U.S. anime viewership jumps to 22% as global audience grows

By AI, Created 12:05 PM UTC, May 20, 2026, /AGP/ – A new 15-country study from GEM Partners finds anime has gone mainstream, with U.S. viewership rising from 10% in 2020 to 22% in 2025. The report also shows broad gains across every market surveyed, with Netflix leading anime viewing in most countries outside Japan and China.

Why it matters: - Anime is no longer a niche U.S. fandom. The study says 22% of Americans watched anime in 2025, more than double the 10% share in 2020. - The report points to a wider global shift. Anime viewership rose in every one of the 15 countries surveyed. - More viewers also means more commercial potential. The study found double-digit anime-related spending across all nine core markets.

What happened: - GEM Partners released the Global Anime White Paper 2026 powered by Animeasure® on May 11, 2026. - The report draws on survey data from about 15,000 people ages 13 to 65 across 15 countries. - GEM Partners said the study tracks anime viewership, genre preferences, title-level audience profiles and anime-related spending from 2020 to 2025. - The company framed the report as a consumer-based alternative to platform-side demand estimates.

The details: - U.S. anime viewership grew at a compound annual rate of 17% from 2020 to 2025. - Japan led all markets in 2025 with 55% anime viewership. - China followed at 42%, and India was next at 41%. - In the nine core markets tracked every year, anime viewership increased from 2020 to 2025. - Among titles that debuted since 2020, “Jujutsu Kaisen” ranked in the top 10 in every country surveyed in 2025. - Older franchises still dominated overall rankings. “Case Closed (Detective Conan)” ranked No. 1 in Japan, China and South Korea. - “Pokémon,” “Dragon Ball” and “Naruto/Boruto” led in Western markets. - Action-adventure ranked among the top genres in all nine countries. - The “Isekai” genre ranked in the top five only in Japan and South Korea. - Netflix was the top anime platform in seven of nine countries outside Japan and China. - Prime Video and YouTube also ranked highly across multiple markets. - Crunchyroll ranked in the top 10 in every country surveyed outside Japan, China and South Korea. - More than 10% of the total population in each of the nine core markets reported spending money on anime-related products or services in the past year. - Among anime viewers, 57% in Japan and 79% in India also spent on anime-related products.

Between the lines: - The findings suggest anime’s growth is being driven by both platform reach and broadening audience taste. - The title data shows global audiences still favor long-running franchises, even as newer hits like “Jujutsu Kaisen” break through across markets. - Genre gaps also matter. The weaker showing for Isekai outside Japan and South Korea suggests some anime categories still have limited crossover appeal.

What’s next: - GEM Partners plans to use the report’s year-over-year data to track how audience growth, platform choice and spending behavior change through future survey cycles. - The company is offering the report in PDF form and through an online analytics tool with one-year access in English and Japanese. - The report covers 132 anime titles spanning releases from the pre-2000s through 2025.

The bottom line: - Anime has moved further into the mainstream in the U.S. and across major global markets, and the study suggests the audience is getting bigger, broader and more monetizable.