Netflix‘s anime viewership is soaring, from 1 billion views in 2023 to 1.5 billion views in 2025, Yuji Yamano, Netflix director of content in Japan, revealed Tuesday at an Annecy Netflix Anime panel.
150 million households in 190-plus countries view anime in 34 languages, he added. The increasing prevalence of anime viewing on the platform was a panel focal point. More than 50% of Netflix members watch anime, Yamano said.
Even so, key phrases in the early parts of the presentation were “creative first, local first” in terms of the streaming service’s approach to anime. The presentation underlined a desire to be “creative partners” with the committees and filmmakers and not just distributors – using their established partnerships with Studio Colorido (“Drifting Home,” “Cosmic Princess Kaguya”) and Kyoto Animation (“Violet Evergarden,” “Sparks of Tomorrow”) as examples of how Netflix seeks to primarily appeal to a Japanese audience and collaborate with Japanese studios, with global reach being a result of this approach.
Demonstrating the relationship with its viewers, panel illustrated spokes spikes in viewership over 25 days of the first season of “Sakamoto Days,” an adaptation of the popular Shonen Jump series, produced by TMS Entertainment and licensed by Netflix. The streamer knew the hardcore fans would come, so the growth is in capturing casual viewers, with language being the biggest barrier to entry.
