Type of business | Subsidiary of Ellation |
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Type of site
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Video streaming service |
Founded | May 14, 2006 |
Headquarters | San Francisco, California, U.S. |
Owner | Otter Media |
Key people | Kun Gao (Crunchyroll Co-founder and GM), Tom Pickett (Ellation CEO) |
Industry | Anime industry, anime, Manga, drama and video on demand |
Parent | Ellation |
Website | www |
Alexa rank | 465 |
Registration | Optional |
Users | 35 million |
Current status | Active |
Crunchyroll is an American distributor, publisher, licensing company and international online community focused on video streaming East Asian media including anime, manga, drama, music, electronic entertainment, and content. Founded in 2006 by a group of University of California, Berkeley graduates, Crunchyroll's distribution channel and partnership program delivers content to over 35 million online community members worldwide. Crunchyroll is a subsidiary of Ellation, which belongs to Otter Media owned by AT&T and The Chernin Group. Crunchyroll has offices in San Francisco, Chisinau, and Tokyo, and is a member of the Association of Japanese Animations (AJA).
Crunchyroll offers over 900 anime shows, more than 200 Asian dramas to users, and 50 manga titles, although not all programming is available worldwide due to licensing restrictions. In February 2017, Crunchyroll passed one million paid subscribers.
Crunchyroll started in 2006 as a for-profit video upload and streaming site that specialized in hosting East Asian video content. Some of the content hosted on Crunchyroll included fansubbed versions of East Asian shows.
In 2008, Crunchyroll secured a capital investment of $4.05 million from the venture capital firm Venrock. The investment drew criticism from anime distributors and licensors Bandai Entertainment and Funimation as the site continued to allow users to upload illegal copies of licensed titles.