Worlds Within Worlds...

This article profiles ADV, which has mostly done anime but has branched out into manga lately (courtesy Dirk Deppy). There is some hard numbers in here which makes it a bit more informative than normal:

For 2003, A.D. Vision will show revenue of between $70 million and $150 million, says Kevin Corcoran, chief operating officer.

In addition to 187 employees in the United States, A.D. Vision provides a livelihood for 200 to 250 actresses, actors, directors and private contractors who work on the company's ongoing projects.

Besides the anime and NewType USA magazine (with a monthly circulation of 100,000) and now manga (with there reports lately of them having licensed 1,000 volumes), there's also the channel. Seems like most people with On Demand cable now have access to anime through them, and as for the 24-hour channel:

The company is in discussions with several cable companies to make a linear launch either in the first or second quarter of 2004 according to Corcoran.

"We're told it's just a matter of time," he says.

Not only that, but there's the live-aciton Neon Genesis Evangelion movie in the works with WETA.

I know I've mentioned some of this stuff before, but I just am really impressed with how much they've managed to grow in these last years. And while Tokyopop seems to be doing a lot of stuff to annoy fans as of late, ADV seems to be doing pretty well on that front overall...

They're also now in 15th place on the Diamond list of publishers for December, right above Archie, and under MVCreations. But more on Diamond figures in the next entry...