Jump Plus associate editor Yuta Momiyama recently shared some insights into the readership of Shueisha’s Manga Plus platform, which launched as a free global service in 2019. Currently, the platform offers manga in three languages (English, Spanish, and Thai), updating daily as chapters become available. Already, the popularity of Manga Plus was clear thanks to such series as SPY x FAMILY and Kaiju No. 8, but Momiyama’s insights into the platform’s readership are truly surprising.
Firstly, Momiyama begins by highlighting just how successful the Manga Plus endeavour has been for Shueisha. The number of users continues to reach record highs, while new chapters of popular series can regularly break over 1 million page views. As Momiyama says: “This is probably a figure with no equal in the manga world.”
What’s particularly interesting about the most popular series among the Manga Plus readership is the fact that they do not yet have anime adaptations. Momiyama mentions Kaiju No. 8 as the most popular new series, while SPY x FAMILY continues to be a hit. Yet, in the past, there was almost no example of series becoming popular before an anime – as Momiyama muses: “Aside from the quality of the series, this is probably because of the lack of pirated leaks.”
Furthermore, Momiyama revealed the countries with the highest Manga Plus readership as of last month. While such countries as Thailand and Mexico occupy the second and fourth spot respectively – to be expected given Manga Plus’ foreign language provision – the fact that the USA came in first place honestly surprised me.
After all, VIZ Media has been operating the Shonen Jump service over there for years, along with the UK. This suggests that the draw of free chapters on a much more generous basis (VIZ tends to only offer the first and latest chapters of any given series) is much more attractive, even if VIZ’s paid service has a much more robust backlog.
What about you? Do you use Manga Plus instead of VIZ Media’s Shonen Jump? Are you counted among the top countries of Manga Plus’ readership? Let us know via social media or our Discord server, linked below.