Crunchyroll Adds New Membership Tiers for Fans of Anime

Streaming service Crunchyroll has long been a great destination for anime fans to get their fix of all the latest and greatest shows.

Now, the service, which came under AT&T's ownership as part of the 2018 WarnerMedia acquisition, is launching two new paid membership tiers that offer additional features.

For lots of people, Crunchyroll is a great resource for free, legal, ad-supported anime streaming.

Dedicated fans can sign up for a $7.99/month premium membership, which offers an ad-free experience and provides new shows as they debut in Japan (and a week before free users get to watch them).

Those tiers aren't going anywhere and remain great options for anime fans on a budget. Besides, Crunchyroll boasts a library of over 1,000 shows, made up of 30,000 individual episodes, so there's lots to watch and enjoy.

Now, Crunchyroll has announced the introduction of two new premium tiers in the United States: Mega Fan and Ultimate Fan.

Mega Fan will cost $9.99/month and includes the additional perks of offline viewing, access to four concurrent streams, and a discount at the Crunchyroll Store.

Ultimate Fan will cost $14.99/month. It includes all of the above, except with six concurrent streams, and the added bonuses of an annual swag bag and access to purchase exclusive member merchandise.

While these two new tiers are US-only, Crunchyroll is also catering to international subscribers with new plans detailed on Crunchyroll.com.

Crunchyroll boasts 3 million paid subscribers, thanks to the draw of shows like One Piece, Black Clover, and Naruto: Shippuden.

Which is a great number for such a specialized streaming service. However, it is dwarfed by the likes of Netflix and Amazon, which offer a wealth of third-party and original anime content.

Additionally, some of the new features locked behind Crunchyroll's higher membership tiers, like offline viewing and multiple device streaming, come as standard elsewhere.

With rumors floating that AT&T want to sell Crunchyroll to Sony for around $1.5 billion, the telecommunications giant will hope to attract as many new paid members as possible to make the purchase more enticing for Sony.

Crunchyroll was founded in 2006 and boasts over 70 million worldwide registered users. And it's a great place to watch anime.

Of course, it's not the only service out there. Others, like Funimation, will surely be watching closely to see how Crunchyroll's new membership tiers pay off.