A recent report on the Japanese “otaku marketplace” from the Yano Research Institute has conducted a survey in Japan if a person considers their self an otaku. Out of 10, 102 people who answered to Yano’s survey, 25.5% said they considered themselves otaku or have been called otaku. This is an increase of 5.1% from last year. The most notable area that has seen increase in the market is online gaming, making 299.4 billion yen in 2010. Dating simulation games has rose to 11.1 billion yen through efforts on appealing to female audiences. Electronic comics' profits increased to 54 billion yen by the increase of content, more tablet/smartphone usage, and lower costs. The maid and general cosplay market profits grew as well, increasing to 6.3 billion yen.

You can find more information on how much each category of the otaku marketplace rose from here.

Author’s Note: The term “otaku” is quite subjective these days, so I would like to say that this is increase of more “light otaku” (casual fans) and not so much as hardcore fans.

Sources: [Anime News Network, Yano Research Institute]