How do you pronounce “Tudum” in Korean?
A new study by the researchers at Ampere Analysis found that most of us watch foreign-language content at least “sometimes” — and some of the 54 percent of streaming users ages 18-64 in the U.S., the UK, Australia, and Canada watch non-English-language content “very often.”
The numbers are up significantly (roughly +26 percent) from the 43 percent of internet users who affirmed they watch international content in 2020. That was about 18 months before “Squid Game” was released (and racked up more than 265 million views) on Netflix.
Speaking of the biggest hit (in any language) in Netflix’s recorded history, it is Korean-language shows and films (shoutout to 2019’s “Parasite”!) leading the foreign-language charge. “Frequent viewing” of such titles in the English-speaking markets have jumped from 22 percent in the first quarter of 2020 to 35 percent in 2024.
As per usual, it is the youths who are embracing the (literally) foreign stuff first; two-thirds (66 percent) of the 18-34 demo is regularly watching international content. But middle-aged folks are catching up, with the largest growth in adoption among those 45 to 64 (from 30 percent to 41 percent; find the age breakdown in chart form below). The same group has been signing up for streaming services at the fastest pace.
Speaking of tech adoption, AI is making it cheaper and faster to either dub or subtitle the content into English.
Of those two means of translation, subtitling is the preferred option to viewers in the U.S., the UK, Canada, and Australia. More than one-quarter (28 percent) of English speakers said they “enjoy” using subtitles for content that originated in a different language. Less than one-fifth (19 percent) said they “enjoy” dubbing.
That’s not true everywhere. France, Germany, Italy, and Spain prefer dubbing; the Nordic territories and the Netherlands love their subtitling. English is quite strong in the Nordic territories and the Netherlands, which likely skews that result, and titles from primarily Anglophone markets (like the U.S.) still make up the bulk of global streaming libraries.
The content-without-borders shift is “positive news for streamers,” Ampere summed up its findings, in part. And boy could a couple of them use some. International content tends to be more cost-effective to produce, and it is beginning to “satisfy” user demands for fresh content.
Ampere Analysis polled 10,000 adults in Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, the UK, and the U.S. “International content” for the Ampere study refers to Spanish, Korean, or Bollywood content, or overseas TV shows and movies with subtitles in Australia, Canada, the UK, and the U.S.
