ELFSAR BLOG

Digital comic sales have totaled between $500,000 and $1 million in retail sales within North America in 2009.  The total includes sales in mobile formats such as the iPhone, iPod Touch, Android, Kindle, and PSP formats.

The method used to inform the estimate was by consulting with the largest players in the digital comics based on their estimates of the market, each from a very different vantage point.  The range of the estimates reflected those different vantage points and the nascent state of the market; there was almost an order of magnitude separating the lowest and highest estimates.

Although digital comic sales in 2009 were a relatively modest number, they represent a huge jump from 2008, when only iVerse and uClick had digital comics available.  In 2009, Panelfly and Comixology launched for the iPhone, IDW began offering a wide range of titles initially through iVerse and then through its own apps, and PSP launched with 500 comic titles in December.  This type of boom in the industry is very similar to the graphic novel boom that started in 2005.

Among the big sellers in 2009 were IDW’s Star Trek: Countdown and Transformers:  Alliance iPhone apps, which IDW CEO Ted Adams believes were the top digital comic sellers for the year.   In 2010, sales are going to expand dramatically, with a full year of sales for the companies that launched in 2009, more launches in 2010, the huge impact of the iPad (which has not even hit Canada yet), the launch of the Marvel store, other launches TBD (i.e. What is DC COMICS going to do?), and continuing growth in the number of titles available.

Here are three of the digital comics companies and their looks ahead:

Brett Dovman, CFO of Panelfly:

“I think it’s an extremely new market and clearly believe that there is the potential for massive growth.  A quick example would be that of Japan’s.  Digital comics in Japan started to become available in 2003, and generated roughly $1 million that year.  In 2009, digital comics generated $500 million.  While I realize that Japan has a much larger print market and that the US market will not grow to become a $500 million market in just six years, I do think it’s possible for it to become a $100 million market in that time frame.”

Michael Murphey, CEO of iVerse:

“We’ve just reached the tip of the iceberg on the growth of the market.  iPad and other table devices provide a much more satisfying comic book reading experience, and I think we’ll see more readers enter the digital space because of that.  As more publishers move to bringing their current content into the digital arena, we’ll see growth from that as well.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see the digital comics market double annually over the next few years.”

David Steinberger, CEO of Comixology:

“2010 is the year that will be looked back on as the time when digital comics became regarded as a legitimate and profitable part of the comic book market as a whole.  I believe that digital distribution will increase the visibility and discoverability of comics, leading to an expanding market, including print.  It’s an exciting time to be in comics both creatively and as a business.”