Gen-Z, Millennial Opps: Crunchyroll promotes CMO to COO amid spend increase (Score 44)

Sales Lead: Anime streaming platform Crunchyroll recently promoted Gita Rebbapragada, its CMO of almost two years, to COO.

• She succeeds Crunchyroll's former COO of 15 years, Brady McCollum.
• The brand has not yet announced a new CMO to succeed Rebbapragada, but we will let you know if and when it does so.
• The company will likely:
  • Need additional marketing support with the vacant CMO role
  • Implement strategy shifts
  • Continue increasing digital spend
  • Conduct agency reviews
• Target demographic: 
  • ​​​​​​​Gen-Z and millennials

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Additional recent leadership shifts:

• This shift closely follows Crunchyroll's appointments of strategy and planning SVP Claire Lee (January-February 2023) and creative services VP Norman Rabinovich (May 2023).

Additional spending insights:

• Digital and social insights (digital ad spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)
  • YTD spend: Crunchyroll has spent approximately $31.4m on digital ads YTD, a 37% increase from the approximately $22.9m spent by this point last year.
  • YTD data: So far this year, the brand has earned ~3.1b digital impressions via YouTube (76%), Facebook (14%), and Instagram (10%) ads.
  • Last year: In 2022, Crunchyroll spent roughly $34.1m on this channel, 33% more than the roughly $25.6m spent in 2021.
• Additional channel insights  
  • The brand utilizes Google Ads along with Facebook Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, and online video (primarily via Youtube.com and YouTube IOS) ads.
  • Crunchyroll sponsors podcasts such as Illuminaughtii, The One Piece Podcast, ACG - The Best Gaming Podcast, and Otaku Spirit Anime.

Additional agency insights:

• Opportunity: Crunchyroll may conduct agency reviews, especially once it taps a new CMO, so reach out soon to remain top-of-mind.
• Current agency roster:
  • ​​​​​​​No current agency relationships yet confirmed

Insight Sources: Digital spend insights estimated by Pathmatics; additional channel insights estimated by Vivvix; podcast insights by Podchaser.​​​​​​​