Girls now make up 44% of teenage anime fans, according to a 2025 global study conducted by National Research Group .

The study covered around 29,000 entertainment consumers across 7 markets. It found that younger and female fans were also among the groups calling most strongly for broader characters and more female leads. Anime’s old “boys-only” image looks increasingly detached from the audience.

Lena Lemon has watched that gap widen from inside the business. The Japanese American creator has built her career around anime, gaming and cosplay, working with companies including Sony, Crunchyroll, Netflix and State Farm.

“A common misconception is that anime is a genre, but it’s not,” Lemon told me. “It’s a medium for storytelling.”

Anime covers action, romance, fantasy, comedy and stories about everyday life. Wider international distribution has given audiences access to more of those titles, while creators have made previously underestimated groups of fans easier for brands to see.

The money has followed. The Association of Japanese Animations’ latest figures value the anime market at a record $25.4 billion in 2024, up 14.8% in a year. Overseas spending reached $14.3 billion, rising 26%.

Anime has outgrown its old demographic stereotype

International anime distribution was once dominated by shōnen titles aimed mainly at younger male viewers. That early selection helped establish the idea that the wider audience looked much the same.

Lemon believes access changed the picture. As distributors licensed a broader mix of titles, viewers outside the traditional young male demographic found more stories that spoke to them.

“We’ve been able to have wider access to anime titles and a rise in genres like romance, like fashion romance, slice of life, fantasy, genres that kind of appeal to a wider audience,” she said.

Recent audience studies support Lemon’s argument. Dentsu surveyed 8,600 consumers across 10 markets between October 2024 and March 2025. It found that 31% watched anime at least weekly, including around 29% of women.

Social platforms gave fans a public role

Lemon had already spent years watching anime before she made it the centre of her work. She initially created broader lifestyle and fashion content. During the early stages of the pandemic, she noticed anime discussion gathering pace on TikTok through memes, reactions and comedy. “I saw the trajectory and I thought this is definitely where I need to be,” she said.

Her decision combined audience growth with a subject she already cared about. “I just truly loved anime,” she said. “And I think regardless of whether I knew it was going to blow up the way it did, I love and enjoy and have a passion for creating anime and sharing it.”

This part of the story is easy to miss if you look only at viewing figures. Fans now explain series, review releases, make costumes, attend conventions and host their own discussions.

Dentsu’s research found that one-third of anime viewers watched streams or podcasts hosted by creators. Around 20% posted anime content themselves, 12% attended conventions and 9% hosted an anime stream or podcast.

Ben Woods of MIDiA Research described a similar feedback loop about how entertainment companies learn from online audiences “You create, you publish the content, you look at the data, you optimize, and you use what the data is telling you to create differently next time,” Woods told me.

In anime, creators form part of that feedback. Their audiences reveal which characters, genres and cultural references travel well. They also show brands how fans talk when there is no campaign script in the room.

Fandom became a full-time business for Lemon

Lemon was working in digital marketing for a food and beverage company while building her channels. Eventually, the numbers forced a decision. “It came to a point where I realized my income was starting to match my full-time job,” she said.

She left the job and committed to content creation full time. Five years later, brand partnerships provide the largest share of her revenue. YouTube advertising and hosting work provide other income.

Her business has moved past the picture of a creator working alone with a phone. Lemon is represented by management firm NewGen, with her manager Mark Sharman handling the commercial side of her career. She also commissions specialists to make cosplay outfits and brings an assistant to some conventions.

“It’s definitely not just myself,” she said. “It takes a village for sure.”

The work also now takes Lemon into parts of the entertainment business that were once separated from online fandom. She co-hosted the 2024 Crunchyroll Anime Awards in Tokyo and has since added voice acting to her work.

Katie Feeney, ESPN’s first sports and lifestyle creator, described the value of that public role during an episode of The Business of Creators podcast.

“Now I’m one of those personalities and faces for this new generation of women and sports fans that are consuming my content,” Feeney told me.

The subject was sport rather than anime, but the business pattern is similar. A creator can give an established media company a recognisable face on the platforms where younger fans already spend their time.

Brands still misunderstand the creator’s job

Anime’s popularity has brought in advertisers with varying levels of knowledge about the culture surrounding it. Lemon said her partners have ranged from companies already tied to anime, such as Crunchyroll and Netflix, to State Farm, a brand with no obvious historic association with anime.

“It is really cool, the time that we live in now,” she said. “I wouldn’t have ever believed if you told me back then that I would be working with some of the brands that I’ve had the chance to work with.”

The growth has reached beyond entertainment brands. “Brands are realizing more and more how much of an impact anime has on society, the way it shapes pop culture, entertainment, fashion, sports,” Lemon said.

A polished campaign can still fail if the people behind it treat anime as a generic visual style. Fans have strong attachments to particular stories and characters. They also have long memories when a brand gets something basic wrong.

Lemon’s value to a company lies partly in helping it avoid that mistake. Her role includes judging whether an idea belongs in the conversation before the advertiser spends money placing it there.

Japanese studios remain the next frontier

Lemon wants to work more directly with Japanese studios and distributors.

“Being able to work with the Japanese side of the industry, I feel like would be able to bring a unique side to the audience in a way that they can connect on an even deeper level,” she said.

“It is historically very, very difficult to get access to Japanese talent overseas,” she told me.

Closer relationships between Japanese rights holders and international creators could give studios a clearer view of overseas audiences. They could also give creators access to interviews, talent and production material that helps their coverage stand apart.

And she has a direct message for companies entering the market: creators understand this audience because they belong to it.

There has probably never been a better time to find the corner of it that speaks to you.