Crunchyroll Hit 17M Subscribers. Is That a Lot?
What does this new milestone mean for the streaming service, and the overseas anime market as a whole?
The anime-dedicated streamer hit a new milestone, revealing a small slow-down in growth at a time when the market is brimming with potential. So is 17 million subscribers still a significant milestone for the service? The answer is a bit more complicated than you think.
But first….
- Miles A.
Chart of the Week
Despite romance anime fans online, and in our most recent survey, saying they prefer romance set in university/college over those set in high school, we just don’t see that reflected in the viewership data and other popularity metrics. Let’s look at the past few simulcast seasons to understand why.
For the fall 2024 simulcast season Dandadan, Ranma 1/2, and Yakuza Fiancé were not only well performing romances set in high school, they were top 10 titles of the season. These titles’ had more than romance factoring into fans’ genre-based decision making for what to watch. They also did not focus very heavily on the school setting. However, even more explicitly romance focused titles like I’ll Become a Villainess Who Will Go Down in History, which prominently features its aristocratic magic isekai-world school setting, performed better than How I Attended An All-Guy’s Mixer and 365 Days to the Wedding, set in a college and an office, respectively.
For the winter 2025 simulcast season, romances set in high school performed ostensibly well. Blue Box was in the top 10, and I’m Getting Married to a Girl I Hate in My Class, Honey Lemon Soda, and Medaka Kuroiwa is Impervious to My Charms consistently ranked within the top 20. In the same season, the workplace romance I Have a Crush at Work never reached the top 20, and lost traction as the season progressed.
This seems like damning evidence that romance anime fans are lying (or at the very least are unaware of their preferences and likelihood to watch something set in high school). But it’s important to think of the context of where shows were available to audiences, because ease of access for viewers increases title awareness and viewership.
Each romance title that performed in the top 20 was available on Crunchyroll or Netflix (or in some cases both). This drastically increases the ability for anime fans to discover and then watch titles. How I Attended An All-Guy’s Mixer was only available on HIDIVE. Only a small fraction of anime viewers in the U.S. subscribe to HIDIVE, and nearly all HIDIVE subscribers also subscribe to Crunchyroll or Netflix. HIDIVE users are also most likely to be super-viewers, watching the most simulcasts on average of all anime fans. I Have a Crush at Work was not available legally in the U.S., streaming only in other regions on BiliBili.
Additionally, it’s important to note that our survey data cannot meaningfully capture anime fans under the age of 18, but these younger fans often factor into the aggregated web data we collect to help determine an anime’s popularity and viewership. There are simply more teenage fans out there who want to see romance stories with characters close to their ages. Especially since younger anime viewers tend to skew female, and romance is a genre that over-indexes with the female audience.
As an older anime fan myself, and a romance fan specifically, I’ve also noticed that anime set in college or the workplace don’t always have the same animation quality, streaming service availability, and promotion as romance anime set in high school do. For example, many adult romance fans loved the complexity and artistic style of Yakuza Fiancé, and had to just grit their teeth and ignore that it was set in high school. Here’s hoping that series like Kowloon Generic Romance change this trend! - Chloe C.
Entertainment At Large
Behind Marketing Manager Morgan Perry (Behind the Manga)
Ever wondered how U.S. comics and manga publishers approach marketing in a changing market? Square Enix Manga & Books marketing manager Morgan Perry sat down with the Behind the Manga podcast for a wide-ranging, two part interview. It’s a really illuminating and entertaining listen for anyone in the animanga industry, including fans!
Quest for the Best
Renowned anime YouTubers Mother’s Basement and Glass Reflection have joined together with our CEO and founder, Miles, to create a new podcast, Quest for the Best! Join their journey to figure out what are the 100 best anime of all time, starting with a recent favorite, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End.
Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and more! - Klaudia A.
Ones to Watch
READ: Asahinagu
Asahinagu is a coming-of-age sports manga about a clumsy and awkward girl named Tojima Asahi. After a tumultuous first day of school, she decides to try to turn over a new leaf by following her senpai, Miyaji Maharu, and starting naginata, a Japanese glaive-based martial art similar to kendo, which, in modern times, has come to be practiced primarily by women.
Accordingly, this sports manga is quite unique in that not only is the protagonist a woman, but so are all the primary cast of characters. The romance is really a subplot, as you watch Asahi blossom from a timid scaredy-cat to a courageous young woman.
The series is totally wrapped up with 34 volumes, but sadly it hasn’t been licensed outside of Japan yet. (Here’s hoping it gets picked up by international publishers soon!)
Also, Kozaki Ai, the author, is the younger sister of Kozaki Yuusuke, who is most famous for his character design work on the Fire Emblem game franchise, among many other games and anime. What a talented family! -Miguel M.
WATCH: Apocalypse Hotel
After Miles extolled its virtues to the staff here at White Box, I finally recently had time to catch up on the spring season’s hidden gem, Apocalypse Hotel. With delightful animation and a refreshing premise, this original anime has something for everyone.
In a future where a primate-exclusive virus pushes all of humanity to leave Earth, the robots and androids of the Gingarou Hotel are left alone, running a hotel for no one. Despite the desolate premise, it’s a beautiful examination of what life and civilization means, when only the remnants are left - and of how to be a culturally conscious hotelier when your new guests are from completely different planets. - Klaudia A.
Let the Good Times Crunchyroll
It’s official: anime streamer Crunchyroll announced yesterday that they have reached the 17M subscriber mark. The service has more than tripled in the last five years, growing faster than any major streaming service in the same period.
Using a conservative per-subscriber revenue estimate, our analysis of Sony’s FY2024 report suggests that Crunchyroll’s subscription revenue accounts for nearly 15% of Sony Pictures’ total revenue. This figure does not factor in Crunchyroll’s other revenue streams such as merchandising, which amounted to a nine-figure sum in 2024. Sony anticipates operating income to grow ~10% in FY2025, “driven primarily by Crunchyroll,” matching recent analysis from research firm Bernstein, that predicted the anime streamer would “account for 40% of Sony’s Pictures operating profit within the next two years.”
But as the great poet James T. Kirk once said, “Is that a lot?”
Since I worked at Crunchyroll in various capacities from 2013 to 2021, and consulted for them briefly since, I think I can come up with a good answer to that. Let’s break it down.
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