Asian-led stories, talent, and cultural touchpoints are driving engagement and viewership across every major demographic group, not just Asian American audiences, according to Nielsen’s report titled The Crossover Effect: AANHPI Audiences X Content.  

From some of the world’s biggest live sporting events to K-Pop Demon Hunters to BTS and to Squid Game, Nielsen’s proprietary research underscores the opportunity for brands and media buyers to align with iconic Asian-led content that offers access to a broad, diverse, and highly engaged audience that over-indexes on ad attention when creative reflects their culture.

“The proliferation of Asian and Asian American-driven content is not a trend, it’s a mainstream cultural movement,” said Stacie deArmas, Vice President, Strategic Initiatives & Consumer Engagement, Nielsen. “Nielsen’s new report underscores how content championed by this community is creating measurable value for brands and media buyers looking to reach mass audiences. And once again, shines a light on our unique ability to measure these diverse audiences with meaningful insights.”

“AAANHPI creators and talent are not only reaching global audiences—they are shaping what audiences watch, celebrate, and share,” said Bing Chen, Co-Founder and CEO of Gold House. “These are not just symbols—they’re signals. For brands and media leaders, this represents a clear opportunity to connect through stories and moments that resonate far beyond any one community.”

In 2025, 91 of the Top 100 broadcast programmes for Asian American viewers were sports events. In Nielsen’s The Crossover Effect: AANHPI Audiences X Content delves into how Asian and Asian American athletes command broad audiences in high-profile competitive moments, often functioning as audience multipliers in ways that extend well beyond their sport’s existing fanbase.

Recent examples noted in the report from the past year include:

• Alysa Liu’s gold medal free skate at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics drew 26.7 million viewers on NBC/Peacock, the largest Winter Games weekday audience since 2014. This broke a 20-year US women’s figure skating gold medal drought.

• Shohei Ohtani has delivered a consistent version of the same effect across multiple baseball seasons. AANHPI viewership of the 2024 World Series on Fox rose 146 per cent year over year, and Asian viewership of the 2025 MLB Tokyo Series increased 113 per cent compared to the 2024 Seoul Series.

• The 2026 World Baseball Classic featuring teams from Japan, South Korea, and Chinese Taipei, was a turning point for baseball as a global cultural event. For the first time, the tournament averaged over 1.3 million viewers on FOX, FS1, FS2, and Fox Deportes more than double 2023 (621K) and more than triple 2017 (403K).

Additional notable insights in the report include:

• K-Pop Demon Hunters on Netflix was the most-streamed original movie of 2025, with 20.5 billion minutes.  The movie charted on the Nielsen Streaming Top 10 for 26 consecutive weeks and reached the #1 movie position 10 times following its June premiere. The viewing patterns showed substantial fandom across audience segments including Teens 12-17, Adults 18-34, and Adults 35-49, ending the year as the #1 movie among Hispanic, Asian, Black, and White viewers.

• The numbers for Netflix’s BTS: The Return tell a powerful story of cross-generational and cross-cultural connection, delivering 47 million minutes of viewing in its first seven days. Interestingly, while Gen Z drove a solid 26 per cent of the audience, nearly 60 per cent of viewers were Gen X and Millennials, proving this fandom is a multi-generational powerhouse. Most notably, 73 per cent of the audience was non-Asian, showing that ‘K-Power’ has built a digital bridge that redefines fandom.

• Korean-language titles including Squid Game and Alice in Borderland (both Netflix) delivered strong cross-demographic performance throughout 2025. Squid Game ranked #2 in the Asian P2+ Nielsen Top 10 for all of 2025 with 1.6 billion minutes. Alice in Borderland (11.1 per cent Asian audience composition) and Your Majesty (18.5 per cent) both performed well above platform averages for Asian American viewership while delivering the broad audiences that make these titles valuable for brand adjacency. Asian American audiences also help deliver strong viewership for top performers such as Stranger Things #1 (Netflix), Friends #7 (HBO Max) and Resident Alien #8 (Peacock).

• Anime continues to be a major source of high-engagement fandom. The top 10 Anime series in January and February delivered a combined 5.3 billion minutes viewed.  One Piece (pictured) on Netflix led all anime series in total volume with 1.242 billion minutes in January and February 2026 alone.

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Categories: Articles, Consumer Behaviour, Content, Research

Tags: anime, BTS, Friends, kpop, netflix, nielsen