As anime fans learn more about the demographics that form some of the biggest streaming services, Raul González, Crunchyroll Vice President of Regional Marketing, revealed that 40% of viewing on Crunchyroll is through Spanish dubs.
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Speaking at CCXP Mexico, Peruvian outlet Otaku Press published its interview with González, where he revealed Peru had “outperformed much larger countries” in terms of recent box office and teased a new program, hopefully “available soon,” that provides “much more value to the subscription.” González added that the goal was for anime fans to find “everything they like most: video games, music, events, and everything we can participate in,” before going on to say:
Crunchyroll VP Reveals Spanish Dubs Account for Over 40% of All Viewing
“I can tell you that more than 40% of the content we have is viewed with Spanish dubbing, and there are people who watch it in the original language and then watch it again in Spanish because it also incorporates a bit of the local flavor of Latin America, and that has a great impact.“
Otaku Press posted an AI-dubbed version of the interview:
González added, “Every three months, we’re dubbing from 30 to 50 titles, listening to what the audience asks us on social media and listening to what the data says too.” They’re working on having most anime available in Spanish dub. Furthermore, he says Crunchyroll aims to diversify its voice acting talent from just Mexico, involving all of Latin America, but that there’s a long road ahead. Latin America is one of Crunchyroll’s biggest markets, as CEO Rahul Purini identified in an interview in May. You can read about Crunchyroll’s expansion efforts in the region here.
In that same interview, Purini also said that in every country globally, fans watching anime through subtitles were in the minority. Netflix recently revealed that 80 to 90 percent of users watch anime dubbed. It also shared that half of its users watch anime, or over 150 million members.
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It may be worth noting that in 2023, KADOKAWA said that having dubs ready from the first episode was instrumental in the success of My Happy Marriage, which was released on Netflix. With dubs being so crucial, it may also explain why Netflix is releasing The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity in English 2 months after its Asian premiere, announcing a weekly release schedule with dubs available from September 7.
While the U.S. and perhaps Spain (assuming Spanish dubs include Latin American and Castilian versions) have a significant number of Spanish speakers, Spanish dubs accounting for 40% of all viewing speaks to the size and potential of the Latin American market and anime’s enduring history there to this day.
Source: Otaku Press
Featured image © Crunchyroll
