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Things have never been more competitive among streaming platforms, and that is true when it comes to anime as well. Netflix, Disney, and Hulu are all adding more titles each season, making moves to replace Crunchyroll as the go-to place for anime fans. So far, they’re still struggling to catch up as Crunchyroll reports that they’ve tripled their subscriber count since being bought by Sony in 2021. This makes them the fastest-growing streaming service in the US, but there are signs that things might not be as smooth going forward.

According to a report from Bloomberg, which included interviews with current and former employees at Crunchyroll, there are signs that the anime streamer could be in for a rough couple of years. As anime continues to become more mainstream, the competition for licenses for anime is greater. Netflix and Disney simply have deeper pockets than Crunchyroll, even with Sony’s backing. Bloomberg’s report cites a worker at an anime studio as saying that license fees are “going through the roof” as other companies are looking to muscle in on Crunchyroll’s territory.

As competition for licenses increases, so does the cost studios can demand from streamers. This puts Crunchyroll in a difficult position. Every license fee increase cuts into Crunchyroll’s profits, leaving them with no other recourse but to either increase their subscription fees – something that will certainly slow their aforementioned growth – or they have to license fewer shows per season and risk not being the dominant figure in the anime streaming sphere that they have been as well as lose subscribers.

The cracks are already starting to show for Crunchyroll. Netflix’s acquisition of Dragon Ball Daima meant Crunchyroll was no longer the exclusive first stop for the iconic franchise. According to Bloomberg, the loss of exclusive rights to Dan Da Dan, a show that proved to be one of the biggest hits last season, was so galling to Crunchyroll that they stopped promoting it on social media and to their subscribers. Meanwhile, Crunchyroll is trying to coax fans onto their paid subscription tier by putting shows like One Piece behind the paywall for the first time.

This doesn’t mean that things aren’t recoverable for Crunchyroll, but it does mean that they are facing perhaps the biggest challenge to their corporate goals since they were bought by Sony in 2021. How they spend the money from those 15 million subscribers could determine how many of them stick around instead of jumping ship to 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... 

• Aggretsuko vs Chainsaw Man: Two Wildly different anine with the same anti-capitalist message
• The Summer Anime season return of Kaiju No. 8, Sakamoto Days, & Dan Da Dan are forcing me to break my vow of watching less anime
• From Tomo-Chan to Oshi No Ko: How some of your favorite manga creators got their start in hentai
• Piracy is baked into anime's past, but, like Crunchyroll, we should move on from it
• Flying whales, mechs, and Miyazaki vibes: Inside Netflix's Leviathan anime with the people who made it
• How AI translations of manga continues the 'enshitification' of the medium, and why Japanese publishers are "less precious" about it
• I never wanted a Cyberpunk Edgerunners sequel, but God help me I'm going to watch it
• The Summer Hikaru Died delivers its cosmic horror at an agonizingly slow pace
• The one thing that Dan Da Dan does better than Demon Slayer ever did
• Studio Ghibli movies have never been as cozy as you think they are and that's what makes them magic