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Crunchyroll Increases Subscription Prices for Mega Fan/Ultimate Fan Tiers
posted on by Alex Mateo
The Crunchyroll free trial period has also decreased from 14 days to seven days of free viewing.
Amidst previous rumors of a Crunchyroll price change for subscribers, Crunchyroll told ANN on February 29 that it had "no announcements about a price change at this time." The company clarified that some people would experience price changes if they were switching from a Funimation-only subscription to Crunchyroll. ANN had also inquired at that time about any possible price changes within the next two years, and Crunchyroll responded that it would be improbable to predict a price change for that time frame.
Crunchyroll implemented its first major price increase in its history in the United States, Great Britain, Australia and the Nordics in 2019, and implemented its multi-tier subscription offerings in 2020.
The company increased monthly prices in several territories, including Canada, Mexico, Australia, and New Zealand in October 2022. Crunchyroll also lowered its monthly subscription price in almost 100 countries and territories in July 2022.
The Fan tier has no advertisements, and all new simulcast episodes will be available to users as they premiere. The Mega Fan tier includes all features from the Fan tier. In addition, this tier enables offline viewing and access to four streams at once. Members also get a 10% discount off select products and free shipping for orders over US$50 on the Crunchyroll Store. The Ultimate Fan tier includes everything from the Fan Tier. It also features offline viewing and access to six streams at once. Members can get a 15% discount off select products and free shipping on the Crunchyroll Store. In addition, members receive an annual Ultimate Fan member swag bag and access to exclusive member-only merchandise.
The Funimation app shut down on April 2, as part of the ongoing content and service consolidation from Funimation to Crunchyroll after the companies merged. Crunchyroll president Rahul Purini revealed that the company is working to offer users migrating from the soon-to-shut-down Funimation app to Crunchyroll with "an appropriate value" of compensation for their digital copies, which Crunchyroll does not support. Funimation subscribers can migrate their account to Crunchyroll (including their watch history and queue), or merge their Funimation account with a pre-existing Crunchyroll account (if the two accounts are tied to the same email address).
Funimation listed that the subscription price may change for some, but not all customers. Specifically, the website stated that "legacy" subscribers for Funimation, who have been grandfathered into lower subscription prices even after Funimation had increased its costs, experience a price change upon the transfer to Crunchyroll. Funimation had increased prices in August 2022 as it was transitioning to a unified subscription service with Crunchyroll.
Crunchyroll announced in March 2022 that it would no longer offer free ad-supported viewing. Crunchyroll would instead require that viewers have a subscription to access new and continuing simulcasts. The company added that the first three episodes of each title would be available for ad-supported viewing for a week after their premiere on Crunchyroll until a certain point, and subsequent episodes will be limited to subscribers. Crunchyroll confirmed that with continuing anime, ad-supported viewing will not be available with episodes starting with the spring 2022 season, but episodes prior to that season will be available. The company updated its statement that September that "AVOD content will rotate and refresh regularly."
Sony's Funimation Global Group completed its acquisition of Crunchyroll from AT&T on August 9, 2021, after the company first announced the acquisition in December 2020. The purchase price was US$1.175 billion, and the proceeds were paid in cash at closing. Funimation's home video releases are now listed under Crunchyroll.
Source: Crunchyroll
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