HIDIVE is a very popular anime only streaming service similar to Crunchyroll and Funimation. One can say that HIDIVE was a big competitor in the streaming market for Crunchyroll.
They both have a huge library with large spread networks all over the world for their streaming services. There are also other competing anime streaming services like Hulu and Netflix.
Meanwhile, Hulu does not have a wide collection of anime, and Netflix is not a anime only streaming service. In conclusion, HIDIVE was the only competition to SONY’s Crunchyroll.
This news has potentially affected everyone in the market and is aware of it. You might be wondering how this affects me and creates a monopoly in the anime industry.
HIDIVE Sizing Down It’s Market
HIDIVE is a popular anime streaming service, and it is scaling down in many parts of the world. They recently sent an Email to everyone notifying them that their anime streaming services will no longer be available in the area. The email reads,
“ Thank you for being a valued member of HIDIVE.
We are constantly evaluating the HIDIVE offering and our area of operation. As such, HIDIVE will no longer be available in your area as of 12/14/2023, and you will no longer be billed for HIDIVE. However, you will have full access to our content library on our website ( website name ) through 12/31/23.”
This streaming service sizing down will give Crunchyroll the opportunity to grow its network even larger with no competitors in the market. HIDIVE has the same good content as Eminence in Shadow, and due to HIDIVE will be no longer operating, there will be no one to license the shows on HIDIVE.
Then Crunchyroll and other anime streaming services will be able to license it. This will make Crunchyroll even stronger in the market as it will have more anime series on its platform.
How The Market Will Be Affected
While this is a good thing for Crunchyroll, it is bad for the anime streaming services market and for the people who have only one option to choose from. Having competition in the market is a good thing as it gives choice to the people and also allows new streaming services to rise up in the market so that it maintains balance.
It will also help with the lower prices. As I have mentioned earlier, Hulu is just a new player in the game. While Netflix has some good anime content, it’s not in direct competition with anime streaming services.
After HIDIVE backs out from the market, it is not sure that other streaming services will be able to gain access to the license to the shows that were available on HIDIVE, and people may try to watch their favorite content from pirated websites.
Which can turn paid customers towards pirated anime streaming services, which are illegal. It is because when they can get to watch their favorite shows for free, then why will they ever pay for it again?
The reason HIDIVE is sizing down its market is because they were not able to generate profit from the number of people using its streaming service to justify its expenses.
So they decided that they would back out of those countries. This was a very bad business decision, so they just left it. There is also a possibility that it is shrinking down because of some other reason that they don’t want to share publicly.
