Sony Pictures makes official the agreement between both parties to acquire the infrastructure, which has more than 3 million subscribers.
Sony Pictures Entertainment has made official the purchase of Crunchyroll, the popular streaming service for anime series that until now was part of the AT&T group. The statement, which makes the agreement between both parties explicit, has been closed in exchange for an amount that amounts to 1,175 million dollars (about 973 million euros at the exchange rate). In the absence of regulatory approval, Crunchyroll will join the family of Funimation Global Group, Sony’s subsidiary dedicated to these audiovisual purposes.
What is Sony really buying with Crunchyroll
The battle for licenses is what narrows and separates the large multinationals immersed in the sector of series and movies on demand, and that is where Sony has confirmed its interest with this purchase: it has done with many licenses. Crunchyroll has more than 3 million subscribers, a number of loyalists on an upward trend who rely on a service capable of catering to the needs of fans of One Piece, Naruto, Boruto, My Hero Academia, Black Clover, Hunter x Hunter, Fairy Tail, Dragon Quest, Fullmetal Alchemist, Digimon, One-Punch Man and dozens of other series.
“We are very excited to embark on this new journey. Crunchyroll has built a world-class brand with a passionate fanbase of more than 3 million subscribers, more than 50 million followers on social media, and more than 90 million registered. These amazing fans have helped turn anime into a global phenomenon, “said Joanne Waage, General Manager of Crunchyroll, on the occasion of the announcement. “Combining the strength of the Crunchyroll brand and the experience of our global team with Funimation is an exciting prospect and a win for that incredible art form that is anime,” he adds.
The battle to win the anime fan’s attention
The role of Funimation in territories such as the United States, where it is especially pressing, will continue to grow thanks to this transaction, which will give the Sony subsidiary greater power by receiving all the series names already discussed. The goal, however, is to compete with the bigger ones, especially NETFLIX, whose assortment of anime series is really powerful; Notably, licenses such as Attack on Titan and countless films and anthologies such as Studio Ghibli.
Crunchyroll is also available on consoles with its own app. Users of PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PS5 or Xbox Series X | S can easily download the native application for free, which requires a subscribed user account to use all services. Currently, the service includes several subscription modalities, depending on whether we take advantage of a payment periodicity of one month (6.49 euros / month) or twelve months (64.99 euros / month).
