Crunchyroll

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Streaming anime, manga, and more.

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Crunchyroll, LLC is an American production, distribution, licensing, and streaming company dedicated to anime, manga, and dorama (a type of Japanese drama similar to American television soap operas). It is a joint venture between Sony Pictures Entertainment and Aniplex, a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc., both of which are subsidiaries of Sony Group Corp. (SONY)

The company was established in 2006 by University of California, Berkeley computer science graduates Kun Gao, James Lin, Vu Nguyen, and Brandon Ooi, and is headquartered in San Francisco. It has offices in Tokyo, Paris, Berlin, and elsewhere internationally and is a member of The Association of Japanese Animations (AJA). It is among the largest distributors of Japanese animation and related content in the world.

Crunchyroll was founded as a for-profit website where fans of East Asia videos, specifically Japanese anime, could download and watch their favorite shows and chat with like-minded users. Although popular with fans, the company was criticized early on by some content distributors and licensors for allowing users to upload illegal copies of certain licensed properties.

Crunchyroll, named after a type of crispy-coated sushi, began the march to legitimacy in 2008 with a $4.05 million investment from Venrock, a California-based venture capital company. A year later, it announced a commitment to hosting only content for which it held the rights and removing anything that infringed on a copyright. The pledge followed a deal with TV Tokyo to stream episodes of the popular anime show Naruto: Shippuden.

In 2013, The Chernin Group, a holding company founded by former News Corp. President Peter Chernin, acquired a controlling interest in Crunchyroll for an estimated $100 million. TV Tokyo continued to have a large stake in the company. A year later, the Chernin Group partnered with AT&T Inc. (T) to launch over-the-top (OTT) video services—also known as streaming—through a new company called Otter Media, which became the majority owner of Crunchyroll. The collaborative investment is believed to have been about $500 million.

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Crunchyroll is a subscription video streaming service of anime content.

Images provided courtesy of Crunchyroll. CRUNCHYROLL and the Crunchyroll logo are registered trademarks of Crunchyroll, LLC.

Crunchyroll achieved 700,000 paid subscribers by 2015, surpassed 1 million in 2017, and exceeded 15 million in 2024.

Two events important to the growth of Crunchyroll occurred in 2015. In August, it launched Ellation, an umbrella company for its subscription-based video services, which included VRV, a video streaming service that premiered in 2016. Also in 2015, Crunchyroll and Sumitomo Corp., a Japanese trading company, collaborated to invest in the production of anime series. Similarly, in April 2016, Crunchyroll entered into a relationship with Kadokawa Corp. that gave Crunchyroll worldwide digital distribution rights, except in Asia, for the next year’s Kadokawa anime shows, as well as the opportunity to cofinance future Kadokawa productions.

Also in 2016, Crunchyroll established a partnership with the streaming service Funimation, established in 1994, in which the companies would stream each other’s content. As part of the deal, Funimation and Universal Pictures Home Entertainment would distribute Crunchyroll’s video catalog. Two years later, the agreement was canceled when Sony Pictures Television bought Funimation and AT&T acquired Otter Media, Crunchyroll’s parent company.

Otter Media became the sole owner of Crunchyroll in January 2018 when it purchased the remaining shares of the company from TV Tokyo and a handful of side investors. Seven months later, AT&T became the sole owner of Otter Media following the acquisition of the remaining parts of the company still held by the Chernin Group. The company was then added to WarnerMedia, previously known as Time Warner. The following year, during a reorganization, Otter Media was made a part of Warner Bros., and the two entities began feeding content to Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim nighttime programming block, called Toonami. In May 2019, Crunchyroll was made a part of WarnerMedia Entertainment.

Also in 2019, Crunchyroll became the majority investor in Viz Media Europe Group, a global licensor and distributor of anime and other content, with the Hitotsubashi Group retaining a minority stake. In 2020, Crunchyroll became the majority owner of Viz Media Europe, resulting in the business being restructured and renamed Crunchyroll EMEA. The reorganization brought Viz Media units KAZE, Anime on Demand, Anime Digital Network, Eye See Movies, and others under the Crunchyroll umbrella.

In August 2020, Sony Pictures Entertainment began negotiations to purchase Crunchyroll from WarnerMedia, a deal that concluded a year later with a purchase price of $1.2 billion.

Throughout its history, Crunchyroll has hosted numerous events aimed at fans of anime, manga, and related media. The first Crunchyroll Expo was held in February 2017 at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, California. The convention featured animation voice actors, manga artists, and other guests. The event moved to San Jose in 2018, with attendance exceeding 45,000. The 2020 Crunchyroll Expo was held virtually due to COVID-19. The last Crunchyroll Expo was in 2022; Crunchyroll is now a major participant in the annual Anime Expo conventions.

Crunchyroll slid into the awards sphere in 2017 with the first Crunchyroll Anime Awards, which recognize excellence in anime. Twenty judges created a list of nominees in each category, which were then voted upon by fans. As of 2024, the Crunchyroll Anime Awards continue to be held annually.

On November 4, 2017, Crunchyroll experienced a six-hour DNS hijacking, during which users were redirected to a fake website and encouraged to download an application called CrunchyViewer.exe, which placed malware on the user’s computer. Crunchyroll was able to resolve the issue and return online.

Crunchyroll began in 2006 as the brainchild of four college students who wanted to create a destination for fans of anime to watch videos and connect. It first relied on user-uploaded content, but moved quickly to licensed programming, which helped to establish its legitimacy and led to key partnerships. Through several mergers and acquisitions over several years, Crunchyroll expanded internationally and broadened its influence in Europe. As of 2024, it has a dozen offices worldwide. The company has become a dominant force in the anime, manga, and related media industries, offering original programming, paid subscriptions, sponsored events, and collectibles and merchandise.

In 2023, Crunchyroll contributed more than $1 billion in revenue to its parent company, Sony, according to estimates from financial data provider PitchBook. While animated filmmakers like Studio Ghibli helped introduce anime to global audiences through acclaimed feature films, Crunchyroll has made serialized anime more accessible. With a library of over 1,000 titles and more than 15 million paid subscribers, the company plays a significant role in promoting anime culture through events that connect fans and celebrate the industry.