Crunchyroll began focusing on the Indian market in 2022 by introducing regional pricing to its subscription plans, and rapidly broadened its operations in 2023. This resulted in the company putting more effort into increasing its subscribers in India. These efforts involve making regional dubs of anime in languages like Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu, hosting in-person screenings, partnering with Comic Con India, and putting up out-of-home (OOH) advertising in Indian cities.
In a conversation with Afaqs, Akshat Sahu, Crunchyroll’s director of marketing, APAC, discussed Crunchyroll’s journey in India so far. “We have grown considerably, thanks to all our efforts on content, localisation, marketing, and publicity,” he shared with the outlet. “There is a huge potential for anime in India as we estimate that the current fandom for anime in the country is pretty large and we are trying to cater to and serve these fans who are looking for options like Crunchyroll to stream anime at their convenience in the language of their choice.”
Crunchyroll recently revealed that its platform has garnered over thirteen million paid subscribers. The company achieved this milestone just two years after being acquired by Sony in August 2021, when it had 5 million paid global customers.
In the interview, Sahu emphasised that India serves as a “growth engine” for the company. The team actively engages in Comic Con events to connect with more Indian anime fans. Additionally, Crunchyroll is forming partnerships with celebrities, and the Hindi dub is gaining traction on the platform.
How Indian audience consumes anime
The anime audience in India stands out from audiences in other countries in terms of preferences. Markus Gerdemann, SVP of creative marketing at Crunchyroll, told MediaCat Magazine that Indian fans connect with genres like action, adventure, fantasy, and romance. In contrast, anime fans in France exhibit a greater interest in arthouse and experimental anime. Gerdemann pointed out an ongoing discussion among fans about whether they prefer watching shows with subtitles (subbed) or dubbed. He mentioned that some markets lean towards subtitles to stay close to the original creative expression, while others prefer dubbed content.
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Rayan Sayyed is a staff writer for IGN India with a primary focus on Asian entertainment spanning from anime, manga, games to films and dramas from the East. You can reach out to him at rayan_sayyed@ign.com, or find him on Twitter @rayanaver and Instagram @rayansayyed.
