Crunchyroll continues to pave its way into the entertainment industry with its continued success as an anime streaming service and production company. But one of the most popular anime TV series of the spring 2024 season helped the anime giant achieve the impossible: growing its Gen Z audience with “pre-order” programming.
The global premiere of “Kaiju No. 8” boosted Crunchyroll’s younger-skewing viewership at a time when major TV networks and streaming services are struggling to attract new viewers and retain existing ones, according to The Wrap. “What anime has really brought about is a resurgence in subscription viewing,” Crunchyroll COO Gita Revapragada said at the Television Critics Association’s Summer 2024 tour.[Anime is] It’s highly correlated with the Japanese broadcast schedule, so you’ll be making an appointment to watch some very exciting and highly anticipated episodes of anime.”
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Shonen Jump’s Kaiju No. 8 anime revives the “pre-order” TV series model
While English versions of new anime episodes are usually released around the same time as the series begins airing in Japan, Crunchyroll used Kaiju No. 8 as an experiment to see if a simultaneous global streaming premiere would increase viewership. Because Kaiju No. 8 episode premieres were released at the same time as the series began airing in Japan in multiple languages, viewership for the Shonen Jump anime increased from April to late June. Now, Crunchyroll is releasing more new anime episodes to coincide with their Japanese airings.
Gen Z and Gen Alpha anime viewers are returning to TV premieres
With the rise of streaming services like Netflix and Hulu, it may seem like pre-order TV is a thing of the past, but the high cancellation rate of streaming exclusive series and the resurgence of network TV’s reliance on premieres has put that theory in jeopardy. Even streaming services that have focused on weekly premieres rather than full-season binges have struggled to attract the attention of younger viewers. That’s why Crunchyroll’s success is so unusual in the entertainment industry, where its focus on Japanese anime content has easily captured the attention and loyalty of Gen Z and Gen Alpha viewers. As The Wrap noted, a January 2024 poll by Polygon found that 42% of Gen Z and 25% of millennials watch anime regularly, and 58% of Gen Z anime viewers watch on Crunchyroll.
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North American streaming company looks to entice anime fans with new anime adaptations
As anime becomes more and more popular, many North American entertainment companies are trying to get in on the action with animated adaptations of popular franchises like Rick and Morty and Suicide Squad. (Ironically, Crunchyroll was previously owned by Warner Bros. but was sold to Sony after its controversial merger with Discovery.)
Netflix has also benefited from the current popularity of mainstream anime with its live-action adaptation of One Piece, and Levapragada said Crunchyroll has also benefited as new fans stream the anime and buy its merchandise. Netflix is ​​continuing its anime business with season two of the live-action One Piece series and an upcoming anime TV remake from Wit Studio.
Kaiju No. 8 (2024)
Hibino Kafka fuses with a monster to gain power and fulfills his childhood dream of challenging Monster No. 8.
Release date 2024-04-00
Starring: Ai Fairouz, Wataru Kato, Masaya Fukunishi
Studio Production IG
Main cast: Masaya Fukunishi, Ai Fairouz, Wataru Kato
Source: The Wrap
