Crunchyroll's Gita Rebbapragada on shaping India's anime landscape

With the rise in Anime fans in India, this little—not so little, fandom has seen brands and platforms taking interest. Crunchyroll has found their sweet spot in the OTT landscape through anime. Social Samosa decodes their marketing approach in conversation with Gita Rebbapragada.

Anime has captured millions of hearts in India, creating a subculture within the country's entertainment landscape. The love for anime in India can be traced back to the late 20th century when a handful of Japanese animated shows, such as "Dragon Ball" and "Naruto," found their way into Indian television channels. Since then, many apparel brands have dipped their toes into this fandom, selling merchandise of popular characters. 

But when it comes to the Indian streaming landscape, the space was wide open for an anime-specific platform. While there are mainstream platforms that have added Anime to their content library, Crunchyroll has made their home in this niche. 

The platform was acquired by Sony Group Corp in a $1.2 billion deal announced in 2020 and is setting its sights on India as a major growth market. 

Gita Rebbapragada, Chief Marketing Officer, Crunchyroll said that India stands as the second-largest market for anime enthusiasts globally, ranking only behind China. And it is only expected to grow bigger and stronger from here. 

She emphasized that India is expected to drive a major part of the overall growth in anime interest in the coming years, making it a crucial market for their business. 

She said, “In the next three years, 60% of the growth in anime interest is going to be driven by India. It's an important market to us as there's a lot of fandom here.”

She also explained that their primary message for the Indian market is clear – they are the ultimate home for anime. By emphasizing this positioning, they seek to establish themselves as the go-to destination for anime content in India. 

Talking about the fandom and their word-of-mouth marketing approach, she said, “The thing with anime is you can't buy fans, you have to earn them. Fans talking about the anime that they love with other fans - is by far the most powerful and effective marketing that we do.”

She further stated that the monthly active users in India have been growing.

In the last year, it's been triple-digit growth.

Fueling Fandom

Indian anime audience is diverse, spanning various regions. She explained that Crunchyroll’s marketing strategy is region-specific, and celebrates the uniqueness of each community of fans because not everyone might like the same content. 

She said, “There are lots of different fans, lots of different languages, lots of different regions, and lots of different reasons why someone might like one show versus another. So, our strategy is very region-specific.”

Rebbapragada explained that the platform focuses on community-building through social channels, events, and even theater screenings to unite fans in shared anime experiences.

Community building and grassroots is very much our marketing approach. 

She highlighted that while the United States remains a significant market for Crunchyroll, the second-strongest market is Brazil, indicating the widespread popularity of anime across Latin America. France, Germany, and the UK also boast robust anime fandoms.

Channeling the Influencer and Celeb Chakra

To enhance this community building, Crunchyroll started its social media journey for India a few months ago. Their Instagram handle, which was created in May 2023, has 20.7K followers as of July 2023. 

Rebbapragada explained that Crunchyroll's influencer marketing strategy involves collaborating with a diverse range of influencers and that they value both large-scale influencers with substantial followings and smaller-scale influencers who possess deep expertise in the anime niche. The focus is on connecting with all fans, recognizing individuality creators bring to the fandom.

They have already started working with influencers to promote their Indian social handle, ensuring a successful launch in the market and connecting with their target audience.

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She said, “We work with people who have 100 followers to 35 million and that's how we want to work with all fans as every single person has their unique fandom.”

Additionally, in a move that blends the worlds of anime and gaming, Crunchyroll has expanded its horizons to invest in the gaming. Crunchyroll Games recently made an announcement that they are working on a new game based on the wildly popular anime series, One Punch Man which will launch on both PC and mobile platforms later this year.

Furthermore, to connect with a wide audience, Crunchyroll on-boarded their first Indian brands ambassadors. The choice to bring Rashmika Mandanna and Tiger Shroff as brand ambassadors for Crunchyroll also goes beyond their social media following. Rebbapragada emphasized that both celebrities are passionate anime fans, having grown up with the genre and still actively engaging with it. Their personal relationship with anime reflects a genuine love for the content, making them ideal representatives to showcase the brand's values.

She explained that the collaboration with them serves multiple purposes. Their genuine love for the anime content aligns with the brand's vision, and as anime enthusiasts themselves, their influence and popularity also make them effective messengers to share Crunchyroll's exciting stories and upcoming projects.

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Consumer Behavior

Observing the consumer patterns on their platform, she emphasized that engaging dubbed content garners high levels of interest, while subtitled content is consumed almost immediately. 

As Crunchyroll expands its dubbed offerings, they are keen to see how dubbed content in Hindi will compare to other languages like Tamil and Telugu. 

Highlighting the current numbers, she said, “Crunchyroll observes two and half times engagement in Hindi dubbed content.”

Moreover, to make anime accessible to a wide audience, Crunchyroll priced its monthly subscription at Rs 79. It operates on a dual model of AVOD and SVOD. 

This strategic decision aims to strike a balance between providing premium content and affordability, ensuring that a diverse range of users can enjoy their favorite anime series.

Considering the competitive streaming landscape in India, she acknowledged that consumers often subscribe to multiple services to access a variety of content. In light of this trend, Crunchyroll positioned its subscription pricing as complementary to users' bundled streaming choices, further solidifying their appeal amongst their audience in the market.

Crunchyroll would always like to be everything to someone rather than something to everyone.

Advertiser Appeal

Rebbapragada explained that their target audience is the young generation which is between 16 to 24. However, she added that the healthy viewership comes from 18 to 34 age group.

This young and engaged Crunchyroll audience makes for an attractive TG for advertisers seeking to reach the youth demographic. She explained that brands targeting younger consumers find value in partnering with the platform due to the strong presence of anime fans in this demographic. 

She explained that most of the advertisers that have been keen on partnering with Crunchyroll are gaming brands as a lot of anime fans are into gaming.

Future of Anime in India

She believes that anime is poised to become a defining aspect of popular culture, transforming the way young people access different cultures and values. She explained that Crunchyroll aims to be at the forefront of this cultural shift, connecting anime enthusiasts in India with compelling stories and inspiring characters that resonate with their lives.

Rebbapragada said, “There are really strong values in anime and they can teach you a lot. As pop culture, it's going to be transformative like the way that we set our values, too.”

Crunchyroll has 150 million users globally. The Sony-owned platform will be focusing on investing in content by adding 20-30 shows every quarter, localisation and building offices in India.