James R | On 28, Dec 2015

Crunchyroll had its own Christmas special this year on US TV – a rare feat for a VOD service.

The ad-supported site is one of the go-to places for legal streaming of anime in the UK, the US and other countries. Anime has always struggled to find audiences legally outside of Japan, due to a lack of availability. But a number of free sites, such as Crunchyroll and Viewster, have built up a large following with legal anime line-ups that include both simulcasts and on-demand viewing. Netflix, meanwhile, is also rapidly growing its catalogue of anime, with Detective Conan (or Case Closed) arriving in January, following the release of titles such as Knights of Sidonia.

As Netflix brings the game to Crunchyroll, now, Crunchroll is taking the game to the VOD giant: hot on the heels of the subscription service’s holiday special, A Very Murray Christmas, the anime site has produced its own festive show – and broadcast it on TV.

The half-hour show aired on several cable channels over the holidays, hosted by Anime News’ Mike Toole and featuring clips from a variety of series. It may not have Bill Murray, but the company’s advert may well pay off: the VOD service already has more than 700,000 subscribers paying for the ad-free service, notes Variety. Packages start from £4.99 a month, with Otter Media (overall owner of Crunchroll’s operator, Ellation) expecting to rake in more than $200m revenue in 2015 through its VOD services.

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