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Crunchyroll's goal of 25 million subscribers by 2025 was always ambitious, but it might be unachievable

The goal was reportedly never driven by data but by a catchy slogan for marketing, which was the first nail in its coffin.

Sukuna in Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 — Image credit: MAPPA

News by Trent Cannon, Senior Contributing writer

Published on Wed Jan 22 2025

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Crunchyroll has always been a company of big ambition. It transitioned from a pirate website into the de facto streaming home of anime, but the big dreams that have guided Crunchyroll for years have hit a snag with their latest internal goal – getting 25 million by the end of 2025. Reports are that Crunchyroll is unlikely to hit this lofty goal and they might not have ever had a chance to begin with.

This information comes from a report by Bloomberg that detailed some of the problems that have arisen at Crunchyroll since its acquisition by Sony in 2021. According to internal sources, Crunchyroll’s goal of having a total of 25 million subscribers by the end of 2025 – dubbed “25 by 25” by the company – is designed to give them enough viewers to compete with more mainstream streaming services like Netflix and Max.

However, there is a distinct flaw in this strategy; specifically, the goal might be unachievable at this point. Despite being the fastest-growing streaming service in the world, Crunchyroll entered 2025 with around 15 million subscribers. This would require them to nearly double their subscriber base over the course of the year. While they’ve made inroads in certain markets such as Latin America, they would need to triple the number of subscribers in India and Southeast Asia to hit their target. To hit this target, Crunchyroll has been offering subscriptions for $1 in India, well below any profitable margin, in an attempt to inflate their subscription numbers this year.

Why is Crunchyroll failing to reach its subscriber goal? The reasons seem to be two-fold. First, the number was based on a catchy slogan rather than real data, which made it a nigh-unachievable goal. Second, and more concerning for the streamer, is that there is evidence to suggest that there simply aren’t enough hardcore anime fans willing to pay for their services. Growth has been slowing, not accelerating, as casual anime fans appear satisfied with the offerings on Netflix and Hulu and aren’t converting to Crunchyroll to get their fix.

This isn’t to say that things are particularly dire at Crunchyroll at the moment. They are still one of the most popular niche streaming services on the planet and 15 million subscribers isn’t anything to sniff at. However, as license fees continue to grow for some of the more popular anime out there, it will become more difficult for Crunchyroll to compete directly with the likes of Netflix or Hulu.

Each week, Popverse's resident anime expert Trent Cannon runs down the latest and, dare we say "greatest," in anime and manga in Popverse Jump. Some recent columns have included...