Crunchyroll

Crunchyroll
Logo for the Crunchyroll service
Logo used since 2018
Type of businessSubsidiary
Type of site
OTT streaming platform
Available in20 languages
List of languages
  • Arabic
  • Catalan
  • Chinese
  • English
  • French
  • German
  • Hindi
  • Indonesian
  • Italian
  • Japanese
  • Malay
  • Polish
  • Portuguese
  • Russian
  • Spanish
  • Tamil
  • Telugu
  • Thai
  • Turkish
  • Vietnamese
FoundedMay 14, 2006 (2006-05-14)
Headquarters,
U.S.
Country of originUnited States
Area servedWorldwide
OwnerSony Group Corporation
Founder(s)Kun Gao[1][2]
James Lin[1][2]
Brandon Ooi[1]
Vu Nguyen[3][4]
Industry
Products
Services
  • Film production
  • film distribution
  • television production
  • television distribution
ParentCrunchyroll, LLC[a]
URLwww.crunchyroll.com
CommercialYes
RegistrationOptional
UsersIncrease 120 million (2023)
(13 million paying)[5][6][7]
LaunchedMay 14, 2006 (2006-05-14)
Current statusActive

Crunchyroll is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Sony Group Corporation.[a] The service primarily distributes films and television series produced by East Asian media, including Japanese anime, and is headquartered in San Francisco, California, with a Japanese branch located in Shibuya, Tokyo.

Founded in 2006 by a group of University of California, Berkeley, graduates,[8] Crunchyroll delivers content to over 100 million registered users worldwide.[9] Crunchyroll was previously a subsidiary of AT&T/WarnerMedia's Otter Media, and from 2016 to 2018, the company partnered with Funimation, which Sony acquired in 2017 and would eventually merge into its brand in 2022 after Sony acquired Crunchyroll from AT&T in 2021.

Crunchyroll is a member of The Association of Japanese Animations (AJA).[10] "Crunchyroll-Hime", also known as "Hime", is the official mascot of Crunchyroll.[11]

Crunchyroll offers over 1,000 anime shows,[10] more than 200 East Asian dramas in over 18 languages, and formerly offered around 80 manga titles as Crunchyroll Manga, although the number of available shows varies by each country due to licensing restrictions. Crunchyroll passed one million paid subscribers in February 2017,[10][12] and has over 10 million paid subscribers as of 2022.[5][13] Crunchyroll also releases titles on home video either directly[14] or by having select anime titles released through its distribution partners (Sentai Filmworks, Viz Media, Discotek Media, and its corporate sibling, Aniplex of America in North America; Anime Limited in the United Kingdom).[15][16]

  1. ^ a b c "Now Playing:Anime Online". Forbes. August 5, 2009. Archived from the original on July 27, 2020. Retrieved July 27, 2020.
  2. ^ a b "How to change language on Crunchyroll". Technobezz. June 16, 2020. Archived from the original on July 27, 2020. Retrieved July 27, 2020.
  3. ^ McCarthy, John. "Anime Brand Crunchyroll Shows The Potential Niche Streaming Scale". The Drum. Archived from the original on November 27, 2020. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  4. ^ Bertschy, Zac. "Interview: Crunchyroll's Vu Nguyen". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on January 25, 2022. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  5. ^ a b "Q2 FY2022 Consolidated Financial Results" (PDF). sony.com. Sony Group Corporation. Archived (PDF) from the original on November 2, 2022. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
  6. ^ Tartaglione, Nancy (August 9, 2023). "Sony Pictures Entertainment First Quarter Profit Slides To $115 Million". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on August 9, 2023. Retrieved August 9, 2023.
  7. ^ Kotuby, Jeff (January 10, 2024). "Crunchyroll Eclipses 13 Million Paid Global Subscribers, Continues to Lead the World in Anime Streaming". The Streamable. Archived from the original on January 14, 2024. Retrieved January 14, 2024.
  8. ^ "Crunchyroll CEO: Making Online Anime Pay". ICv2. December 15, 2008. Archived from the original on December 17, 2008. Retrieved December 15, 2008.
  9. ^ Spangler, Todd (February 2, 2021). "Crunchyroll Inks Deal With Idris and Sabrina Elba for Dark Fantasy Anime Series". Variety. Archived from the original on February 2, 2021. Retrieved February 2, 2021.
  10. ^ a b c "Largest Anime Streaming Service Crunchyroll Surpasses One Million Paid Subscribers". Crunchyroll. February 9, 2017. Archived from the original on February 15, 2017. Retrieved February 14, 2021.
  11. ^ Fobian, Peter (June 6, 2018). "The Origin of Crunchyroll Hime". Crunchyroll. Archived from the original on July 29, 2020. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
  12. ^ Sevakis, Justin (February 13, 2017). "How Big Of A Deal Is Crunchyroll Reaching A Million Subscribers?". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on February 13, 2017. Retrieved February 14, 2017.
  13. ^ Osaki, Tomohiro (April 2, 2023). "From sharing site to anime giant, Crunchyroll marches forward". The Japan Times. Archived from the original on August 13, 2023. Retrieved May 27, 2023.
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference CrunchyrollHomeVideo was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ "Crunchyroll and Funimation Partner to Expand Access to Anime!". Crunchyroll. Archived from the original on September 9, 2016. Retrieved June 23, 2018.
  16. ^ NormanicGrav (December 24, 2017). "Anime Limited News: New Podcast Episode, Update on Stock, Xmas Sales Updates". Anime UK News. Archived from the original on June 20, 2018. Retrieved June 22, 2018.


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