Anime, an art form unique to Japan, has become a global phenomenon. Academic literature in the English and Japanese languages has been extensive, but attention to the economics of anime has been scarce. This paper focuses on the economic structure of the anime industry, arguing that anime has been sustained in an economic ecology involving the television and advertising industries. The prevalence and high profile of free-to-air, terrestrial television in Japanese society and culture, unparalleled in most other parts of the world during the post-war decades, has been an essential contributor to anime's development. Television in turn has been nurtured and expanded by the participation of advertising agencies. Japan's television and advertising industries exhibit unique features and business practices which have contributed to the creation and development of an economic ecology of anime that functioned well until around the year 2010.