Business
Netflix Original Anime: A CELEBRATION OF ANIME AND A LOOK AHEAD at Annecy International Animated Film Festival
(Antoine Antoniol/Getty Images)
tooned in

Over half of Netflix subscribers now watch anime

The once niche genre is now a battleground in the modern streaming wars.

Hyunsoo Rim

Anime has officially gone mainstream on the world’s biggest streaming service. According to Netflix, over 50% of its global members now watch anime on the platform, with viewership tripling over the past five years and subscribers watching anime content over 1 billion times in 2024.

Last year, 33 anime titles made Netflix’s weekly list of global top 10 non-English shows, more than double the figure from 2021. That boom has helped Japanese content become the world’s second-most-watched non-English category on Netflix, just behind South Korean shows and movies.

Netflix’s new report on just how well the genre is doing comes as its rivals in the streaming space aggressively look to expand their own anime libraries. Still, as the home to huge hits like “Sakamoto Days,” Netflix remains the go-to for anime fans around the world.

Netflix anime fans chart
Sherwood News

Recent research from ad agency Dentsu shows that 48% of global anime viewers subscribe to Netflix for its anime content, compared to 32% for Disney+ and 29% for Prime Video. Netflix leads across all major regions, with its strongest presence in the US, where 63% of anime viewers turn to the platform — some way ahead of Hulu (46%) and Disney+ (46%).

That fan frenzy is reportedly translating to a boost for the streamer’s top line, too. Per estimates from Parrot Analytics, anime generated over $2 billion in global revenue for Netflix in 2023, accounting for 38% of all anime streaming revenue worldwide.

That perhaps explains why the company is doubling down on international content, where spending is up 7x in the past seven years, roughly matching what Netflix splashed out on North American TV and film in 2023.

More Business

See all Business
Hyunsoo Rim
big red button
10h
Kraft Heinz is bringing back the glass ketchup bottle as it leans on sauces for growth

The Pittsburgh-born sauce giant is turning 157 this year.

Oversize Heinz ketchup bottle displayed at Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh
Millie Giles
BED, BREAKFAST, AND BEYOND
12h
Airbnb is expanding its hotel offerings and adding car rentals to its app

As cities crack down on listings, the homestay platform is attempting to become an “everything app” for travel.

View of man talking with couple in car
Millie Giles
BATTLE OF THE BRANDS
5/20/26
Which companies have the best and worst reputations, according to Americans?

The 2026 Axios Harris Poll 100 reputation ranking suggests the US prefers Big Tech to Big Media.

Handshake
Max Knoblauch
5/19/26
Spotify expands its anti-AI verified badges to podcasts

Spotify introduced verified badges for musician profiles in late April.

Spotify Hosts a "Now Playing" Creator Day at its Los Angeles Campus
business
Tom Jones

Demis Hassabis, Google DeepMind’s CEO and founder, was also an early Anthropic investor

A chess prodigy and an actual a knight of the realm in the UK, it’s perhaps no surprise that Demis Hassabis has made some strategic moves about his exposure to AI upside. According to people familiar with the matter, the influential AI architect became an angel investor in Anthropic, currently behind many of the leading AI models, per Arena AI leaderboards.

The Nobel Prize winner’s position in the Claude creator was previously undisclosed and, per the Financial Times, highlights Hassabis’ “growing influence across the AI industry.”

Google, which bought DeepMind, the company that Hassabis cofounded and heads to this day, for a reported ~$400 million in 2014, is also a key Anthropic investor. The tech giant reportedly plans to invest up to $40 billion in the AI company as part of the mutually beneficial relationship the pair have forged, with reports that Anthropic has committed to spending $200 billion in the other direction on Google’s cloud services over the next five years.

I’m playing all sides, so I always come out on top

In addition to his financial support for Anthropic, Hassabis has also invested in a range of AI startups launched by colleagues, such as Inflection AI, a company set up by DeepMind cofounder Mustafa Suleyman (who is now CEO of Microsoft AI), as well as efforts from other collaborators, like David Silver’s Ineffable Intelligence.

Hassabis also emerged as a recurring figure on the fringes of the recent Elon Musk v. Sam Altman trial, cropping up repeatedly in testimonies and court documents and appearing to live, as The Verge put it, “rent-free” in Musk’s head.

Founded in 2021, Anthropic has recently raised funding at a reported $900 billion valuation, sending it soaring ahead of competitor OpenAI.

Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis emerges as early Anthropic investor

Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis emerges as early Anthropic investor

The Nobel Prize winner’s position in the Claude creator was previously undisclosed and, per the Financial Times, highlights Hassabis’ “growing influence across the AI industry.”

Google, which bought DeepMind, the company that Hassabis cofounded and heads to this day, for a reported ~$400 million in 2014, is also a key Anthropic investor. The tech giant reportedly plans to invest up to $40 billion in the AI company as part of the mutually beneficial relationship the pair have forged, with reports that Anthropic has committed to spending $200 billion in the other direction on Google’s cloud services over the next five years.

I’m playing all sides, so I always come out on top

In addition to his financial support for Anthropic, Hassabis has also invested in a range of AI startups launched by colleagues, such as Inflection AI, a company set up by DeepMind cofounder Mustafa Suleyman (who is now CEO of Microsoft AI), as well as efforts from other collaborators, like David Silver’s Ineffable Intelligence.

Hassabis also emerged as a recurring figure on the fringes of the recent Elon Musk v. Sam Altman trial, cropping up repeatedly in testimonies and court documents and appearing to live, as The Verge put it, “rent-free” in Musk’s head.

Founded in 2021, Anthropic has recently raised funding at a reported $900 billion valuation, sending it soaring ahead of competitor OpenAI.

Latest Stories

Sherwood Media, LLC and Chartr Limited produce fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and are fully owned subsidiaries of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate, including Robinhood Markets, Inc., Robinhood Financial LLC, Robinhood Securities, LLC, Robinhood Crypto, LLC, Robinhood Money, LLC, Robinhood U.K. Ltd, Robinhood Derivatives, LLC, Robinhood Gold, LLC, Robinhood Asset Management, LLC, Robinhood Credit, Inc., Robinhood Ventures DE, LLC and, where applicable, its managed investment vehicles.
©2026 Sherwood Media, LLC