An article explaining the high-relative-to-other-US-boxes cost of anime DVDs. A couple of really interesting figures in here (via Forbes and Geneon VP Nobu Yamamoto):
-ADV paid between $1 million and $2.6 million for each anime TV series, and $0.5 million to $5 million for each anime movie. (Forbes) I believe that’s production, including licensing, but it’s not entirely clear.
-Licensing for a popular anime title could reach $50,000/episode. (Yamamoto) That’s a far cry above the max of ~$33,000/episode paid for Pumpkin Scissors and Air Gear (the most expensive shows on this 2006-2007 ADV list). Licensor collaboration may have proven effective.
-For the same popular anime as above dubbing ran $12k/ep, authoring/materials/quality control ran $10k/DVD release, marketing ran $15k/box set release. Manufacturing and royalties cost an additional $15/box set.
-Wholesale retailers typically got 50% discounts on more popular series.
-The cost of licences grew almost a factor of 10 faster than the size of the market since 2000. (Yamamoto) Presumably some of this was just Japanese companies getting their fair cut of things as prices adjusted to more properly value the market, and some was overvaluing just how strong the market was.
Animetics 
Justin Sevakis let up a few tipbits about licensing cost on the recent Answerman:
> The rush to new audiences is driving license fees back up to levels last seen during the DVD bubble.
> License fees are high, but only for A-list shows: the old and the B-list still go for reasonable amounts.
Presumely the license fees today are streaming inclusive, so the above are not exactly apple-to-apple comparisons.
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/answerman/2015-02-27/.85381
The way he words it (and the way I read it) suggests it’s probably ok to think of the peak per episode costs during the bubble as something of an upper limit, w/ a lot of costs being well below that limit.