Netflix Subscribers Are Watching Anime More Than Ever, But It's Not Exactly A Full Win For The Streaming Giant

Anime has been a big deal for decades, but it’s easier than ever now to check out animated content coming out of Japan thanks to the best streaming services to subscribe to. Whether you’re a first-time watcher interested in an entry-level anime or are a longtime fan who needs recommendations on 2024 anime watches, these kinds of movies and TV shows are more popular than ever. Netflix subscription holders are especially making their interest in anime known, although it’s not a full win entirely for the platform.

According to data released by Netflix that Anime By The Numbers sifted through, anime viewership on Netflix is growing 10x faster than the rest of the streamer’s catalog. Specifically, subscribers watched 4.4 billion hours of anime in the first half of 2025, an 11.3% growth from the hours watched in the latter half of 2024. So yes, that’s definitely a big deal on its own.

It is worth noting that roughly 50% of the anime-watching audience comes from East Asian countries territories like Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea and Vietnam. Some of those anime titles that are hitting so well on Netflix are also only available on the streamer in those places. If you want to watch these particular shows elsewhere, you’ll likely need to sign up for Crunchyroll.

More importantly, however, is that of the top 25 anime series so far this year on Netflix, only five of them were exclusive to the platform outside of Asia. Meaning, Netflix didn’t have any hand in producing these movies and shows, it’s simply licensing them out for its subscribers. So for example, of the top 10 most-viewed anime franchises on Netflix, it’s only until #7 that we reach a Netflix-exclusive title, Sakamoto Days, which I recommend watching. It’s preceded by, from #1 downwards, Naruto/Naruto: Shippuden, Studio Ghibli, Detective Conan, Pokemon, One Piece and The Seven Deadly Sins.

This seems like a ‘take the win however you can’ kind of situation for Netflix. Sure, sure the streamer doesn’t own most of the anime that’s hitting with audiences around the world, but at least this is still driving up its viewership numbers. Besides, even though they’re not charting, there’s plenty of other Netflix-exclusive anime that are still worth checking out, including Violet Evergreen, Cyberpunk Edgerunners and Devilman: Crybaby.

Me, I’ll continue watching Sakamoto Days’ new episodes as they’re being released, as well as keep One Piece and the absolutely-bonkers Dan Da Dan queued up on my Netflix account. I gotta show my anime fandom off in the midst of streaming live-action shows like Stranger Things, The Sandman and, of course, Netflix’s own One Piece adaptation, which returns for Season 2 next year.