AT&T-owned anime subscription video service Crunchyroll is raising its monthly subscription price from $6.95 to $7.99 a month, it announced in an email to members Friday. It’s the service’s first price increase ever, according to a spokesperson.
The new pricing will go into effect on May 1 for new subscribers, while existing members will see their price go up 3 months after. Members who have pre-paid for a year’s worth of Crunchyroll will see no change to their pricing until that year is up.
“Crunchyroll has the world’s largest collection of anime and we are grateful to have focused on building out such a robust library for over the last decade, without a significant price change in our company history,” said a company spokesperson in an email to Variety. “However, due to rising costs of content and infrastructure, now is the time to introduce new subscription pricing.”
“This price increase will help us bring our community more of their favorite shows, allowing us to create even more experiences for them to connect with each other and through shared passion for anime,” she added.
Crunchyroll has been streaming anime ever since 2006. The service is available for free, but offers paying subscribers ad-free streaming in HD, and more immediate access to imported shows from Japan. Crunchyroll surpassed 2 million paying subscribers last year.
The service is being run by Ellation, AT&T’s online video subscription business unit that also oversees Rooster Teeth and the niche subscription bundle VRV. The latter, which offers access to Crunchyroll and a number of other subscription services for $9.99 a month, won’t be affected by the price increase.
