Anime Empire Rises: Jujutsu Kaisen Propels MAPPA to Top as Streaming Giants Battle for Ownership

Anime emerged as the dominant entertainment genre on Asian streaming platforms between July 2025 and August 2026, consistently attracting a larger monthly audience than any other category. This significant trend was highlighted in "The Anime Economy" report by Media Partners Asia (MPA), which leveraged audience panels across eight Asian markets, Netflix engagement data, and extensive research.

The report revealed that between 31% and 47% of premium-VOD users in these markets actively watched anime each month. In Japan, the world's largest anime market, these figures were even higher, ranging from 45% to 59%. In contrast, the average for the other seven tracked genres stood between 26% and 34% across Asia, and 24% to 36% in Japan. Anime also captured a substantial portion of viewing hours, accounting for 15.6% of tracked premium-VOD hours in the second half of 2025 and 14.0% in the first half of 2026, with Japan alone contributing 28%.

Netflix played a crucial role in this surge, carrying roughly half of the region's total anime viewing throughout the tracking period (51% in H2 2025 and 50% in H1 2026). The platform experienced phenomenal growth in anime consumption, with viewing expanding nine times faster than its overall service. Specifically, Japanese anime viewing on Netflix soared by 39% from 3.33 billion hours in the first half of 2023 to 4.64 billion hours in the first half of 2026, significantly outpacing Netflix's total viewing growth of 4.5% during the same period. Consequently, anime's share of all Netflix hours rose from 3.6% to 4.75%.

"Jujutsu Kaisen" proved to be a powerhouse, ranking as the top anime title in seven out of the eight markets tracked in the first half of 2026. This propelled MAPPA's share of regional anime hours from 6.1% in late 2025 to 17.3% in early 2026, surpassing TMS Entertainment (16.6%), Toei Animation (13%), and Aniplex (12%). Within Japan, the anime market has become a battleground for global streaming giants, with Prime Video initially holding a 43% share of anime hours in H2 2025, before Netflix achieved parity with 42% each in H1 2026.

Beyond traditional streaming, YouTube has solidified its position as both a vital marketing channel and a burgeoning production hub for anime. In Japan alone, MPA reported 70 million people watching anime-related content monthly, accumulating 2.8 billion hours. Official channels like Aniplex (5.1 million monthly viewers) and Toho animation (4.8 million) now operate as independent media businesses. Furthermore, YouTube-native outfits such as Plott are successfully developing franchises at a fraction of the cost associated with conventional TV productions.

The industry is also witnessing significant consolidation and strategic investments. MPA identified 21 anime transactions and alliances since 2021, with 11 occurring in 2025 and 2026. Sony has been a key player, participating in seven of these deals to establish what MPA describes as the industry's sole end-to-end anime operation, encompassing Crunchyroll, Sony Pictures, Sony Music, and Aniplex, alongside equity stakes in Kadokawa and Bandai Namco. Other major entities like Toei Animation, Toho, and Bandai Namco are also acquiring studios, distributors, and pipelines to enhance their own production capabilities.

Looking ahead, MPA projects a robust 10% annual increase in worldwide anime spending through 2030. This growth is anticipated to be primarily driven by markets in Asia (excluding Japan) and North America, with gains concentrated among a select group of companies owning franchises, studios, and platforms. The firm's base case for the next 24 months suggests a hybrid financing model where streaming platforms fund production while studios retain content rights. Vivek Couto, CEO of Media Partners Asia, emphasized that while anime's scale is established, future growth will stem from streaming expanding into new global markets, repeatable theatrical events like "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle," and extended franchise life through games and merchandise. He concluded that the industry's direction is firmly towards ownership and collaboration between platforms and Japanese IP groups, highlighting that the primary constraint is production capacity, not demand or capital. Solving for capacity and attracting animators will be crucial for companies aiming to lead the next phase of anime's expansion.