, Sony, and Netflix retaining their top positions and are likely to maintain them in the coming years.
Disney has long been the big shark in the industry with their unmatched creativity, iconic characters, and unparalleled storytelling, followed by Sony, Netflix, and Pixar, who have similar repute.
8. Video Game Industry is Thriving
The video game industry is thriving, and the total revenue generated from the industry stood at 455 billion USD in 2024, with mobile gaming generating over 98.7 billion USD of the total revenue.
Of the total amount, 60.3 billion USD were generated by the big three alone (Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo), with Sony holding the largest market share among the three. With a CAGR of 11.60%, the gaming market is estimated to reach a gross revenue of over 1065.12 billion USD by 2032. And as we enter 2025, we are going to see a substantial boost in revenue with the expected release of some of the biggest titles. (10)(11)
9. VFX Market is Getting Bigger Than Ever
According to the latest statistics, the global VFX market was valued at 10.4 billion USD in 2024 and is expected to exceed 24.3 billion USD by the end of 2037, with a CAGR of 6.5%.
The forerunners of the industry, again, will be North America and Asian Pacific countries, with Europe and Latin America coming in 3rd and 4th. As per the trends, AI and AR technologies will be the main drivers of the growth of the VFX industry. (12)
10. Japan Still Dominates the Asian Animation Market
Thanks to the strong Anime industry, the Japanese animation has always been big, even if we go decades back.
But currently, the Japanese animation industry is the biggest in Asia, earning over 20 billion USD per year from animation alone, in which 10 billion comes from non-Japanese regions due to the popularity of anime movies and series. Most of this revenue is generated through Box office, OTT, and television, where viewers consistently consume Japanese animated content. Check out this complete breakdown of anime industry revenue by segments for more information. (13)(14)
11. 2D Animation is Going Strong
Although the latest data is still to be released, the current market value of 2D animation software stands at 35.64 billion USD and is projected to reach 92.3 billion USD by the end of 2030, at a steady growth rate of 12.3%.
In this staggering amount, education amounts to 15% of the total global demand, and entertainment amounts to 50% of the total demand, with the rest distributed between other industries. The 2D market is mostly dominated by Asian Pacific countries. Cloud-based 2D animation tools have also gained significant popularity, with a 20% increase in adoption rate in the last 4 years. (15)(16)
12. Generative AI is the Future
It is probably one of the most important piece of data in this article. The global generative AI in animation market size stands at 1.66 billion US dollars in 2024 and is expected to touch 23.60 billion by 2032, at a steady rate of about 36.2% during the forecast period.
Moreover, about 60% of animation companies are either actively using generative in their production pipelines due to their convenience, and as the technology advances, so will its uses. It is estimated that the use of AI could cut the production time and costs by a staggering 30% in future. (17)
13. Demand for Animators is Growing
Despite the disruption of generative AI in almost every field of the world, animation still remains on the safe side, and the demand for animators is actually projected to increase over the coming years at a steady rate of 4% per year in the US alone.
According to the data released by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, we can expect to see 3200 new jobs for animators by the start of 2030. The number, of course, is above 2.5 million if we talk on the global scale, where the industry is only getting bigger. (18)
14. AR and VR is Going to Blow Up
Thanks to the evolving preferences, people are now taking more interest in experiences than visuals, hence the rise of AR and VR. By the end of 2025, the market value of AR and VR worldwide is projected to reach 46 billion USD.
And with a steady compound annual growth rate of 7.42%, it is projected to reach 62 billion USD by 2029. With disruptive technologies, rapid advancements in animation each year, and exponentially growing demand, this growth could be even more along the aforementioned duration. (19)
15. Streaming Accounts for Most Animated Content Viewership
About 80% of all the animated content is distributed via streaming platforms and television, underscoring the significance of digital platforms when it comes to animated content consumption.
Among this consumed content, Disney accounts for 25%, Pixar accounts for 20%, and DreamWorks accounts for 15% of the total content on popular streaming networks. (20)
Wrapping Up
The animation industry in 2025 is getting more dynamic which breaks new boundaries with each passing day with technological advancements and expanding its influence across every industry. As this digital renaissance goes forward with continued innovation and creativity, we will get to see huge developments. On this note, we hope the data we compiled including the graphs in this article has been helpful. See you with another statistics based article soon!