Anime Viewership on Netflix Grows 10 Times Faster Than Other Content
Netflix's anime growth is real but comes almost entirely from sub-licensed hits and East Asian viewership, not from the exclusive titles the company promotes as its global strategy.
Reporting from 1 sources: Anime By The Numbers.
Netflix's semi-annual data shows that anime viewership on the platform grew 11.3% in the first half of 2025, reaching approximately 4.4 billion hours watched. That rate of growth is ten times faster than all other media on Netflix, according to a report from Anime by the Numbers. However, the surge is not driven by Netflix's own exclusive titles or its produced anime. Of the top 25 most-watched anime series on Netflix in the first half of 2025, only five were exclusive to the platform outside of Asia, and Netflix is not listed as a producer for any of them. Less than 20% of total anime viewership came from titles carrying Netflix's branding. Instead, the most-watched anime were sub-licensed titles such as The Apothecary Diaries, Solo Leveling, Mashle, Fire Force, and Frieren: Beyond Journey's End. The biggest gainer was Anpanman, a children's franchise whose viewership jumped 4700% after Netflix acquired more than a dozen films previously on Hulu, though that growth was limited to Japan. Anime's dominance on Netflix is heavily concentrated in East Asia: in Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Vietnam, anime appears on regional top lists more days than not, while only one anime series, Tougen Anki, reached the U.S. top 10 for a single day.
Netflix's own data reveals a gap between its marketing claims and actual viewing patterns. At Anime Expo in July, Netflix released a press release describing anime as 'fueling a new era of global storytelling,' but the company's semi-annual spreadsheet tells a different story. The most ascendant anime franchise on Netflix in the first half of 2025 was Anpanman, a children's show about a superhero with a red bean bun head, whose viewership exploded 4700% after Netflix added over a dozen films previously on Hulu. That growth was confined to Japan. Outside Asia, the top performers were titles licensed from other distributors: The Apothecary Diaries, Solo Leveling, Mashle, Fire Force, and Frieren: Beyond Journey's End all ranked in the top 20 despite their currently-airing seasons being unavailable on Netflix. TOHO International and Crunchyroll have used Netflix's larger subscriber base as a discovery funnel, keeping subsequent seasons exclusive to Crunchyroll. Of the top 25 anime series, only five were Netflix exclusives outside Asia, and Netflix is not a producer on any of them. Less than 20% of total anime viewership came from titles with Netflix's branding. The report notes that while Netflix says 50% of its audience watches anime, that figure is heavily weighted by East Asian viewership, where anime appears on regional top lists most days.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.
Sources
- Anime By The Numbers Anime is outgrowing the rest of Netflix viewership 10-to-1