Highlights
- Leading anime studios like MAPPA, Toei Animation, and Studio Ghibli dominate the streaming era.
- Overseas markets drove 56% of anime revenue in 2024, highlighting streaming, licensing, and international demand as key growth engines.
- Both legacy and emerging studios, including Madhouse and Science SARU, sustain anime’s global expansion through diverse catalogs.
The global anime market has entered its most commercially successful era, primarily driven by overseas streaming demand. But the success was not solely driven by platforms; anime studios built the franchises, production pipelines, and creative identities that made anime a globalized entertainment property.
A handful of anime studios, like MAPPA, Ghibli, and Toei, have emerged as the dominant creative forces, with their catalogs constantly becoming streaming era hits. Due to streaming and licensing demand, overseas markets accounted for 56% of total anime revenue in 2025.The overseas market grew 26% in revenue, while domestic Japanese sales increased just 2.8%.
This listicle compiles 10 anime studios have built the most commercially successful streaming catalogues since 2010, measured by platform presence and award recognition.
1. MAPPA
MAPPA is the most commercially dominant anime studio as of 2026, producing the highest-value titles such as Jujutsu Kaisen and Chainsaw Man. The studio secured a landmark partnership with Netflix in January 2026 to co-create a world-class animation studio model.
MAPPA holds the record for most Crunchyroll Best Animation nominations with nine in total. The studio reportedly owns 10 anime IPs, including Chainsaw Man, which the studio self-produced.
2. Ufotable
Ufotable has dominated the Crunchyroll Best Animation category since 2021, winning four consecutive years through 2025, all for Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. The studio's animation quality for Demon Slayer and Fate series helped the franchise become one of the most successful anime properties globally, with consistent streaming performance across Netflix and Crunchyroll.
Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle, released in September 2025, became the highest-grossing anime film of the year with $741M box office revenue. Apart from these, God Eater and Tales of Zestiria the Cross are other two prominent anime by Ufotable.
3. Toei Animation
Toei Animation is one of the largest anime studios by revenue, commanding franchises like One Piece, Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon, and Digimon. The One Piece IP alone generated ¥27.84B (~$175.72M) in total revenue across domestic and overseas licensing.
Despite being a decade-old franchise, One Piece has retained its position as a streaming-era hit, enjoying overseas popularity and merchandising deals.
4. Studio Ghibli
Studio Ghibli is one of the most prominent anime studios in Japan, and also one of the first studios that accelerated anime’s global expansion. The studio's catalog generated 39M viewing hours on Netflix in the first half of 2025, proving its streaming demand and popularity.
Ghibli’s catalogue consists of two Academy Award-winning features, Spirited Away, The Boy and the Heron, along with the entire filmography of Hayao Miyazaki. The studio does not engage in conventional co-productions or television series work, making catalog licensing the sole international revenue stream.
5. Wit Studio
Wit Studio helped establish anime as prestige streaming content during the 2010s. The studio produced three seasons of Attack on Titan, one of the first anime series to break into mainstream global streaming culture.
Its later catalog strengthened that position with Spy x Family, Vinland Saga, and Great Pretender. The Netflix-backed Great Pretender especially highlighted Wit’s international storytelling appeal. Wit Studio is currently developing a reboot of one of the most commercially dominant anime IPs, One Piece.
6. A-1 Pictures
A-1 Pictures built one of streaming anime’s most versatile commercial catalogues with Solo Leveling, Sword Art Online, 86, and Kaguya-sama: Love Is War. The studio balances blockbuster action with mainstream romance and coming-of-age titles. Its recent breakout, Solo Leveling, won Anime of the Year at the 2025 Crunchyroll Anime Awards, and also became a streaming and social media sensation.
7. Bones
Founded in 1998, Studio Bones has produced successful anime for 25 years, including Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, My Hero Academia, and Mob Psycho 100. The studio won Best Animation at the 2nd Crunchyroll Anime Awards (2018) for My Hero Academia season 2 and holds six total nominations in the Best Action category alongside MAPPA.
8. Production I.G
Production I.G, founded in 1987, has maintained its artistic credibility in the streaming era through franchises that include Ghost in the Shell, Haikyuu, and Psycho-Pass. The studio is known for international co-production relationships and focuses on maintaining long-running franchises while exploring original IP development with streaming platforms.
Haikyuu remains one of the most popular sports anime on Crunchyroll, with all seasons available for streaming. The studio is part of the IG Port group, which created Wit Studio in 2012 to handle specific properties.
9. Studio Pierrot
Studio Pierrot built its streaming dominance through long-running shonen franchises, even though most of them premiered before the streaming boom began. Its catalog, consisting of Naruto, Boruto, Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War, and Black Clover, continues to perform strongly on global platforms. The revival of Bleach especially demonstrated how legacy anime can regain streaming relevance through modern production upgrades and international licensing.
10. Madhouse
Madhouse remains one of anime streaming’s most important legacy studios because many of its titles became gateway series for global viewers. Its catalog includes Death Note, Hunter x Hunter, Overlord, No Game No Life, and One Punch Man season 1.
Even years after release, these titles remain heavily streamed and talked about across platforms. While Madhouse no longer dominates seasonal production at the level it once did, its catalogue continues generating discovery traffic for streaming services worldwide.
While these 10 studios dominate the streaming era, there are other notable studios whose anime productions are rising to popularity. Science SARU and CloverWorks are two of the most notable anime studios in recent times. While MAPPA and Ufotable continue to dominate with action-based shonen, these studios are creating a prestige catalog with genre diversity.
