Industry
Manga Survey 2026: Print Magazines Reach Only 17.6 Percent
The survey of 3,000 people distinguishes between long-time non-readers and people who have since given up reading manga.
A new survey on manga use in Japan shows that 51.5 percent of respondents read manga within a year. Printed manga magazines, by contrast, reach only 17.6 percent. The platform company Comici will publish the results of the "Manga Reading Survey 2026" on November 2 and distinguishes between people who have stopped reading and those who have not read manga for a longer time.
Every Second Person Reads Manga – But Not in the Same Way
For the study, MyVoiceCom surveyed a total of 3,000 people aged 15 to 69 on behalf of Comici from October 2 to 5, 2026. The sample is not limited to existing manga readers. Of all participants, 1,544 people said they had read manga in the previous year.
Among the formats used, printed collected volumes at 34.4 percent and manga apps or web manga at 34.1 percent are almost level. E-books reach 28.8 percent. Classic print magazines lag well behind at 17.6 percent. Multiple answers were possible.
Among manga readers, 48.1 percent use both paper and digital offerings. Exclusively digital reading accounts for 30.0 percent, and exclusively print for 22.0 percent. The results thus show parallel use of both distribution channels rather than a complete replacement of paper. The importance of digital platforms also includes the operation of Comic Cmoa after a data leak.
What Lies Behind the 6.7 Percent
48.5 percent of all respondents did not read manga in the past year. Of these, 32.8 percentage points of the total sample said they had not been readers five years ago either. Only 6.7 percent of all respondents said they had reduced their reading compared with back then and have now stopped entirely.
This figure is not a measured five-year change in the manga market. Respondents assessed their earlier use themselves in hindsight. Comici plans to repeat the survey annually in the future with the same questions.
Manga Discovery and AI
According to the survey, readers discover new works mainly through rankings in apps and e-book shops (28 percent), bookstores (26 percent) and social media (22 percent). Official announcements from publishers or artists are cited as a discovery route by seven percent.
On the involvement of generative AI in manga, younger respondents are more critical: among 15- to 19-year-olds, 50 percent express reservations, while among 60-year-olds it is 24 percent. The figures add to the discussion about new digital distribution and production models, as also affected by the cooperation of Crunchyroll and HAYATE for webtoon adaptations.