Anime streaming giant Crunchyroll has ended its library outreach program. This move is bound to impact community anime clubs and public libraries that relied on the program for their screenings.
Crunchyroll communicated the decision recently to one of its users who had reached out, stating that it is exploring alternative methods to provide access to its service.
The company cited evolving “community outreach efforts” and the identification of “alternate strategic ways to better deliver broad access to the Crunchyroll service to anime fans everywhere” as reasons for discontinuing the program “in its current form.”
For the time period, the company suggested individual anime fans to register for the service’s free ad-supported (AVOD) tier or subscribe to a paid plan starting at $7.99 per month for the Fan Tier. However, they clarified that these are not licensed for public screenings.
While this message is being circulated widely on social media platforms, other users have confirmed that the outreach program indeed has ended as they too received similar messages from Crunchyroll.
The Crunchyroll library outreach program previously offered libraries and community groups access to the streaming service, enabling them to host anime screenings and clubs. This initiative provided a licensed means for public institutions to screen or show anime content.
The discontinuation of the program has generated negative reactions among fans and librarians online.
This decision follows other changes implemented by Crunchyroll that have drawn criticism, including the removal of the platform’s comment section in July 2024 and the decision, which began rolling out in December 2024, to move the majority of the popular series One Piece from the free ad-supported tier behind a paywall.
