Nielsen Anime Ratings Miss Most Viewership, Analysis Finds
The analysis suggests that official industry ratings, which guide advertising and licensing decisions, may systematically undervalue anime's actual U.S. reach because they fail to account for the medium's higher-than-average piracy rates and its distribution outside major streaming platforms like Netflix.
Reporting from 1 sources: Anime By The Numbers.
A new analysis from the newsletter Anime By The Numbers argues that Nielsen's first streaming-inclusive ratings for the 2024-2025 TV season severely undercount anime viewership in the United States. The report, published on June 5, found that only one anime-*Dan Da Dan*-made Nielsen's top 100 lists for either total adult viewers or the 18-49 demographic, with 2.6 million unique viewers. The analysis contends this figure is implausibly low. It notes that *Solo Leveling* season two, which aired during the measurement period, was promoted as the most popular series on Crunchyroll in the first quarter of 2025. The author estimates that just 20% of Crunchyroll's U.S. subscribers watching *Solo Leveling* would surpass the 1.9 million viewers needed to enter Nielsen's top 100. The piece attributes the discrepancy to Nielsen's methodology, which it says largely excludes viewership from Crunchyroll and from piracy sites. Citing SimilarWeb data, the analysis states that the most popular bootleg anime site received 118 million U.S. visits in April, compared to 20 million for the top non-anime pirate site. The author concludes that Nielsen's data, designed for advertisers measuring traditional TV and streaming, does not capture the full scale of anime's U.S. audience.
The Anime By The Numbers newsletter published a detailed critique of Nielsen's first multiplatform ratings report for the 2024-2025 TV season, which included streaming data for the first time. The report, released last week and covered by Variety, listed *Dan Da Dan* as the top anime with 2.6 million viewers aged 18-49, and the only anime to crack either of Nielsen's top 100 lists. The analysis argues this number is inconsistent with other available data. It points to Polygon's 2024 survey, which found that 42% of Gen Z and 25% of millennials report watching anime weekly, and to Kakao Entertainment's press release stating that *Solo Leveling* season two was the most popular series on Crunchyroll in Q1 2025. The author performs a back-of-envelope calculation using Netflix's reported 19.6 million global views for *Dan Da Dan*, estimating U.S. Netflix viewership at roughly 2.4 million-close to Nielsen's number-but argues this ignores Crunchyroll's 17 million subscribers, over half of whom are in the U.S. The piece also highlights anime's outsized piracy footprint, citing SimilarWeb data showing the top bootleg anime site drew nearly six times the U.S. traffic of the top non-anime pirate site in April. The analysis concludes that Nielsen's methodology, accredited by the Media Ratings Council and designed for advertiser needs, systematically undercounts an audience that relies heavily on Crunchyroll and piracy.
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 According to Nielsen, No One is Watching Anime