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.
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. 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. While streaming is still the dominant platform for anime lovers, Crunchyroll’s theatrical arms saw great success in 2025 with “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba — Infinity Castle,” taking in $136 million domestically. The film grossed $793 million worldwide.Now, they’re reteaming with heralded Japanese anime director Makoto Shinkai (“Suzume”) on his latest, yet to be titled, feature.
Crunchyroll has taken worldwide rights, excluding Asia but including India, and will distribute with Sony Pictures. In 2023, “Suzume” took in some $10 million at the North American box office.They also recently announced they’re partnering with Sony Music-owned Aniplex on a new theatrical anime film “Solo Leveling: Beyond the System,” based on the popular Korean novel and webtoon series. The film is now in production.“Theatrical has always been an important part of our model overall, and we have quite a few movies that we’re really excited about coming up on our future slate,” says Donaton.
We recently released it on DVD as well on streaming, and the reaction has been tremendous from fans.”And while verticals are exploding right now, the Crunchyroll team views that platform through the eyes of its fans.“We’re always looking at ways that new technologies and new formats” can better serve “our fans and to tell stories,” Donaton says. I think it’s — to some degree — no different from figuring out our presence on TikTok and YouTube; what do fans expect and what are they consuming and loving in each medium and each platform? If we think we have something that we can offer there that will serve that fandom, we will be there”For Crunchyroll, it all comes back to the fans, he says: “Any place that anime fans want to gather, including in theaters, we want to be there for them.”More to Come“KPop Demon Hunters” became a global phenomenon for Netflix last year that helped introduce anime to the uninitiated.
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