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Sony is preparing to acquire the Crunchyroll anime streaming service, at least according to a new report from Japan. The deal would reportedly involve a substantial sum of money, bolstering Sony’s anime offerings and earning it around 70 million users. This deal would follow Sony’s 2017 acquisition of anime distributor Funimation.
The leak comes from Nikkei Asia, which reports that Sony has the exclusive right to negotiate a potential acquisition, the value of which may exceed $ 950 million, sources say. Crunchyroll is based in the US and has a large library of anime content, including a relatively new list of original shows.
The anime market is as hot as ever with interest growing among streaming services like Netflix, which has released several of its own original anime shows and movies in recent years. Sony’s acquisition of Crunchyroll, should it happen, would make it a major competitor in the streaming market, at least in the anime genre.
Notably, Sony would have the option to stream its own anime shows like Murderer of demons Instead of continuing to license the shows to other streaming platforms, a move that would likely increase the amount of original anime content we see released from companies like Netflix.
Crunchyroll stands out for its global subscriber base, as well as millions of paid subscribers in addition to free users. The service has a library of over 1,000 movies and TV shows, and recently expanded its platform to include premium features like offline downloads for those willing to pay.
