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Anime

Netflix Says 50% of Global Users Now Watch Anime (hollywoodreporter.com) 61

Posted by msmash from the growing-adoption dept.
An anonymous reader shares a report: Netflix doubled down on its global anime strategy over the weekend, unveiling a slate of new titles and fresh footage during its showcase at Anime Expo in Los Angeles.

The company also shared updated viewership data highlighting just how far Japanese anime has come in expanding from its former niche into a powerhouse global content category. According to Netflix, more than 50 percent of its members -- amounting to over 150 million households, or an estimated 300 million viewers -- now watch anime. The company says anime viewership on the platform has tripled over the past five years, with 2024 marking a record-breaking year: 33 anime titles appeared in Netflix's Global Top 10 (Non-English) rankings, more than double the number in 2021.

Netflix Says 50% of Global Users Now Watch Anime More | Reply

Netflix Says 50% of Global Users Now Watch Anime

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  • Or 50% of the users that are left are anime fans?

    I'm honestly curious, I left Netflix a while ago when their DVD library stopped having anything I cared about and I had pretty much watched everything I wanted on streaming. Are we talking that 50% of "global" users watch anime, or more like what is left of Netflix library has managed to keep more anime watchers around than people interested in other streaming TV?

    • Re:50% of users watch anime (Score:5, Informative)

      by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) on Monday July 07, 2025 @02:31PM (#65503432)

      Your implied claim that Netflix subscribers are falling is false.

      2019: 167.09 million
      2020: 203.66 million
      2021: 221.84 million
      2022: 221.64 million
      2023 (Q4): 260 million
      2024 (Q4): 301.6 million

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by Rinnon ( 1474161 )
        In which case it could be that Netflix is actually attracting anime fans. This would make sense given that in the last few years they've done a good job at acquiring the rights to a number of classics and re-booting them in such a way that really nails the original vibes. I'd still keep my Crunchyroll subscription over my Netflix subscription if all I wanted was anime though.
        • Which classics? I feel like I missed something. There's Ranma but I didn't think they had funded anything else.

          Godzilla singular point was pretty amazing but I haven't been a huge fan of any of the other stuff they've done. I keep meaning to go back and watch the great pretender though. But man did they screw up the later seasons of seven deadly sins. Then again even the manga kind of goes to hell but not that badly...

          Always want to see more Kuromukuro though, but it's a minor miracle we got the epi

          • 86 is considered mecha (not by me, though, to be honest) and it is pretty popular.

            • 86 is considered mecha (not by me, though, to be honest) and it is pretty popular

              86 is definitely good, but the one thing I can't get over is the mecha they use to fight in. Of all the possible designs, that's what they chose?

              Can't wait for the next season to see how the reunion goes.

              • You can read the light novel if you are curious - the anime is only the first three volumes, but there are 13 of them translated into English so far.

          • Netflix is streaming the Yaiba reboot. I don't know if they funded it.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Rinnon ( 1474161 )
            Yeah, I was thinking of Ranma, but the other one that came to mind was Shaman King. You might reasonably argue that's not a classic, but I have fond memories of it.
            • Good point. I never really got into shaman King but I think it's on the younger end of shonen fighting anime.

              On the other hand so was Kekkashi so much so that it had the furigana in the opening for kids to sing along with because they were too young to read the kanji. And that show gets brutal about 40 episodes in. Maybe an aging demographic but still. I didn't make it far enough in the shaman King to see if it goes that route. I don't think it's as goofy as something like Lord of Lords Ryu Knight thoug

          • Which classics?...Mecha anime that isn't Gundam just can't survive

            Funny you mention that, Netflix has the '79 Gundam compilation movies and some others (SEED, Hathaway movie), and they made a new CG mini series.
            I guess Amazon out-bid them for GQuuuuuuX though, if that's even how those deals are made.

      • So it sounds like what is in the Netflix library is doing a better job of attracting anime fans. I lean more toward documentaries and have had more luck with those on youtube.

    • Maybe most of those 50% are using anime as screensavers cuz nothing else is that interesting.
    • Or anime is very very cheap to produce compared to traditional animation so their platform has been flooded with anime over the past few years and netflix users are stuck watching whatever is on netflix.

      They're trying to make the case that viewers chose anime but the reality is that the genre is becoming more popular because cost-cutting has gotten more popular.

      And just in general Netflix can shove their numbers up their crooked asses. If they want us to take their numbers seriously, they need to be tran

  • That's pretty cool (Score:3)

    by Z80a ( 971949 ) on Monday July 07, 2025 @02:37PM (#65503444)

    It probably will lower the quality of the animes in attempts of "global reach", but for now it's still pretty good.

    • Re:That's pretty cool (Score:5, Insightful)

      by bjoast ( 1310293 ) on Monday July 07, 2025 @02:39PM (#65503450)
      Anime will turn into Americanized, politically correct Hollywood slop. I like my Japanese anime slop the way it is thank you.

      • Anime is a global market for 5 decades. "Heidi, Girl of the Alps" (Fuji TV) is shown in Europe since 1975, "Candy" since 1978, "Arcadia of My Youth" (1984) and the earlier 1978 version premiered very quickly as well. A lot more, of course. You're worried that the news says 50% of Netflix users watch anime, but I can tell you 100% of French grew as kids in front of Toei Animation and Fuji TV series on their legacy TVs. Many millions other Europeans as well, but I can only swear the 100% for French. Japan is

        • In America it was tough to get anime on TV because parent groups considered it too violent. If you watch the shows we had when we were kids there was a lot of fighting but nobody ever really got hurt. Like how would the A-Team you could throw a grenade at somebody and they would just go flying through the air and you could fire a thousand machine gun rounds at them and not hurt anybody.

          Hilariously the Rambo cartoon was less violent than GI Joe but it's still got pulled off the air because parents didn't

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

            The American distributors are partly to blame. They decided they were only going to target the teenager/young adult, male audience, so you only got violent and fan service filled stuff being translated. And badly dubbed too. It also gave people the impression that anime was simply violent soft porn.

            Nowadays there is much more variety in the stuff that gets translated, and it appeals to a broader audience. In Japan the longest running series are mostly about families and are comedy dramas.

      • No it won't. The kind of Mary Sue stuff that you're probably into, the isekai slop, isn't going anywhere. It's plenty profitable using its regular formula so it's not going to evaporate anytime soon. You might have to buy a Hidive subscription if you want the really crazy stuff. Like the stuff that mother's basement makes fun of in there this season of anime trash. But it's not going anywhere.

        The real existential threat to anime is capitalism. They are pushing the animators way the fuck too hard even i

      • Anime will turn into Americanized, politically correct Hollywood slop. I like my Japanese anime slop the way it is thank you.

        And yet Netflix - a company that has been heavily criticised for developing woke trash has done precisely none of that with Anime - there's very strong reference material they need to follow.

  • That's cool. It's not really for me.

  • You know what Netflix doesn't have? Aliens. Wanted to watch it over the weekend. Nope. Xfinity? Not there either. Couldn't even rent it. I ultimately rented it on YouTube for four bucks. I honestly can't remember the last time I had the urge to watch a specific movie and actually found it on any of the streaming services I pay for.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by EvilSS ( 557649 )
      Aliens is Fox, which Disney consumed, so it's on one of Disney's services (Hulu in this case). We really need mandatory licensing for back catalog films like this so any service that wants to can offer it. Meanwhile I'll keep buying my Blu-rays (which usually come with a digital copy that does work across multiple platforms if it's a Movies Anywhere title).
      • You would normally do stuff like that as part of antitrust proceedings but we don't really do antitrust proceedings anymore...

    • They couldn't ship you a DVD in the mail overnight? Netflix has really gone down the tubes.
      You just have to find one of the hundreds of Aliens knock-offs Netflix has rights to. Think any Roger Corman sci-fi movie after 1979.

  • Hentai too. - Samuel L Jackson

  • I'm curious how this breaks down. I would imagine a lot of this 50% is users watching the occasional Netflix produced anime done with Western IP and/or Western production companies as they've made many of these and they definitely have a more western and less foreign feel to them. I know for me at least I havent enjoyed most of the anime I've tried over the years but I have enjoyed some of the western/Japanese collaborations that Netflix has done.

    • OMG foreign feel, teh horror!

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by skam240 ( 789197 )

        For the record I watch plenty of foreign media and enjoy quite a lot of it. A lot of anime feels incredibly foreign to me though. As in, way more foreign than most Japanese or Korean live action films I've watched and enjoyed.

  • "Netflix Says 50% of Global Users Now Watch Anime"

    Bullshit. Netflix is lying and anyone with 2 working brain cells to rub together knows it.

    I'm happy for people to watch anime but don't tell me half the planet is consuming it FFS.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tsqr ( 808554 )

      "Netflix Says 50% of Global Users Now Watch Anime"

      Bullshit. Netflix is lying and anyone with 2 working brain cells to rub together knows it.

      I'm happy for people to watch anime but don't tell me half the planet is consuming it FFS.

      50% of global Netflix users != half the planet. Unless I missed where the entire planet became Netflix users, that is.

      • "Netflix Says 50% of Global Users Now Watch Anime"

        Bullshit. Netflix is lying and anyone with 2 working brain cells to rub together knows it.

        I'm happy for people to watch anime but don't tell me half the planet is consuming it FFS.

        50% of global Netflix users != half the planet. Unless I missed where the entire planet became Netflix users, that is.

        Sure, Mr Pedant, I'm happy for people to watch anime but don't tell me half the people on Netflix are consuming it because that's bullshit too.

        • You equate Netflix subscribers to the entire planet, and I'm pedantic, check. Tell us, what data do you base your conclusion of "bullshit" upon? Surely you can cite a statistical survey of some kind, as you certainly wouldn't just be blowing smoke.

  • Anime is a very acquired taste. Adult animation - yes, I can see how that would be possible. Are Netflix confusing the two terms?

  • 1. They are not constrained by the same laws/rules guarding the real world. This allows them to tell much more interesting stories.
    2. Characters are fresh, unique. How many times can watch the same actors on the screen over and over again?

  • If you watch anime and you don't have a Crunchyroll subscription, do you really watch anime?
    I haven't seen anything worth watching since the last Ghost in the Shell or Cowboy Bebop episodes ran. All of the top rated anime/most popular titles are weird teenage themes with a lot of heavily sexual but not actual porn content for horny young adults. I get it, from an artist's perspective, drawing fantasy female characters in impossible outfits that barely constrain their impossible boobies is good clean fun. I'

    • Try Death Parade and Death Note. No, they are not related.

    • I'm about halfway through watching Frieren: Beyond Journey's End. Enjoying it quite a bit. Also the first season of One Punch Hero is hilarious if you haven't seen it.

      • er, One Punch Man, not One Punch Hero

      • good luck. i love my slow CGDCT shows but it took me a bit to get into Frieren. once i really settled in to enjoying it, they rugpulled and it turned into a shonen tournament battle and i noped right the fuck out. you might like it though. everything ain't for everybody. ðYââ(TM)ï

        • I can't really make another adult watch anything like CGDCT or any of the stuff mentioned here. All of this stuff is young adult fare. I had a girlfriend a long time ago who was into anime, but only if it was dark, horror, gory, not cutesy stuff. She liked Serial Experiments Lain, which I also found interesting after seeing that the story was more sophisticated than the usual fare.

    • > If you watch anime and you don't have a Crunchyroll subscription, do you really watch anime?

      fansub's not dead!

  • So 50% of Netflix households include someone who prefers Japanese cartoons to whatever slop Disney et al produce

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Temkin ( 112574 )

      Yet I'm still not cool.

      But you probably know why the origin of the wave motion gun was removed from Star Blazers. :p

      T

      • I recently rewatched Space Battleship Yamato over several weeks. My wife found it very corny and eventually quit watching it with me. But I still think it holds up story-wise.

        and LOL - I love everything by Leiji Matsumoto, but yea that manga still wouldn't fly with US audiences. Especially given how Star Blazers was targeted to children in the US.

  • Think I have heard of it but have no idea what it really is.

  • Particularly when she wears those Daisy Dukes.

  • Once again, proving that most Netflix offerings are such caca that the users are reduced to watching anime.

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