Yesterday, I noticed my son and his 2 friends were passionately debating whether Solo Leveling is better than Demon Slayer. The surprise? Two of them were discussing it in Hindi dubs. That’s when it clicked — something massive is happening. India is becoming the NEXT global anime powerhouse — and the numbers don’t lie. India is now the 2nd largest anime-viewing country after China. According to the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, India’s anime market hit $1.64Bn in 2025 India currently has over 180 million anime fans 83% of Indians prefer anime over other animated content (JetSynthesys). Fans spend 1 hour+ per day watching anime — a big slice of total streaming time. Anime viewership in India is growing at 13% CAGR through 2028. Crunchyroll says 60% of its future growth will come from India. OTT platforms have started to notice — and the race is ON. Here’s how the landscape is shifting: • Crunchyroll launched in India (Jan 2024) → 800+ titles → 80+ dubs in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu • Prime Video introduced “Anime Times” • Netflix India is releasing anime films with Indian subtitles • Disney, Sony, JioCinema, MX — all increasing anime content slices • 73% of Indians watched anime in 2020 — and that number is even higher today Crunchyroll’s APAC Director Akshat Sahu said it best: “Anime’s popularity in India has skyrocketed… especially among Gen Z and millennials.” Localization Is the Game-Changer What unlocked India’s anime boom? Dubbing. Local languages. Familiar faces. Anime drives longer watch sessions than local short videos Dubbing (Hindi, Tamil, Telugu) is unlocking Tier-2/3 adoption The real incident that opened my eyes… An anime merchandise shop owner recently joked: “People think anime is new. But everyone grew up on Pokémon, DBZ, Naruto, Shinchan…They just didn’t know it was anime.” BUT there’s a huge gap: India doesn’t yet have a strong ecosystem to support anime-inspired OTT platforms, micro-studios, and indie creators. And that’s where the next billion-dollar opportunity lies. Opportunity for OTT, Production house, tech & media content companies: India needs: • Affordable anime-first OTT platforms • Short-form anime (like micro-dramas) will explode next. India’s 500-million OTT audience is only partially tapped. Anime is converting the next 200–300 million users — especially from Tier 2 & Tier 3 markets. AI animation pipelines can reduce costs by 40–70%, Anime is cheaper to produce than big-budget series, What’s missing is the infrastructure to deliver Whoever builds that — wins the next decade Platforms that wait will pay 3x later And with the right tech stack — Mogi IO can help OTT players lead it. My Take OTT in India won’t just be Bollywood vs. Hollywood. It will be Bollywood vs. Anime. If you want to build an anime-based OTT Platform, let's talk - Call: +91 9818399142 Visit: https://mogiio.com Sunil Gupta Anindya Poddar Sunando Bhattacharya #Anime #MicrodramaOTT #OTT #ShortVideo #VernacularOTT
