By Carole Horst
Plus IconCarole Horst
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Crunchyroll For two decades, Crunchyroll built its business on anime, growing the U.S. audience for the animated content from a niche genre to a mainstream giant. But its growth has been built on thinking small. “We like to say that we don’t want to be something for everyone. We want to be everything to someone, and that’s the anime fan,” says Scott Donaton, senior VP of global brand & community at Crunchyroll. “That means whether they’re streaming it, whether they’re going to a theater to watch it, whether they’re gathering with their friends at a con or a festival, buying merchandise, games, digital manga. So really, we think of it as the full experience of serving anime fans across every platform.” Crunchyroll boasts the largest library of anime for streaming, and at Anime NYC, which runs Aug. 20-23, it has multiple panels, a booth, screenings, and special guests from Japan. “Any opportunity we have to connect in person with the fan base” is important, says Donaton. He notes that 54% of Gen Z and 60% of Gen Alpha viewers are fans who watch anime daily. “Many of them say that it’s a huge part of their identity, huge part of their community and belonging.” According to Crunchyroll, anime fandom will reach at least 1.5 billion people by 2030 outside of China and Japan. It’s those fans keeping Crunchyroll dominant in the anime field, which is growing bigger with Netflix and Prime Video beefing up programming in the last several years. Donaton says at almost every meeting, they keep “a seat saved at the table for the fan.” “That literally means bringing in fan sentiment, watching fan sentiment, talking to them all the time,” he continues. “The beauty of the anime fan is they care so deeply. They love anime so much that they don’t hesitate to share their points of view on what they want to see more of, what they want you to do less of. I think that constant ‘fan first’ mentality of listening and understanding and creating the greatest experiences we can for them is what drives us every day.” The numbers don’t lie: Since Sony Pictures Entertainment bought Crunchyroll in 2021, the service has seen its paid subscribers grow from around 5 million to 21 million globally. It just launched in Poland and has expanded localization, offering subtitles or dubs in 17 languages. It also just announced a bundle with Starz available in the U.S. via Prime Video. It’s the first such package in the domestic market for Crunchyroll.
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