Anime was the most-watched genre on streaming platforms across Asia between July 2025 and August 2026, and viewing of the category on Netflix grew nine times faster than the service's overall audience, according to a new report from Media Partners Asia. The findings, published in the consultancy's report «The Anime Economy», draw on audience panels the firm operates across eight markets and point to a widening gap between anime and every other genre on the region's streaming services.
The report also places the studio MAPPA at the top of the anime studio rankings, a position the company reached on the strength of the global performance of «Jujutsu Kaisen». The series has become one of the defining anime titles of the past several years, and its success has lifted the studio's profile among both audiences and the platforms that commission its work. MAPPA's rise reflects a broader shift in how anime is produced and distributed, with streaming services increasingly moving away from simply licensing finished titles toward owning and co-producing them outright.
That shift matters because it changes who controls the most valuable intellectual property in the category. When platforms license a series, the rights typically remain with the Japanese production committee behind it. When they invest in production or acquire ownership stakes, they gain a lasting asset that can be exploited across sequels, merchandise, and regional distribution. Media Partners Asia's data suggests the economics of anime have made that trade-off increasingly attractive to global streamers competing for subscribers in Asia and beyond.
Netflix's anime performance is the clearest illustration. Viewing of the genre on the service has climbed at nearly ten times the rate of its total viewing over the past three years, according to the report. That growth has been supported by a mix of licensed titles and originals, including series such as «Blue Eye Samurai» and «Cyberpunk: Edgerunners», which sit alongside Japanese-produced hits in the platform's catalog. The combination has helped anime move from a niche interest to a core part of the streaming proposition in several markets.
The report's audience panels cover eight markets across the region, giving the findings a wider base than single-country ratings data would provide. Anime's lead over other genres in monthly audience terms is significant for platforms because the category tends to attract younger viewers who watch frequently and engage deeply with franchises. That engagement, in turn, feeds merchandising, live events, and the fan communities that have made anime one of the most exportable forms of Japanese popular culture.
For studios like MAPPA, the change in streaming strategy cuts both ways. Ownership deals can bring larger budgets and greater creative stability, but they also concentrate power in the hands of a few global platforms. The report arrives as competition for anime content intensifies across Asia, where local services and international streamers are all courting the same audiences. How that competition reshapes production schedules, licensing fees, and the balance between Japanese studios and their overseas partners will be one of the defining questions for the industry in the years ahead.