World’s top anime site Crunchyroll is Sony’s new money-maker

When top anime streaming platform Crunchyroll was first gaining popularity as a pirated-video site in the mid-2000s, Japanese animation was considered a niche form of entertainment, appealing mainly to enthusiasts known as otaku.

Today, it’s a $20 billion industry spanning streaming, games and merchandise, and the company’s hit series, such as One Piece and Demon Slayer, have drawn millions of US and European subscribers.

Crunchyroll, now owned by Sony Group Corp, is setting its sights on India as a major growth market — one that could help the industry further expand from a made-in-Japan subculture into a mainstream and global phenomenon.