Dubs vs subs, found out the actual numbers behind the debate

I was bored last night and wondered how many people actually watch anime dubbed compared to subbed. So I dug into some streaming data from a few sites, not official but fan-run polls plus Crunchyroll's own numbers they shared at an expo. Turns out subs are still way ahead globally, like 70/30 split, but the US is almost 50/50 now for newer shows. I thought dub fans were a tiny minority but it's basically half the English speaking audience. That really surprised me because every forum thread I see is all subs all the way. Has anyone else seen different stats or noticed the shift in their own friend group?

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jana5841mo ago

I gotta say those numbers don't match what I see at all lol. In my circle of friends who watch anime, literally one person watches dubs and we give him grief about it constantly, the rest of us are subs only. Maybe the US numbers are skewed by casual viewers who just throw on whatever's on Netflix while doing dishes or something, not the people who actually post on forums. The hardcore fans are almost all sub watchers in my experience, so the polls might be counting a way different crowd than the one you see arguing online. Also those fan run polls can be super skewed depending on where they get posted, like a poll on a subreddit is gonna give you way different results than one on a facebook group. I'd be curious how they defined "watches dubbed" too, like does watching one dub ever count you as a dub fan?

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