Fans might have been arguing about whether it’s better to watch anime shows with English subtitles or dubbed audio for decades, but it turns out that fans with Netflix have overwhelmingly been watching their anime dubbed all this time. Netflix has been increasing their licensed and original anime productions in the last few years specifically, and fans have seen the fruits of those efforts continue to lead to more growth and change within the streaming service itself. The biggest of which is that it’s now much easier to watch the currently airing episodes also hitting in Japan at the same time, and in multiple languages to boot.
Taking the stage during Anime Expo 2025 earlier this month to showcase more of the new anime projects they now have in the works (of which ComicBook was in attendance), Netflix revealed some startling stats during the panel as well. They revealed that not only are 50 percent of Netflix users around the world are now watching anime. This means that an estimated 150 million households are watching anime, and they largely choose to watch their shows English dubbed rather than in the original Japanese audio with English subtitles.
Anime Grows Even Bigger With Netflix
According to Netflix, the number of anime viewers on the platform has tripled in the last few years with 2024 being the biggest year for anime on the streamer yet. Even more jarring is the fact that 80 to 90 percent of those users choose to watch their shows with English dubs. It’s why Netflix has begun to increasingly offer multiple language offerings for their newest releases, and why they are offered at an increasingly faster rate than seen before. So shows that might not seem to be getting traction on social media are indeed hitting it big with fans.
Sakamoto Days, for example, spent ten weeks in the Top 10 Global TV Shows list alongside the first season’s premiere in multiple countries. The series might not have a lot of heat behind it when it comes to its return with new episodes this Summer, but the show is clearly hitting it big with Netflix itself. It also goes to show that Netflix as an anime platform is beginning to become more of a choice with fans as its library of both older and newer hits begins to expand even further.
What Does This Mean for Anime Fans?
Anime habits have changed drastically in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. As demonstrated over the last half of a decade, an entire new generation of fans has emerged that has a higher priority of watching anime than ever before. The advent of streaming also means that there are anime available to watch across multiple big name platforms, and those platforms are changing in order to meet those demands. As older fans might have noticed, the speed in which English dubs are produced and released has increased dramatically too.
This is a result of the number of fans who are watching their shows with English dubs, and it really is putting that age old debate to bed. It’s not the case anymore where a company is putting out a cheap dub for a quick buck. These anime are now released and produced with a worldwide audience in mind, so they are more careful for these multi-language releases than ever before. An increase of dubbing talent, time and technology means it’s been the best time to be a dub fan. And those fans are eating well with Netflix.
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