Sony is close to striking an acquisition deal with US anime subscription service Crunchyroll, according to a report from Nikkei Asia today. The purchase is expected to cost Sony somewhere in the region of 100 billion yen ($957 million) in exchange for the service’s 70 million members and 1,000 anime titles.
It’s a move that could position Sony as a competitor with the likes of Netflix and Hulu, a battleground that’s expected to hot up considerably as COVID-19 continues to keep people at home and searching for digital entertainment.
Nikkei offers some key figures relevant to the potential acquisition in its report:
- Crunchyroll was founded in 2006 and has its headquarters in San Francisco. In 2018, AT&T, the U.S. telecommunications giant, became its parent company.
- Crunchyroll has 70 million free members and 3 million paying subscribers in more than 200 countries and regions, including the U.S. and Europe.
- Nikkei cites Sony’s total operating income from games, music and movies is forecast to reach $4.79 billion for the fiscal year ending March, accounting for 60% of the group total.
- According to The Association of Japanese Animations, the global anime market in 2018 was worth about $21 billion, 1.5 times that of five years earlier. The overseas market accounts for nearly half of total demand.
Sony is set to launch its PlayStation 5 console in less than a month, which is expected to further solidify the gaming segment of the company as its largest.
Twinfinite recently reported an upcoming Shenmue anime is in the works and coming to Crunchyroll.
Published: Oct 30, 2020 11:56 am