In your presentation at CES 2024 The Sony revealed that its anime streaming platform, Crunchyrollsurpassed the barrier of 13 million paid subscribers all around the world.
It’s an impressive number, just over two years after being acquired by Sony in August 2021, the Crunchyroll went from 5 million paid global customers to 13 million. In addition to more than 46,000 episodes and 1,300 titles, totaling more than 24,000 hours of content, the anime streaming platform also hosts 3,300 Japanese music videos and special shows.
In the presentation by Kenichiro Yoshidathe Chairman and CEO of Sony Group Corporationthe role of Aniplex in bringing animes like Demon Slayer, Fullmetal Alchemist, Ranking of Kings It is Solo Leveling.
It was also revealed that the Crunchyroll will focus on Brazil as one of the key markets for expansion. Yoshida stated that the Crunchyroll will increase content distribution in India, Southeast Asia and Latin America.
The game was also highlighted One-Punch Man: World which will be released at the end of January 2024 and which, as the name suggests, is based on the manga One-Punch Man in One It is Yusuke Murata. Yoshida also confirmed that the Sony Pictures is also working on a live-action film.
A Crunchyroll was launched in 2006 as a streaming service that offered anime titles without authorization. The site secured $4.05 million in funding from Venrock and began licensing titles for streaming in 2008.
O Chernin Group acquired a majority stake in Crunchyroll in December 2013. The Chernin Group and the ATT formed the joint venture Otter Media in 2014, and the Otter Media invested another 22 million in Ellationthe parent company of Crunchyroll in November 2015. ATT announced in August 2018 that it acquired the entire Otter Media.
In April 2020 the Crunchyroll which had become the majority owner of the VIZ Media Europe renamed the company and became the publisher also callCrunchyroll.
Such as we reported previously in September 2019, the Sony Pictures Television together with the Aniplex consolidated three Sony-owned anime acquisition and distribution companies into a joint venture, they are Funimation in the United States, the Wakanim in France and the Madman Anime Group in Australia.
A Sony Pictures Television Networks acquired a majority stake in the North American distributor Funimation for 143 million dollars in 2017. Funimation ended its content sharing partnership with Crunchyroll in November 2018 and signed a first-look streaming deal with Hulu.
In March 2019, the Funimation and the Chinese streaming platform bilibili announced a new partnership to jointly acquire anime licenses “over the next few years.” A Funimation bought the Manga Entertainmentwhich primarily distributes anime in the United Kingdom and Ireland, as of May 2019.
Besides the FunimationThe Sony owns the animation studios A-1 Pictures (Sword Art Online, Magi) and CloverWorks (DARLING in the FRANXX, PERSONA 5 the Animation) through Aniplex. Aniplex established a Shanghai-based subsidiary in April 2019, with the intention of starting “full-scale” Chinese animation production in addition to selling merchandise.