Anime is outgrowing the rest of Netflix viewership 10-to-1
Netflix's latest data dump looks good for anime as a medium, though more mixed for Netflix's anime efforts overall.
Anime is performing extraordinarily well on Netflix, and is growing viewership more than 10x faster than the rest of their catalog. But it’s not all good news for Netflix — very little of that comes from their exclusive titles, and even less comes from anime where Netflix is a full producer. It’s a complicated story, but first… — Miles A.
Chart of the Week
The summer anime season is in full swing, but let’s take a final look at the spring simulcast season, which ended in June.
1. Lazarus found its way back into the top 10, with a significant MOM rise in viewership from May to June.
2. The Apothecary Diaries has been bringing in new audiences each month. Our data shows that it is a four-quadrant title with a fairly even gender distribution. From a survey of over 1,000 anime fans, it was reportedly the favorite anime of the season for 50% of those who were watching it, and had the lowest drop rate of any title.
3. The Beginning After The End won the season in terms of viewership. Public opinion and critical reviews haven’t shaken the strong, built-in fanbase from its wildly popular web novel and web comic adaptation. Dedicated fans of a specific franchise or story often watch adaptations in full to see how the material was adapted. Additionally, isekai and isekai-adjacent fantasy anime watchers tend to be more forgiving of animation quality.
4. Speaking of isekai and fantasy, The Brilliant Healer’s New Life in the Shadows and From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman continue to prove that isekai and isekai-adjacent fantasy receive high viewership, even if they don’t inspire dedicated and enduring fandoms. - Chloe C.
Entertainment at Large
Anime’s Great Decoupling Paradox in the West (Henshin)
Anime publishers and producers want their titles to succeed overseas, but how well titles actually perform these days depends heavily upon specific factors. Rob Pereyda’s latest newsletter felt cathartic to read: it mirrored many trends we’ve been tracking and reporting on.
He points out that if an anime isn’t backed by a major publisher like Shueisha, Shogakukan, Kodansha, or Kadokawa, or marketed by a major distributor such as Crunchyroll or Netflix, its chances of high global success are more variable.
Pereyda asks licensors and producers to consider that anime source material is evolving beyond manga, the merchandise retail market is becoming more complex, and that Crunchyroll will remain the dominant force in anime outside Japan.
But while Crunchyroll may seem all-powerful now, publishers are starting to consider doing marketing internally, so they can rely less on Crunchyroll’s resources to promote their titles overseas. Publishers are also licensing out more titles to Amazon and Disney in the past few months, and while this negatively impacts fan awareness of an anime in the short term, it could help a title reach broader audiences in the long run.
Further analysis of the decoupling paradox could be found in exploring how top titles may not succeed in overseas retail, but niche titles may find profit in their deep fandom engagement.
Overall, Pereyda’s analysis explains the complex line between strategic business plans and the uncertainty of results well, and gives a nuanced picture of the global anime ecosystem. - Leah T.
Kodansha Publishes U.S. Version of Young Magazine (Anime Trending)
Some may think a print manga magazine wouldn’t do well in the U.S., but as we often tell clients, in a time of increasing digital ephemerality, where any digital platform can take your purchases away at any moment, U.S. fans of all kinds of media are valuing physical media more and more.
This is a really exciting announcement, that I hope does well, and it’s especially exciting that it’s seinen, targeted at adults, which acknowledges the strength of adult anime fan purchasing power in the U.S. Hopefully initiatives like this for shojo and josei will happen in the future as well! - Klaudia A.
Ones to Watch
WATCH: With You and the Rain
As a reader of the manga, I have been delighted by the anime adaptation of With You and the Rain. The anime has beautifully captured the cozy and peaceful yet silly antics of Fuji’s new life with her “dog.” This quiet, slice of life story is perfect for anyone who loves the escapism of a relaxing, calm anime.
There’s no high stakes drama, so watching it really does feel like listening to a gentle rain storm outside. It allows you to take some time for yourself, and let the outside world disappear for a little while. - Chloe C.
READ: Boys Run the Riot
High schooler Ryo knows that he is transgender, but he doesn’t have anyone to confide in about the confusion he feels. When he realizes a scary-looking student in his class, Jin, has a similar taste in clothes as him, he finds a new way to express himself to the world: fashion! The manga is completed, only four volumes, and Kodansha hired an all transgender localization team for the English edition. It’s a wonderful exploration of how identity intertwines with self expression, that any reader will enjoy. - Leah T.
Anime is outgrowing the rest of Netflix viewership 10-to-1
Netflix recently released its semi-annual data dump, a treasure trove of a spreadsheet where compelling insights are suffocated by thousands of rows of reality TV and seasons of Suits. Here’s the four most important takeaways for the anime business to keep in mind.
1. Netflix anime viewership is up…but not due to overseas Netflix exclusives.
Approximately 4.4 billion hours of anime was watched on Netflix in the first half of 2025, growing 11.3% in hours watched compared to the previous six-month period. Let’s not minimize how significant this is – anime viewership’s rate-of-growth is 10x that of all other media on Netflix – but it’s not the whole story.
During Anime Expo, at the beginning of July, Netflix released a press release about how anime is “fueling a new era of global storytelling”, with a cavalcade of squishy statistics we discussed on the last issue of Anime by the Numbers. The streaming giant is well aware of how powerful anime is to its audience, but the titles it highlighted and the claims it makes are not reflected in the data as the most central drivers of anime’s ascendancy on the platform.
The most ascendant anime franchise of 2025 on Netflix is Anpanman, the children’s show about a superhero with the head of an anpan, a red bean stuffed sweet bread. Late last December, Netflix grabbed more than a dozen Anpanman films previously available on Hulu. The franchise exploded 4700% in viewership compared to the previous six months.
But that’s only in Japan. As much as Netflix likes to tout its global anime audience, it’s mostly in eastern Asia where anime is most dominant on the platform. While a record 3 anime series have spent two weeks apiece on Netflix’s global top 10 for non-English shows in the last month, only one of them, Tougen Anki, reached the U.S.-specific list for even one day. But in Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Vietnam, there are more days with anime on their regional lists than not.
This isn’t to say anime is only popular in Asia. But when Netflix says that “50% of its audience watches anime”, it’s important to remember how much East Asian viewership makes up that number. It only becomes more lopsided when considering the massive number of titles exclusive to Netflix ONLY in east Asian countries, where they might stream on Crunchyroll everywhere else.
That said, Anpanman wasn’t the only winner of the first half of 2025 on Netflix. Newly sub-licensed titles like The Apothecary Diaries, Solo Leveling, Mashle, Fire Force, and Frieren: Beyond Journey's End all made it into the top 20 most-watched anime of the period, an accomplishment made all the more impressive since their currently-airing seasons were not available to any overseas subscribers. TOHO International’s plan to maximize the reach of their IP has paired nicely with Crunchyroll’s efforts to use Netflix’s larger subscriber base for a “the first hit’s free” acquisition strategy, keeping subsequent seasons exclusive to their own platform.
This means Netflix’s exclusive titles were not the draw for most overseas viewers. Of the top 25 anime series in 2025 so far, only five of them were exclusive to the streaming giant outside of Asia. Of those five, Netflix’s name is not listed as a producer for any of them, which means the streamer has no investment in these IPs' long term success. As with previous simulcast seasons, less than 20% of total Netflix anime viewership was on titles with a big red “N” set atop their key art.
