Naruto fandom celebrates being the "top one anime" over One Piece via Netflix hours watched

In a surprising turn of events, Naruto has claimed Netflix’s most-watched anime title of 2024, amassing 330 million viewing hours. The data, revealed by anime industry advisor Pascal J. Bonnet, analyzed the year’s second half. One Piece followed closely with 316 million hours, sparking passionate debates between fans of both legendary series.

Naruto supporters see this as proof of its lasting appeal, despite its original run being ended, while One Piece continues airing new episodes. With such a narrow margin, the rivalry remains intense, ensuring ongoing discussions about which series reign supreme in the anime streaming landscape.

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Netflix’s anime dominance: Naruto leads as top series amidst billion-dollar streaming boom

The data, which appears to consolidate franchise-wide viewing hours (including Boruto hours for Naruto and movies for One Piece), reveals an interesting hierarchy of anime popularity on Netflix. Demon Slayer secured third place with 208 million hours followed by Pokémon and Black Clover which completed the top five with 170 million and 138 million hours respectively.

Netflix's increasing control over the anime streaming market gives these numbers special significance. The platform earned around $2.07 billion from anime content in 2023 while making up 38% of the worldwide anime streaming revenue and far exceeding Crunchyroll's $1.16 billion in earnings.

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Fan reactions: A tale of two fandoms

The fan base has rapidly celebrated this success because many people recognize the enduring popularity of a series that ended its original broadcast in 2017. However, One Piece devotees have offered several counterpoints to contextualize the numbers.

"Even crazier when you realize Netflix only has OG Naruto they never added Shippuden," said one fan.

"That’s crazy impressive considering one piece was added while it was airing and they got a whole live action adaptation," said another fan.

"This is crazy because Naruto stopped airing when? While one Piece which is still actively airing falls behind, I know my OG top one Anime," stated another fan.

Many note that Netflix only recently began streaming new One Piece episodes with the Egghead arc, while missing several hundred episodes from the catalog throughout most of 2024. Both fandoms acknowledge certain limitations in interpreting these metrics.

"Most One Piece Watchers are on Crunchyroll. Netflix only recently started airing new episodes with Egghead. If all views are counted from all platforms, One Piece clears.", argued one fan.

"Mind you one piece was missing a bunch of episodes for most of the year while the full collection of Naruto is on Netflix," argued another fan.

Netflix statistics demonstrate impressive results yet they show only part of what each franchise achieves in terms of total global viewership across all available platforms.

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Conclusion

The ongoing competition between Naruto and One Piece remains fierce as both franchises continue to dominate anime because streaming services keep adding more content to their catalogs. Fans rejoice over their success in Netflix rankings while One Piece fans stay hopeful about taking back first place in the following year.

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