Twitch Prime adds its first non-gaming "booty" with access to the Anime Crunchyroll streaming service – TechCrunch



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Tic Prime, the version of Amazon Prime's streaming service, generally aims to provide subscribers with free loot and other gaming benefits since its inception a few years ago. Now, that changes. Twitch Prime today launches its first non-gaming "booty": a 30-day subscription to the Anime streaming service, Crunchyroll Premium.

Crunchyroll is a prime destination for watching anime online with over 45 million registered users and 2 million paid subscribers who typically pay $ 7.99 per month for its "Premium" level. The library of the service includes more than 1,000 series and 30,000 episodes. And the wider Crunchyroll brand includes things like mobile games, events, merchandise, and so on.

Both companies, Twitch and Crunchyroll, already had a long-term relationship before today. Over the past two years, Crunchyroll has for example made the game's streaming site live exclusively from its annual Anime Awards, and operates its own Twitch channel. Over the past year, Twitch also broadcast an animated marathon before the exclusive show, in which over 1.3 million online viewers watched a collective of nearly 19 million minutes. The official Twitch feed of the Anime Awards has also reached nearly half a million viewers.

Given Twitch's public interest in cartoons, a partnership that could potentially convert some of these fans into paid subscribers makes sense for Crunchyroll.

Meanwhile, for Twitch, this move is a way to test the extension of Twitch Prime offers to a new category – free trial subscriptions. The broader subscriptions market is booming, with some claiming that anything from transportation to entertainment to term purchases will eventually become subscription-based. Helping these companies reach younger members of the Twitch population – especially those who already pay a subscription with Twitch itself – could help a service boost enrollment.

Today, most streaming subscriptions offer a free trial to interested users, but small players are still struggling to make discoveries among a growing number of newcomers to the market, ranging from live TV services. to video on demand and soon to big names such as Apple TV + and Disney +, for example.

Twitch and Crunchyroll did not specify the type of revenue sharing that would occur if Twitch Prime members decided to continue with a paid subscription once the free month elapsed.

"We're always looking to please Crunchyroll fans, but we feel it's our job to continue to increase the popularity of anime with new audiences," said Eric Berman, head of partnerships at Crunchyroll, in a statement. "We're proud to work with like-minded, fan-focused partners and are excited to offer all Twitch Prime members a free Crunchyroll pass just in time for the spring season." , he added.

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