The ongoing pandemic has done a number on the global economy, and an array of industries have been impacted by the arrival of COVID-19. Whether indirect or direct, millions of workplaces have found themselves grappling with budgetary issues because of the strict social measures enacted to slow the virus’ spread. But when it comes to Viz Media, it seems the beloved publisher has bucked the trend by becoming more lucrative than ever during the pandemic.
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This surprising news was shared by Kevin Hamric, thee vice president of publishing sales at Viz Media. It was during an interview with ICv2 fans learned how well Viz Media has been faring, and Hamric has nothing but good news to share… and isn’t that refreshing in and of itself?
When discussing how Viz Media has fared during the pandemic, it was a relief to hear Hamric say things were doing “extraordinarily well” with sales performing “beyond expectations.”
The executive went on to shoutout two specific titles. Weekly Shonen Jump is selling better than ever thanks to Viz Media’s simulpublishing efforts. That means plenty of interest in drummed up in the magazine, so that is why My Hero Academia is doing so well. The superhero manga was mentioned by Hamric by name, and it was joined by SPX x FAMILY for exceeding sales estimates.
With so much quality manga available under Viz Media, the company s plans to push forward old-school series every so often in order to keep casual readers engaged and looking for new manga since local bookstores aren’t open everywhere to give out recommendations.
“I had that fear going in with the stores closing. How are people going to discover new series? In-store shopping is quite a big part of that. That played out because our backlist sales are extremely strong. We flipped those, our backlist to frontlist sales during this period,” Hamric said.
“People are either getting into a new series that they had heard of before, or their friends recommended, or they’ve had great reviews online, or something they’ve always wanted to start getting into.”
Are you surprised by the growing popularity of manga as a pandemic pastime? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!
