Netflix Anime Viewership Has Skyrocketed In 2020
With the recent acquisition of Crunchyroll by Funimation and their parent company of Sony [...]
With the recent acquisition of Crunchyroll by Funimation and their parent company of Sony Pictures, Netflix looks like it is going to have to be on its toes for the future when it comes to the world of anime, but 2020 shows that the desire to watch anime series on the streaming platform has doubled since 2019! With a ton of original anime series returning or debuting next year to Netflix in the forms of Beastars, Baki, Pacific Rim: The Black, and Godzilla: Singular Point, it's clear that the streaming service is looking to keep in step with other anime streaming platforms available to fans!
In a recent article from Variety, the entertainment publication broke down the statistics that saw Netflix's anime series increasing its viewership by one hundred percent! On top of this statistic, Netflix also revealed that the most-watched anime property came in the form of Pokemon's re-imagining of the franchise's first feature-length film in Pokemon: Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution, which gave the anime its first computer-generated animation makeover while still retaining the spirit of the original movie. Needless to say, Netflix has been pulling out all the stops in adding additional anime titles to its roster and it looks like the streaming service won't be slowing down any time soon.
While titles such as JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan wasn't specifically made for Netflix, though they will be arriving all the same next year, the platform has managed to make a name for itself with wildly successful original animated series such as Castlevania, Beastars, and Baki to name a few. With several of these series returning and other new franchises debuting in 2021, it will be interesting to see how Netflix is able to compare against the union of Crunchyroll and Funimation!
HBO Max has also been trying its best to stay in step with its competition when it comes to the medium of anime, having acquired the full library of Studio Ghibli films, offering anime fans movies that they could not find anywhere else. However, we would imagine that a number of series will be dropped from the service as they were included as a part of HBO's partnership with Crunchyroll, which might not stay intact once the acquisition is finalized.
What do you think of this staggering Netflix number? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of streaming services!