Crunchyroll, AT&T’s anime-focused streaming service, has added offline viewing along with some new premium service tiers for “Mega” and “Ultimate Fans.”
The service still includes a free, ad-supported tier where new episodes become available one week after premiere. There’s also a $7.99/month tier that includes ad-free viewing, one concurrent stream and access to Crunchyroll’s anime library of more than 1,000 titles and 30,000 episodes alongside immediate access to simulcast series day and date with premiere in Japan. Those subscribers can also access Crunchyroll’s library of digital manga.
The “Mega Fan” tier ($9.99/month) includes everything mentioned above and throws in offline viewing, up to four concurrent streams and $15 off a purchase of $100 from the Crunchyroll Store every three months. The “Ultimate Fan” tier ($14.99/month) includes everything mentioned above and throws in offline viewing, up to six concurrent streams, an annual Ultimate Fan member swag bag, $25 off a purchase of $100 from the Crunchyroll Store every three months and exclusive access to the purchase of Ultimate Fan merchandise.
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The company said updates to the Crunchyroll Android and iOS applications will be rolling out today and that the updated application should be fully available to global users in early September.
The update follows reports that AT&T is looking to offload Crunchyroll to Sony for $1.5 billion. If the two companies can come to an agreement, it would strengthen Sony’s position in the anime streaming market. The company already owns Crunchyroll competitor Funimation, which last year formed a joint venture with France’s Wakanim and Australia’s Madman Anime Group.
Late last month Crunchyroll – which is part of WarnerMedia’s Otter Media division – announced that it now has more than 3 million paid subscribers globally and more than 70 million registered users.
“Crunchyroll’s global growth has been incredible. We launched in 2006 and it took us about 10 years to hit one million subscribers. It took us only two years after that to break two million, and even less than that to hit three million subscribers where we are today. But, we don’t just measure success based on paying subscribers. We have an active and growing AVOD community of over 70 million registered users,” said Joanne Waage, general manager at Crunchyroll, in a statement. “Our goal has always been to grow the love of anime globally, and these numbers show our labor of love is paying off -- and this is just the beginning.”