Video Localization Statistics

Key takeaways

1. On November 1, 2026, 57.2% of the 395 readable S&P 500 homepages pointed to a version in another language or country, by our count; 34.7% used hreflang tags and 42.8% showed no sign of another version. (Our count) See details
2. Sector matters: 90.6% of Information Technology homepages offered another language or country version, against 25.0% in Communication Services. (Our count) See details
3. On the biggest YouTube channels, 44.2% of English-original videos carried a dub, against 20.6% of videos in other languages, and Spanish was on 63.8% of all dubbed videos (our reading of our dubbing study's data, October 2026). (Our count) See details
4. 74,050,833 U.S. residents aged 5 and over spoke a language other than English at home in 2024, and 28,918,748 spoke English less than "very well". (U.S. Census Bureau) See details
5. YouTube says creators who upload multi-language audio see over 25% of their watch time from views in another language (July 2025), up from over 15% in its January 2023 test. (YouTube) See details
6. 53% of EU residents prefer subtitles to dubbing, but 62% of Germans do not (Eurobarometer, autumn 2023). (European Commission) See details
7. BLS cut its ten-year growth projection for translators and interpreters to 2%, from 24% in the 2020-30 round; translation agencies grew to 5,248 establishments in 2025 while their jobs fell to 38,829. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) See details
8. The famous 72.4% "buy in their native language" figure is not printed in the 2006 survey it is credited to, and in CSA Research's 2020 edition 66% would pick the cheaper product even without information in their language. (CSA Research) See details

How many big U.S. companies offer their website in other languages?

A little over half point visitors to another language or country version. On November 1, 2026 we opened the homepages of the S&P 500 companies in a headless browser: 395 of 503 were readable (62 bot walls, 21 errors, and 25 skipped because robots.txt disallowed or did not answer). 57.2% of the readable homepages pointed to a version in another language or country, through hreflang tags or a visible selector, and 42.8% showed no sign of one. Nobody else publishes this count; the method and every company's result are below.

Most companies that localize offer a handful of languages. The median homepage with hreflang listed 8 alternate entries covering 5 languages, and 30 of the 137 listed only English variants such as en-us and en-gb, which change country, not language. Vertiv listed the most: 234 languages. Only 0.8% declared a language other than English in the page's own language tag, and 2.5% declared none.

Sector matters. 90.6% of readable Information Technology homepages pointed to another language or country version (48 of 53), and 67.9% used hreflang; Health Care followed at 71.1% (32 of 45). Energy was at 27.8% (5 of 18) and Communication Services at 25.0% (5 of 20), and only 10.3% of Utilities homepages used hreflang.

How we counted: one visit per homepage at desktop size, no clicks. hreflang is read from the page's link tags. A selector is a link, button or menu labelled as a language, country or region chooser, or links to three or more locale paths such as /de-de/. In a hand check of 30 random pages the selector rule agreed with a person on 86.7% (26 of 30): one false positive and three misses, mostly unlabelled globe icons, so the selector share is more likely a slight undercount. Readable pages exclude several large consumer brands behind bot walls. Download every company's result (CSV).

Which languages do the biggest YouTube channels dub into?

Portuguese, Spanish, Arabic, Indonesian and Hindi, by our reading of the dataset behind our YouTube dubbing study (the 5 latest videos of 97 of the 100 most-subscribed channels, October 2026; channel-made dubs and YouTube auto-dubs together). Of the 149 videos with any dub, Portuguese audio was on 70.5%, Spanish on 63.8%, Arabic on 62.4%, Indonesian on 62.4% Hindi on 58.4% and English on 36.9%; 71.8% of the 39 dubbing channels offered Portuguese somewhere. The median dubbed video carried 11 dub languages, and 51.7% carried 10 or more.

Dubbing flows out of English much more than into it. 44.2% of English-original videos had a dub (92 of 208), against 20.6% of videos recorded in other languages (57 of 277). Every dubbed English-original video offered Spanish (100%), with a median of 13.5 languages; 96.5% of the dubbed non-English videos offered English, usually as their only dub. Only 13.0% of Hindi-original videos were dubbed (15 of 115). Dubbed videos were longer, a median 22.1 minutes against 7.25 for undubbed ones, and channel size did not predict dubbing: 36.7% of the larger half of channels dubbed against 43.8% of the smaller half.

How many people speak a language other than English at home?

In the United States, 74,050,833 people aged 5 and over spoke a language other than English at home in 2024, 23.0% of that population, according to the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (U.S. Census Bureau). That share was 21.1% in 2014 (U.S. Census Bureau) and 22.0% (67,802,345 people) in 2019 (U.S. Census Bureau). Spanish is the largest group by far: 44,867,699 people, 13.9% of U.S. residents aged 5 and over (U.S. Census Bureau), or 60.6% of everyone who speaks another language at home (our calculation), up from 41,757,391 in 2019 (U.S. Census Bureau).

Speaking another language at home does not mean a viewer needs a translation. In 2024, 28,918,748 U.S. residents (9.0%) spoke English less than "very well" (U.S. Census Bureau), up from 25,464,167 in 2019 (U.S. Census Bureau). That is 39.1% of everyone who speaks another language at home (U.S. Census Bureau), and 41.1% of Spanish speakers, or 18,432,221 people (U.S. Census Bureau). Speakers of Asian and Pacific Island languages, 11,928,962 people (U.S. Census Bureau), have the highest share speaking English less than "very well": 43.1% (U.S. Census Bureau). Another 13,038,087 speak an Indo-European language other than English or Spanish (U.S. Census Bureau).

Households matter for TV and streaming. 5,958,791 U.S. households (4.5%) were "limited English speaking" in 2024, meaning no one aged 14 or over speaks only English or speaks it very well (U.S. Census Bureau); among Spanish-speaking households the share was 19.8% (U.S. Census Bureau). Among adult citizens, the people who vote, 42,661,716 spoke another language at home (U.S. Census Bureau).

The Census Bureau's own release on the 2017-2021 five-year data put the share at 22% (U.S. Census Bureau), with about 61% of those speakers using Spanish (U.S. Census Bureau) and 62% also speaking English "very well" (U.S. Census Bureau).

Which language do U.S. Latinos choose for news?

Mostly English, but a large minority chooses Spanish. In Pew Research Center's November 2023 survey of 5,078 Latino adults, 54% got news mostly in English (Pew Research Center), 21% mostly in Spanish and 23% in both (Pew Research Center). 24% preferred news in Spanish (Pew Research Center). The split follows birthplace: 41% of Latino immigrants mostly got news in Spanish, against 2% of U.S.-born Latinos (Pew Research Center). Two-thirds could read a book or newspaper in Spanish at least pretty well (Pew Research Center), and half at least sometimes used Hispanic news outlets (Pew Research Center).

Canada, the UK and the EU

In Canada's 2021 census, 4.6 million people mainly spoke a language other than English or French at home (Statistics Canada), 12.7% of the population, up from 7.7% in 1991 (Statistics Canada). 9,033,190 had another mother tongue (Statistics Canada); Mandarin and Punjabi each had more than half a million home speakers (Statistics Canada), and 18.0% could speak both official languages (Statistics Canada).

In England and Wales, 91.1% of residents aged 3 and over had English (or Welsh) as their main language in the 2021 census (Office for National Statistics). Polish was the most common other main language, at 612,000 people (Office for National Statistics), and 880,000 people could not speak English well (Office for National Statistics).

Across the EU, 59% of people aged 15 and over said in autumn 2023 that they could hold a conversation in at least one language besides their mother tongue (European Commission), and 39% could not (European Commission). 47% could do so in English (European Commission). Among people who speak a foreign language, 39% regularly used it to watch films or TV or listen to the radio (European Commission), and 20% of all respondents said they had taught themselves a language from TV, films or radio (European Commission). Eurostat's 2022 Adult Education Survey, which asks adults aged 25-64 a different question, found 25.3% knew no foreign language (Eurostat) and 37.6% knew exactly one (Eurostat); only 28% of those who knew one called themselves proficient in it (Eurostat).

What do YouTube, Netflix and Meta say about dubbed and translated video?

They say non-native-language viewing is a large and growing share of watch time. YouTube said in July 2025 that creators who upload multi-language audio tracks saw on average over 25% of their watch time come from views in a language other than the video's original (YouTube), up from over 15% in its early test as of January 2023 (YouTube). Both numbers cover only creators who chose to dub, so they describe those channels, not YouTube as a whole.

YouTube: multi-language audio and auto dubbing

• In January 2023, viewers watched over 2 million hours of dubbed video a day (YouTube). By then the test creators had uploaded over 3,500 multi-language videos in more than 40 languages (YouTube), and MrBeast had dubbed his most popular videos into 11 languages (YouTube).
• For videos with dubbed audio, more than 40% of watch time came from viewers choosing a dubbed language, YouTube's CEO wrote in his 2025 letter (YouTube). The same letter said more than 95% of French creator Sarah Lezito's watch time came from outside France (YouTube).
• Multi-language audio "amplified views by 3x" on chef Jamie Oliver's channel, one channel's result in 2025 (YouTube); Mark Rober averages over 30 dubs per video (YouTube).
• Auto dubbing launched in December 2024 for hundreds of thousands of Partner Program channels focused on knowledge and information (YouTube), dubbing English into eight languages: French, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish (YouTube).
• By June 2025 it had dubbed more than 20 million videos (YouTube) across 9 languages (YouTube); in September 2025 YouTube said it supported 20 dubbing languages (YouTube), and in February 2026 it opened auto dubbing to everyone with 27 (YouTube). Expressive Speech, which keeps the creator's tone, launched the same month in 8 languages (YouTube).
• In December 2025, more than 6 million daily viewers watched at least 10 minutes of auto-dubbed video (YouTube). Videos over 120 minutes are not eligible, per the help center in 2026 (YouTube).
• Live is next: more than 40% of YouTube live watch time comes from viewers outside the creator's home country, YouTube said in September 2026 (YouTube).

YouTube's help center (read November 2026) repeats the over 25% figure for creators who upload multi-language audio (YouTube). Our own YouTube dubbing study counts which of the biggest channels actually publish dubs.

Netflix: a third of viewing is not in English

Netflix publishes its viewing twice a year, and the share of non-English titles has held near a third since the first report. Non-English titles generated 30% of viewing in January-June 2023 (Netflix), nearly a third in July-December 2023 (Netflix), nearly a third again in the first half of 2024 (Netflix) and nearly a third in the second (Netflix), then more than one-third in January-June 2025 (Netflix), over a third in July-December 2025 (Netflix) and more than a third in January-June 2026 (Netflix). A decade earlier it was less than a tenth (Netflix).

• In July-December 2023, Korean titles took 9% of all viewing, Spanish 7% and Japanese 5% (Netflix). In the first half of 2025, 10 of the 25 most-watched series were not in English (Netflix).
• In 2025, 70% of Netflix viewing was of a title from a country other than the member's own (Netflix).
• More than 40% of viewing hours worldwide happen with subtitles, Netflix said in May 2023 (Netflix); in the U.S. it was nearly half of hours in April 2025, captions for same-language viewing included (Netflix). In 2019 Netflix said more than 80% of members used subtitles or captions at least once a month (Netflix).
• Dubbing wins for some genres: Netflix said in July 2025 that 80-90% of members watch anime dubbed (Netflix), and new anime launches with dubs in up to 33 languages (Netflix). Over 40% of viewing of branded Korean unscripted series was dubbed as of June 2024 (Netflix).
• As of May 2026, titles carry subtitles, dubbing or audio description in over 30 languages (Netflix). In the UK, viewing of non-English titles rose 90% in the three years to March 2023 (Netflix); in the U.S., it rose 33% in the two years to 2019 (Netflix).

Meta, Amazon, TikTok and Spotify

• Meta began testing AI dubbing of Reels between English and Spanish in September 2024 (Meta). By January 2026 Reels translation covered nine languages, adding Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, and Kannada to English, Hindi, Portuguese and Spanish (Meta), with hundreds of millions of people watching AI-translated videos daily (Meta). In June 2026 Meta said over half a billion Facebook users watched AI-translated videos weekly (Meta), and in July 2026 it added French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Korean on Instagram (Meta). Translation is free for Facebook creators with 1,000 or more followers and for public Instagram accounts (Meta).
• Prime Video piloted AI-aided dubbing in English and Latin American Spanish on 12 licensed titles in March 2025 that would not otherwise have been dubbed (Amazon), says it delivers subtitles and dubs in over 30 languages (Amazon), and its Spanish-language Culpables trilogy reached over 100 million viewers (Amazon). In September 2026 it launched AI lip-sync on human-dubbed English audio for Maxton Hall Seasons 1 and 2 (Amazon).
• TikTok launched caption and description translation in July 2022 in nine languages: English, Portuguese, German, Indonesian, Italian, Korean, Mandarin, Spanish and Turkish (TikTok); its Symphony AI Dubbing tool for marketers (June 2024) covers 10+ languages and dialects (TikTok).
• Spotify piloted AI voice translation of podcasts into Spanish, French, and German in September 2023 (Spotify).

Do viewers prefer subtitles or dubbing?

It depends on the country, and the answer is moving toward subtitles. In the EU's autumn 2023 Eurobarometer (26,523 interviews), 53% of people aged 15 and over said they prefer foreign films and programmes subtitled rather than dubbed, rising to 65% of young people (European Commission). That was up 11 points from 2012, while the share disagreeing fell to 43% (European Commission). In 2012, 44% preferred subtitles, and 37% in 2005 (European Commission).

Languages explain much of the gap. In the 2012 survey, 63% of people who speak three or more foreign languages preferred subtitles, against 31% of those who speak none (European Commission). A 2011 study for the European Commission counted 28 European countries or regions that subtitle in cinemas (European Commission) and 11 where dubbing dominates on TV, among them Germany, France, Italy and Spain (European Commission). In the UK, only about 23% of TV hours needed dubbing or subtitling (European Commission), and of films released in UK cinemas in 2009 only 35% needed translation (European Commission). In that study's survey of 1,850 students outside language faculties, 33% preferred dubbing for a film in a language they knew and 45% for one they did not (European Commission); among 3,122 language students only 13.5% preferred dubbing (European Commission). 68.7% of respondents said subtitles can improve knowledge of foreign languages (European Commission).

The UK, the U.S. and India

In Ofcom's February 2022 survey, 42% of UK online adults and teens had watched non-English content on video-on-demand in the past year, 66% of 18-24s (Ofcom). Of those viewers, 76% used English subtitles and 43% English dubbing (Ofcom). Minority ethnic users were more likely to watch than white users, 60% against 40% (Ofcom). Squid Game reached more than 10 million UK households in 2021, 69% of Netflix homes (Ofcom).

U.S. polls disagree, and the questions differ. YouGov's 2023 poll of 1,000 U.S. adults found 41% prefer subtitles for TV in a language they don't speak and 17% prefer dubbing (YouGov), while 38% only watch TV in languages they know (YouGov). Morning Consult's October 2021 poll of 2,200 U.S. adults, which did not offer that "only my languages" answer, found 62% prefer dubbing (Morning Consult). Read both as "Americans who watch foreign-language TV are split", not as a majority either way. In Morning Consult's January 2020 poll, 54% of adults who disliked foreign-language films named reading subtitles while following the action as a major reason (Morning Consult); by October 2021 about a quarter had watched Squid Game and 20% Money Heist (Morning Consult).

In India, YouGov's June 2019 poll of about 1,015 online adults found 72% prefer subtitles for content in languages they don't understand and 24% dubbing (YouGov), with 82% of South Indians preferring subtitles (YouGov).

Spanish-language viewing in the U.S.

Nielsen reports that in the first half of 2026, 42% of U.S. Hispanic viewers' linear TV time went to Spanish-language television, even though nine times more English-language hours were on offer (Nielsen). Hispanic audiences account for nearly 1 in 5 U.S. streaming minutes (Nielsen), and streaming was 55.8% of their TV time in 2025, against 46% for all U.S. viewers (Nielsen). YouTube alone was nearly 21% of Spanish-speaking audiences' TV time (Nielsen). Telemundo's Spanish-language World Cup coverage lifted its affiliates' viewing 143% month over month in June 2026 (Nielsen). Pew found in 2012 that 31% of immigrant Latinos got news only in Spanish (Pew Research Center); in its 2023 survey, 41% of Hispanic immigrants got news mostly in Spanish (Pew Research Center), a different question.

Do subtitles teach languages?

The evidence says they help. A 2025 IZA working paper (not yet peer reviewed) comparing English and maths scores across European countries estimated that subtitling rather than dubbing foreign TV raises a country's English skills by over one standard deviation (IZA Institute of Labor Economics). In a Universitat Pompeu Fabra experiment published in PLOS ONE in 2016, 60 Spanish students learning English watched one hour of an English drama; English subtitles gave the biggest gain in listening, while Spanish subtitles gave the best plot comprehension (PLOS ONE). Overseas consumers of Korean content aged 15-59 in 30 regions, in the Korean culture ministry's 2026 survey, spent 18.3 hours a month on Korean dramas (Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism), and Korean content was 24.9% of their cultural consumption (Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism).

In cinemas, U.S. films took 62% of Europe's 795 million admissions in 2025 (European Audiovisual Observatory), and 30% of admissions to European films were to films from another European country (European Audiovisual Observatory).

How many translators and interpreters work in the U.S.?

About 74,000 counting the self-employed, and 52,000 on payrolls. BLS Employment Projections count 73,900 interpreter and translator jobs in 2025, including the self-employed (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics), of which 27.6% (20,400) were self-employed (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). The OEWS employer survey, which leaves the self-employed out, counted 52,060 in May 2025 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). BLS does not count subtitlers or dubbing translators separately; they fall inside this occupation or in film and video editing. For scale, employers had 25,610 film and video editors on payroll the same month (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics).

Where they worked in May 2025: 20,260 in other professional services, the industry that holds translation agencies (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics), 11,030 in schools and colleges (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics), 5,020 in hospitals (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) and only 370 in the federal executive branch (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). Texas had the most, 6,780 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics), then California with 5,560 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) and Florida with 4,200 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). In May 2025 the New York metro area employed 2,520 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics); the Washington, D.C. area paid a mean of $93,460 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics).

BLS's outlook for translators fell from 29% growth to 2%

BLS's ten-year projection for the occupation has collapsed over a decade. The 2014-24 round forecast 29% growth, "much faster than the average" (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics); the 2016-26 round, 18% (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics); the 2020-30 round, 24% (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics); and from the 2023-33 round on, 2%, "slower than the average" (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). The current projection is 2.0% growth from 2025 to 2035 against 3.5% for all occupations (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics), to 75,400 jobs (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics), with about 6,000 openings a year, mostly to replace people who leave (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). The Handbook's job counts ran 61,000 in 2014 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics), 81,400 in 2020 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics), 78,300 in 2023 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) and 75,300 in 2024 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). The current Handbook page says AI makes translators more efficient but cannot yet fully automate most of the work, and repeats the 6,000 openings (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). In the industry matrix, 20,700 of the jobs sit in other professional services, projected flat (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics).

Translation agencies: more firms, fewer jobs

BLS's Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages counted 5,248 private translation and interpretation establishments (NAICS 541930) in 2025 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics), up from 3,996 in 2019 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). Their employment fell to 38,829 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) from 42,004 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics), while average pay rose to $61,628 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) from $46,615 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). Texas had the most agency jobs, 6,539 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics), California the most establishments, 720 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics), and Virginia the highest average pay of the large states, $95,894 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics).

The Census Bureau's counts agree on size. County Business Patterns found 2,801 employer establishments in 2023 (U.S. Census Bureau) with 41,495 employees (U.S. Census Bureau) and $2.18 billion in payroll (U.S. Census Bureau); the two agencies define establishments differently, so their counts differ. The 2022 Economic Census put the industry's revenue at $6.85 billion (U.S. Census Bureau), up from $4.45 billion in 2017 (U.S. Census Bureau), from 2,851 establishments (U.S. Census Bureau); the Annual Integrated Economic Survey put 2024 revenue at $6.93 billion (U.S. Census Bureau).

The Economic Census has no separate line for subtitling or dubbing, so nobody publishes a government count of that work.

How big is the localization business, and is it growing?

No government measures the global market, and the sellers' own numbers show a squeeze. RWS Holdings, one of the largest listed language-service companies, reported revenue of £690.1m for the year to September 2025, down 4% (RWS Holdings), with its Language Services division at £326.7m (RWS Holdings) and Regulated Industries at £128.5m, down 12% (RWS Holdings). It employs 7,649 full- and part-time staff plus more than 40,000 freelance vendors (RWS Holdings), and in June 2025 bought the technology of AI-dubbing start-up Papercup (RWS Holdings).

Dubbing in particular has fallen at ZOO Digital, an AIM-listed vendor that subtitles and dubs for studios and streamers. Its revenue for the year to March 2026 was $42.3 million, down 15% from $49.6 million, citing lower demand for dubbing (ZOO Digital), after a year that rose from $40.6 million when the 2023 Hollywood strikes hit (ZOO Digital). Its media localisation revenue fell to $24.2 million from $30.3 million (ZOO Digital). ZOO says it has delivered dubbing in as little as 24 hours against an industry norm of three to four weeks (ZOO Digital), draws on more than 12,000 freelancers (ZOO Digital), and notes that licensed content tends to get subtitling rather than dubs because licensees rarely pay for dubbing (ZOO Digital). Keywords Studios' Globalize division, which localizes video games, made 279.5 million euros in 2023, down 7.1%, its last year as a listed company (Keywords Studios).

What language companies report

The European Language Industry Survey is run by the European associations of translation companies and translators, who represent sellers, and its sample is self-selected. ELIS 2025 had 1,322 participants (ELIS Research); 50% of the language companies said their 2024 revenue fell, by 19% on average (ELIS Research), and for the first time a net majority expected their markets to shrink, in 20 out of 27 countries (ELIS Research). 88% of the companies had revenue under 5 million euros (ELIS Research), so the survey speaks for small firms and freelancers. Machine translation was used in more than 50% of their work (ELIS Research). ELIS 2026, with 1,058 participants (ELIS Research), found 63% of independent translators' work involved automated translation (ELIS Research), 17% considering ending their freelance work (ELIS Research), and entertainment and media work (subtitling, dubbing) gaining ground as a client domain (ELIS Research). Language companies outsource about 64% of their business (ELIS Research).

Market-size estimates come from research vendors

The global figures that circulate come from firms that sell research to the industry. Slator puts the market for language services and technology at USD 31.70 billion in 2025 (Slator). RWS's annual report, citing Slator, sizes its addressable market at about £24bn in 2024 and says the market shrank 2% from 2023 (RWS Holdings). CSA Research estimates that providers outside the top 100 hold 85.7% of language-services revenue, from about 27,000 providers (CSA Research). CSA also claims that less than 0.000004% of global content gets translated (CSA Research); it publishes no method for that figure, so treat it as a slogan.

AI dubbing vendors' own claims

These are the sellers' statements about themselves. ElevenLabs said in February 2026 that it closed 2025 with over $330 million in annual recurring revenue (ElevenLabs), then in May 2026 gave $350 million for the same date and said it passed $500 million in the first four months of 2026 (ElevenLabs): its two posts disagree on the 2025 figure. It says its creative platform localizes audio across more than seventy languages (ElevenLabs). HeyGen says its video translator covers 175+ languages and dialects (HeyGen). DeepL says it serves 200,000+ business customers (DeepL) and offers voice translation in 30+ languages (DeepL).

What the big buyers file

Netflix reported $45.18 billion of streaming revenue for 2025 (Netflix), of which $19.96 billion came from the U.S. and Canada (Netflix), so 55.8% came from outside the U.S. and Canada (our calculation). Its 10-K describes programming "across a wide variety of genres and languages" (Netflix). Spotify operates in 184 countries and territories (Spotify), with Europe its largest region at 26% of monthly users (Spotify). Duolingo had more than 130 million monthly users (Duolingo).

In Europe, the European Audiovisual Observatory counted 199,613 film and TV-season titles on EU video-on-demand services in June 2025 (European Audiovisual Observatory). U.S. works were 48% of catalogue presences (European Audiovisual Observatory), above half in eleven EU countries (European Audiovisual Observatory). More than 69% of EU works on a catalogue came from another EU country (European Audiovisual Observatory), and non-national EU works were 15% of catalogue works against 7% for national ones (European Audiovisual Observatory): most European titles cross a language border to reach their viewers. The EU itself works in 24 official languages (2026) (European Union); the Commission's translation service translated close to 2.5 million pages in 2025 (European Commission), its eTranslation engine produced over 890 million (European Commission), and the service managed EUR 48.8 million of administrative spending (European Commission).

Which laws require translation, subtitles or language access?

Few laws require translating video, but several set quotas that shape what gets subtitled or dubbed. The EU's revised Audiovisual Media Services Directive requires on-demand services to secure at least a 30% share of European works in their catalogues (European Parliament and Council), which member states had to write into law by 19 September 2020 (European Parliament and Council). The Commission's guidelines say the share is counted by number of titles, not viewing time (European Commission), and exempt services with under 1% of a country's audience (European Commission) or turnover under EUR 2 million (European Commission). Because more than 69% of the European works on EU catalogues come from another member state, much of that quota has to be subtitled or dubbed to be watched. The directive's Article 7 also obliges services to become progressively more accessible, with the first national reports due by 19 December 2022 (European Parliament and Council). The EU works in 24 official languages (European Union). Its Accessibility Act had to be transposed by 28 June 2022 (European Parliament and Council), with transition periods for existing products running to 28 June 2030 (European Parliament and Council).

In the U.S., federal language-access policy moved the other way in 2025: Executive Order 14224, signed March 1, 2025 (Executive Office of the President), made English the official language and revoked Executive Order 13166, the 2000 order on access for people with limited English (Executive Office of the President).

What the popular localization numbers really say

Localization vendors' blogs and AI-dubbing pitch pages repeat a small set of numbers. We traced each to the organization that produced it.

"72.4% of consumers are more likely to buy in their native language"

The number belongs to Common Sense Advisory (now CSA Research), a firm that sells research to language-service providers, but not to the survey it is credited to. The first "Can't Read, Won't Buy" survey was fielded in July-August 2006 among more than 2,400 online consumers in eight non-English-speaking countries (Common Sense Advisory), 2,430 by CSA's own later count (Common Sense Advisory), and was paid for by three localization vendors. Its release reported that 52.4% bought only at sites with information in their language (Common Sense Advisory) and that 82.5% of people with little English favoured products in their own language (Common Sense Advisory). It does not print 72.4%. That 72.4% first appears in CSA's 2014 release, attributed to the 2006 research (CSA Research), and repeaters now credit it to Harvard Business Review 72.4% (Pangea Localization Services). The 2014 edition itself surveyed 3,002 consumers in 10 countries and found 75% preferred to buy in their own language (CSA Research) and 60% rarely or never bought from English-only sites (CSA Research).

The companion line, "56.2% say language matters more than price", is printed by no CSA release we found 56.2% (All in Global). It equals 100 minus the 43.8% of 2006 respondents who said they would buy the cheaper product even without information in their language (Common Sense Advisory), which counts the neutral answers as agreeing. The newest edition points the other way: in 2020, 66% of 8,709 consumers in 29 countries said they would pick the cheaper of two similar products even without information in their language (CSA Research), while 76% preferred products with information in their language (CSA Research) and 40% said they never buy from sites in other languages (CSA Research). Kantar screened 31,933 people to get those responses (CSA Research), and 65% preferred content in their language even if poorly translated (CSA Research). Use instead: "In CSA Research's 2020 survey of 8,709 online consumers in 29 countries, 76% preferred to buy products with information in their own language and 40% never buy from sites in other languages."

"Translated captions increase YouTube views by 7.32%"

The test was about English captions, not translation. The 7.32% comes from a case study by the captioning vendor 3Play Media of Discovery Digital Networks, which added English captions to some of its YouTube videos (3Play Media): 125 captioned videos against 209 uncaptioned ones, all published January 2013 to April 2014 (3Play Media). Captioned videos gained 7.32% more lifetime views and 13.48% more in the first 14 days (3Play Media). Repeaters now present it as evidence for translated subtitles and dubbing 7.32% (Guidde) or credit it to a different company 7.32% (VideoDubbing.com). Use instead: "In one 2014 test by Discovery Digital Networks, YouTube videos with English captions gained 7.32% more views than uncaptioned ones (125 videos)."

"Dubbing increases watch time by X%"

YouTube's own figures are shares, not increases. It said in February 2023 that test creators saw over 15 percent of watch time come from views in a non-primary language (YouTube) and, in July 2025, over 25% (YouTube); a share of watch time from dubbed views is not the extra watch time dubbing created. Tech press turned the 2023 share into "a 15% increase in watch time" (9to5Google). The "3x" is one channel, Jamie Oliver's 3x (YouTube). An AI-dubbing vendor says creators who dub their top 10 videos see 20-35% more channel watch time (VideoDubber), and another attributes a "40% of total watch time" quote to YouTube's CEO in a form we could not find (LongStories.ai); YouTube's CEO letter says more than 40% of watch time on videos with dubs is in a dubbed language (YouTube). Use instead: "YouTube says creators who upload multi-language audio see over 25% of their watch time from views in another language (July 2025)."

"Only 25% of internet users speak English" and "half the web is in English"

These measure different things. The 25% is Internet World Stats' estimate that English accounted for 25.9% of internet users in March 2020 (Internet World Stats), a compilation that assigns one language per person (Internet World Stats), so people who use English as a second language are not counted as English users. The "half the web" figure is W3Techs' daily survey of website content languages: English was 49.5% of websites whose language it could identify on November 1, 2026 (W3Techs), and Spanish second at 6.1% (W3Techs). It counts websites, not pages or traffic. Older repeats such as 55.5% in 2015 (Unbabel) and 54.0% (Babbel) are earlier W3Techs readings left unchanged.

"Subtitles increase view time by 12%" and "80% watch to the end with captions"

Both are about captions in the video's own language. Facebook said in February 2016 that, in internal tests, captioned video ads increased video view time by 12% on average (Facebook). "85 percent of Facebook video is watched without sound" was Digiday's May 2016 report of what several publishers saw on their own pages (Digiday). In Verizon Media and Publicis Media's April 2019 survey, 80% of respondents said they were more likely to watch a whole video with captions (Verizon Media and Publicis Media) and 69% watched without sound in public (Verizon Media and Publicis Media). Vendor pages now restate them as translation results: "80% more likely to watch to completion" in the viewer's native language (Guidde) and "subtitles increase view time by 12%" (Guidde). Our video captions statistics page traces the caption figures in full.

"40% of Netflix users always keep subtitles on"

We found no Netflix source for it. A transcription vendor states that 40% of global users keep subtitles on all the time and 80% use them monthly (Sonix). Netflix's own statements are that more than 40% of viewing hours worldwide happen with subtitles (May 2023), more than 80% of members used subtitles or captions at least monthly (2019), and nearly half of U.S. viewing hours in April 2025 run with subtitles or captions on (Netflix). Hours with subtitles on are not users who always use them. Use instead: "Netflix says more than 40% of viewing hours worldwide happen with subtitles (May 2023)."

Every popular claim our research pages trace, 512 in all, is on one page: popular video statistics, fact-checked.

How we built this page

We started from the questions people search for about video localization statistics and looked for the organization that actually produced each answer. Every figure on this page sits in an evidence ledger with its source, the exact table or paragraph it came from, the measurement period, the population measured, and the date we checked it. This edition holds 378 figures from 53 publishers.

On November 1, 2026, each sourced figure on this page was re-fetched with the fetch cache cleared and matched against the recorded wording: Census American Community Survey language tables (through the Census data API), County Business Patterns, the Economic Census and the Annual Integrated Economic Survey; BLS occupational wage, projection and QCEW data (wage rows through the BLS data API); Statistics Canada and ONS census releases; the Special Eurobarometer on languages and Eurostat; Pew Research Center, Nielsen, Ofcom, YouGov and Morning Consult survey releases; YouTube, Netflix, Meta, Amazon, TikTok and Spotify posts about their own platforms; SEC filings and the annual reports of RWS, ZOO Digital and Keywords Studios; the European Language Industry Survey; the European Audiovisual Observatory; the text of EU, UK, U.S., Canadian and Quebec rules; and the pages behind each popular claim. Sites that block automated requests (Ofcom, the CRTC, EUR-Lex, bls.gov) were checked against Internet Archive copies, and the Eurobarometer PDF was read as text. The homepage figures are our own reading of 395 S&P 500 homepages in a headless browser on November 1, 2026; the dub-language figures come from the published dataset of our YouTube dubbing study. We left out Ampere Analysis figures we could find only in trade press, French rules on Légifrance, which refused every automated request, and market-size figures behind forms.

We only cite the producer: government agencies, regulators, company filings and official posts, and the survey owner's own report. We do not cite statistics roundups, Statista-style aggregators, or salary sites without a public method. We did not bypass paywalls or sign-up forms; where a full report was gated, we used only the figures its publisher states publicly.

Figures marked "our calculation" are arithmetic on the cited numbers, and anyone can reproduce them:

This edition contains no Mark Studios customer data.

Limitations

• Nobody counts video localization directly. The Census Bureau's product lines for translation agencies have no subtitling or dubbing line, and BLS counts translators as one occupation. Our homepage count measures language versions of company websites, not of their videos.
• Platform figures cover the people who chose to dub. YouTube's watch-time shares describe creators who uploaded multi-language audio, and Netflix reports viewing shares in rounded words ("more than a third"), not exact percentages.
• Several sources sell localization or research about it. RWS, ZOO Digital, Keywords Studios, ElevenLabs, HeyGen and DeepL sell localization; Slator and CSA Research sell research to language-service providers; the European Language Industry Survey is run by associations of translation companies and translators and its sample is self-selected.
• Polls ask different questions. The U.S. subtitle-versus-dubbing polls disagree largely because one offered an "only languages I know" answer and the other did not. The Eurobarometer asks whether people agree that they prefer subtitles, not what they watch.
• Our counts are snapshots. 108 of the 503 S&P 500 homepages could not be read (bot walls, errors, or robots.txt), the selector rule agreed with a person on 26 of 30 pages, and the dubbing figures cover the 5 latest videos of 97 channels in October 2026.

How to cite this page

For a single figure, cite the original publisher named next to it, and link here if the verification trail is useful to your readers. Each figure has its own anchor, so you can link straight to it, for example https://www.markstudios.com/research/video-localization-statistics#PLT-012. To cite the page as a whole:

Mark Studios. "Video Localization Statistics." Last verified Nov 1, 2026. https://www.markstudios.com/research/video-localization-statistics

@misc{markstudios_video_localization_statistics_2026,
  author = {{Mark Studios}},
  title = {{Video Localization Statistics}},
  year = {2026},
  month = nov,
  url = {https://www.markstudios.com/research/video-localization-statistics},
  note = {Last verified 2026-11-01}
}

Our calculations and the evidence table are free to reuse with attribution and a link to this page. Each underlying figure remains the claim of its original publisher, and some publishers ask for a link when their figures are reused.

Sources

Download the evidence table (CSV)

1. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 1-Year Estimates, Subject Table S1601: Language Spoken at Home (2025-09-11). Accessed 2026-11-01.
2. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2014 1-Year Estimates, Subject Table S1601: Language Spoken at Home (2015-09-17). Accessed 2026-11-01.
3. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2019 1-Year Estimates, Subject Table S1601: Language Spoken at Home (2020-09-17). Accessed 2026-11-01.
4. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 1-Year Estimates, Subject Table S1601: Language Spoken at Home (2025-09-11). Accessed 2026-11-01.
5. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2019 1-Year Estimates, Subject Table S1601: Language Spoken at Home (2020-09-17). Accessed 2026-11-01.
6. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 1-Year Estimates, Subject Table S1601: Language Spoken at Home (2025-09-11). Accessed 2026-11-01.
7. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2019 1-Year Estimates, Subject Table S1601: Language Spoken at Home (2020-09-17). Accessed 2026-11-01.
8. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 1-Year Estimates, Subject Table S1601: Language Spoken at Home (2025-09-11). Accessed 2026-11-01.
9. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 1-Year Estimates, Subject Table S1601: Language Spoken at Home (2025-09-11). Accessed 2026-11-01.
10. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 1-Year Estimates, Subject Table S1601: Language Spoken at Home (2025-09-11). Accessed 2026-11-01.
11. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 1-Year Estimates, Subject Table S1601: Language Spoken at Home (2025-09-11). Accessed 2026-11-01.
12. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 1-Year Estimates, Subject Table S1602: Limited English Speaking Households (2025-09-11). Accessed 2026-11-01.
13. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 1-Year Estimates, Subject Table S1602: Limited English Speaking Households (2025-09-11). Accessed 2026-11-01.
14. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 1-Year Estimates, Subject Table S1601: Language Spoken at Home (2025-09-11). Accessed 2026-11-01.
15. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 1-Year Estimates, Detailed Table B16001: Language Spoken at Home by Ability to Speak English for the Population 5 Years and Over (2025-09-11). Accessed 2026-11-01.
16. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 1-Year Estimates, Detailed Table B16001: Language Spoken at Home by Ability to Speak English for the Population 5 Years and Over (2025-09-11). Accessed 2026-11-01.
17. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 1-Year Estimates, Detailed Table B16001: Language Spoken at Home by Ability to Speak English for the Population 5 Years and Over (2025-09-11). Accessed 2026-11-01.
18. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 1-Year Estimates, Detailed Table B16001: Language Spoken at Home by Ability to Speak English for the Population 5 Years and Over (2025-09-11). Accessed 2026-11-01.
19. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 1-Year Estimates, Detailed Table B16001: Language Spoken at Home by Ability to Speak English for the Population 5 Years and Over (2025-09-11). Accessed 2026-11-01.
20. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 1-Year Estimates, Detailed Table B16001: Language Spoken at Home by Ability to Speak English for the Population 5 Years and Over (2025-09-11). Accessed 2026-11-01.
21. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 1-Year Estimates, Detailed Table B16001: Language Spoken at Home by Ability to Speak English for the Population 5 Years and Over (2025-09-11). Accessed 2026-11-01.
22. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 1-Year Estimates, Detailed Table B16001: Language Spoken at Home by Ability to Speak English for the Population 5 Years and Over (2025-09-11). Accessed 2026-11-01.
23. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 1-Year Estimates, Detailed Table B16001: Language Spoken at Home by Ability to Speak English for the Population 5 Years and Over (2025-09-11). Accessed 2026-11-01.
24. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 1-Year Estimates, Detailed Table B16001: Language Spoken at Home by Ability to Speak English for the Population 5 Years and Over (2025-09-11). Accessed 2026-11-01.
25. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 1-Year Estimates, Detailed Table B16001: Language Spoken at Home by Ability to Speak English for the Population 5 Years and Over (2025-09-11). Accessed 2026-11-01.
26. U.S. Census Bureau, New Data on Detailed Languages Spoken at Home and the Ability to Speak English (CB25-TPS.40) (2025-06-03). Accessed 2026-11-01.
27. Pew Research Center, How Hispanic Americans Get Their News (2024-03-19). Accessed 2026-11-01.
28. Pew Research Center, English- and Spanish-language news consumption among Hispanics (How Hispanic Americans Get Their News, ch. 2) (2024-03-19). Accessed 2026-11-01.
29. Statistics Canada, The Daily — While English and French are still the main languages spoken in Canada, the country's linguistic diversity continues to grow (2022-08-17). Accessed 2026-11-01.
30. Office for National Statistics, Language, England and Wales: Census 2021 (2022-11-29). Accessed 2026-11-01.
31. European Commission (Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture), Special Eurobarometer 540: Europeans and their languages (Summary report) (2024-05-21). Accessed 2026-11-01.
32. Eurostat, Foreign language skills statistics (Statistics Explained) (2024-10). Accessed 2026-11-01.
33. YouTube (Google), Unlock a world of viewers with multi-language audio (2025-09-10). Accessed 2026-11-01.
34. YouTube (Google), MrBeast, now in Spanish! Say hello to multi-language audio on YouTube (2023-02-23). Accessed 2026-11-01.
35. YouTube (Google), From the YouTube CEO: Our big bets for 2025 (Neal Mohan) (2025-02-11). Accessed 2026-11-01.
36. YouTube (Google), Break down language barriers with auto dubbing on YouTube (2024-12-10). Accessed 2026-11-01.
37. YouTube (Google), Neal Mohan at Cannes Lions 2025: What 20 years of YouTube reveals about creativity's future (2025-06-18). Accessed 2026-11-01.
38. YouTube (Google), Transform your creative journey with the latest YouTube Studio updates (Made On YouTube 2025) (2025-09-16). Accessed 2026-11-01.
39. YouTube (Google), Unlocking a global audience with auto dubbing (YouTube Blog) (2026-02-04). Accessed 2026-11-01.
40. YouTube (Google), YouTube CEO Neal Mohan's 2026 Letter: The Future of YouTube (2026-01-21). Accessed 2026-11-01.
41. YouTube (Google), Automatic dubbing - YouTube Help (undated). Accessed 2026-11-01.
42. YouTube (Google), YouTube Live Updates: Showdowns, Co-Host & Auto-Dubbing (Made On YouTube 2026) (2026-09-23). Accessed 2026-11-01.
43. YouTube (Google), Add Multi-language features to your videos - YouTube Help (undated). Accessed 2026-11-01.
44. Netflix, What We Watched: A Netflix Engagement Report (2023-12-12). Accessed 2026-11-01.
45. Netflix, What We Watched the Second Half of 2023 (2024-05-23). Accessed 2026-11-01.
46. Netflix, What We Watched the First Half of 2024 (2024-09-18). Accessed 2026-11-01.
47. Netflix, What We Watched the Second Half of 2024 (2025-02-24). Accessed 2026-11-01.
48. Netflix, What We Watched the First Half of 2025 (2025-07-17). Accessed 2026-11-01.
49. Netflix, What We Watched the Second Half of 2025 (2026-01-20). Accessed 2026-11-01.
50. Netflix, What We Watched the First Half of 2026 (2026-07-16). Accessed 2026-11-01.
51. Netflix, Our Latest Steps to Make Content More Accessible (2026-05-21). Accessed 2026-11-01.
52. Netflix, Continuing Our Work on Accessibility (2023-05-18). Accessed 2026-11-01.
53. Netflix, You Read That Right: We're Introducing a New Way to Experience Subtitles (2025-04-24). Accessed 2026-11-01.
54. Netflix, Player Control Tests (2019-10-29). Accessed 2026-11-01.
55. Netflix, Anime for Every Fan: Fueling a New Era of Global Storytelling (2025-07-07). Accessed 2026-11-01.
56. Netflix, How Netflix Dubbing Connects the World to K-Content (2024-06-17). Accessed 2026-11-01.
57. Netflix, Streaming the World: Popularity of Non-English Language Stories on Netflix Surges (2023-03-10). Accessed 2026-11-01.
58. Meta Platforms, Meta's AI Products Just Got Smarter and More Useful (Connect 2024) (2024-09-25). Accessed 2026-11-01.
59. Meta Platforms, Discover Reels From Around the World With Meta AI Translation (2026-01-16). Accessed 2026-11-01.
60. Meta Platforms, 2026: AI Drives Performance (2026-01-29). Accessed 2026-11-01.
61. Meta Platforms, Introducing Creator Assistant, Plus More Languages For AI Translations on Facebook (2026-06-04). Accessed 2026-11-01.
62. Amazon (Prime Video), Prime Video tests AI-powered dubbing in English, Spanish (2025-03-05). Accessed 2026-11-01.
63. Amazon (Prime Video), Prime Video's 'Culpables' movie franchise reaches 100 million viewers worldwide (2026-02-12). Accessed 2026-11-01.
64. Amazon (Prime Video), Prime Video introduces new lip-sync technology on 'Maxton Hall' (2026-09-09). Accessed 2026-11-01.
65. TikTok, Discover a world of entertaining content with new accessibility and translation tools (2022-07-21). Accessed 2026-11-01.
66. TikTok, Meet Symphony Avatars: TikTok's New Creative AI Tool (2024-06-17). Accessed 2026-11-01.
67. Spotify, Spotify's AI Voice Translation Pilot Means Your Favorite Podcasters Might Be Heard in Your Native Language (2023-09-25). Accessed 2026-11-01.
68. European Commission (Special Eurobarometer 540), Europeans strive toward multilingualism and value language diversity according to latest Eurobarometer (2024-05-21). Accessed 2026-11-01.
69. European Commission (Special Eurobarometer 540), Special Eurobarometer 540: Europeans and their languages - Annexes (2024-05). Accessed 2026-11-01.
70. European Commission (Special Eurobarometer 386), Special Eurobarometer 386: Europeans and their Languages (2012-06). Accessed 2026-11-01.
71. European Commission (DG Education and Culture), study by Media Consulting Group and University of Mons, Study on the use of subtitling: The potential of subtitling to encourage foreign language learning and improve the mastery of foreign languages (Final report, EACEA/2009/01) (2011-06). Accessed 2026-11-01.
72. Ofcom, Media Nations: UK 2022 (2022-08-17). Accessed 2026-11-01.
73. YouGov, 63% of Americans under 30 prefer to watch TV with subtitles (2023-07). Accessed 2026-11-01.
74. Morning Consult, 'Squid Game' Is Taking Over the U.S. (Morning Consult) (2021-10-11). Accessed 2026-11-01.
75. Morning Consult, For U.S. Audiences, Foreign Cinema's 'One-Inch' Wall of Subtitles Seen a Mile High (2020-02-04). Accessed 2026-11-01.
76. YouGov, Majority of Indians watch foreign and regional content with subtitles (2019-07-05). Accessed 2026-11-01.
77. Nielsen, Hispanic Diverse Intelligence Series report 2026 (Nielsen Insights page) (2026). Accessed 2026-11-01.
78. Nielsen, Hispanic Consumers Overindex on Streaming Consumption Versus Rest of U.S., New Nielsen Report Finds (2025-09-09). Accessed 2026-11-01.
79. Nielsen, FOX and NBCUniversal Score with FIFA World Cup 2026 Success in Nielsen's June Gauge Reports (2026-08-18). Accessed 2026-11-01.
80. Pew Research Center (Pew Hispanic Center), II. Demographics and Language of News Media Consumption (A Growing Share of Latinos Get Their News in English) (2013-07-23). Accessed 2026-11-01.
81. Pew Research Center, How Hispanic Americans Get Their News (2024-03-19). Accessed 2026-11-01.
82. IZA Institute of Labor Economics (Baumeister, ifo Institute/University of Munich; Hanushek, Hoover Institution, Stanford; Woessmann, University of Munich), Out-of-School Learning: Subtitling vs. Dubbing and the Acquisition of Foreign-Language Skills (IZA DP No. 17991) (2025-07). Accessed 2026-11-01.
83. PLOS ONE (Birulés-Muntané & Soto-Faraco, Universitat Pompeu Fabra), Watching Subtitled Films Can Help Learning Foreign Languages (2016-06-29). Accessed 2026-11-01.
84. Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Korea) and Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange (KOFICE), K-Culture Expands Beyond Food and Beauty into Characters, Performances, and Other Convergence Content (2026-03-30). Accessed 2026-11-01.
85. European Audiovisual Observatory (Council of Europe), Film Market Trends 2025, Europa Cinemas Exhibitors Meeting, Cannes 2026 (N. Edmery, FOCUS 2026 results) (2026-05). Accessed 2026-11-01.
86. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections: Occupational projections, 2025-35, and worker characteristics (2026-08-27). Accessed 2026-11-01.
87. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections: National Employment Matrix, occupation 27-3091 Interpreters and translators (2026-08-27). Accessed 2026-11-01.
88. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025: Interpreters and Translators (2026-05-15). Accessed 2026-11-01.
89. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025: Film and Video Editors (2026-05-15). Accessed 2026-11-01.
90. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025: Interpreters and Translators (2026-05-15). Accessed 2026-11-01.
91. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025: Interpreters and Translators (2026-05-15). Accessed 2026-11-01.
92. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025: Interpreters and Translators (2026-05-15). Accessed 2026-11-01.
93. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025: Interpreters and Translators (2026-05-15). Accessed 2026-11-01.
94. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025: Interpreters and Translators (2026-05-15). Accessed 2026-11-01.
95. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025: Interpreters and Translators (2026-05-15). Accessed 2026-11-01.
96. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025: Interpreters and Translators (2026-05-15). Accessed 2026-11-01.
97. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025: Interpreters and Translators (2026-05-15). Accessed 2026-11-01.
98. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025: Interpreters and Translators (2026-05-15). Accessed 2026-11-01.
99. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025: Interpreters and Translators (2026-05-15). Accessed 2026-11-01.
100. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025: Interpreters and Translators (2026-05-15). Accessed 2026-11-01.
101. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025: Interpreters and Translators (2026-05-15). Accessed 2026-11-01.
102. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025: Interpreters and Translators (2026-05-15). Accessed 2026-11-01.
103. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025: Interpreters and Translators (2026-05-15). Accessed 2026-11-01.
104. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025: Interpreters and Translators (2026-05-15). Accessed 2026-11-01.
105. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025: Interpreters and Translators (2026-05-15). Accessed 2026-11-01.
106. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025: Interpreters and Translators (2026-05-15). Accessed 2026-11-01.
107. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025: Interpreters and Translators (2026-05-15). Accessed 2026-11-01.
108. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025: Interpreters and Translators (2026-05-15). Accessed 2026-11-01.
109. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025: Interpreters and Translators (2026-05-15). Accessed 2026-11-01.
110. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: Interpreters and Translators (Internet Archive capture 2017-01-04). Accessed 2026-11-01.
111. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: Interpreters and Translators (Internet Archive capture 2019-01-09). Accessed 2026-11-01.
112. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: Interpreters and Translators (Internet Archive capture 2022-01-17). Accessed 2026-11-01.
113. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: Interpreters and Translators (Internet Archive capture 2025-01-04). Accessed 2026-11-01.
114. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: Interpreters and Translators (Internet Archive capture 2026-04-04). Accessed 2026-11-01.
115. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: Interpreters and Translators (Internet Archive capture 2026-10-03). Accessed 2026-11-01.
116. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, QCEW Open Data: 2025 annual averages, industry 541930 (CSV) (not stated in CSV (2025 annual file)). Accessed 2026-11-01.
117. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, QCEW Open Data: 2019 annual averages, industry 541930 (CSV) (not stated in CSV (2019 annual file)). Accessed 2026-11-01.
118. U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023 (API: cbp, NAICS2017=541930) (not stated in API response). Accessed 2026-11-01.
119. U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census: Industry statistics (API: ecnbasic, NAICS2022=541930) (not stated in API response). Accessed 2026-11-01.
120. U.S. Census Bureau, 2017 Economic Census: Industry statistics (API: ecnbasic, NAICS2017=541930) (not stated in API response). Accessed 2026-11-01.
121. U.S. Census Bureau, Annual Integrated Economic Survey 2024 (API: aiesbasic, NAICS2017=541930) (not stated in API response). Accessed 2026-11-01.
122. U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census: Products and services by industry (API: ecnnapcsind, NAICS2022=541930) (not stated in API response). Accessed 2026-11-01.
123. RWS Holdings plc, RWS Holdings plc Final Results for the year ended 30 September 2025 (RNS) (2025-12-10). Accessed 2026-11-01.
124. RWS Holdings plc, RWS Holdings plc 2025 Annual Report (2025-12-10). Accessed 2026-11-01.
125. ZOO Digital Group plc, ZOO Digital Group plc Annual Report and Accounts 2026 (2026-08). Accessed 2026-11-01.
126. ZOO Digital Group plc, ZOO Digital Group plc Annual Report 2025 (2025-08). Accessed 2026-11-01.
127. Keywords Studios plc, Keywords Studios Full Year Results 2023 (2024-03). Accessed 2026-11-01.
128. ELIS Research (EUATC with ELIA, FIT Europe, GALA, EMT, the European Commission's LIND group and Women in Localization), European Language Industry Survey 2025: Trends, expectations and concerns of the European language industry (2025-03-18). Accessed 2026-11-01.
129. ELIS Research (EUATC with ELIA, FIT Europe, GALA, EMT, the European Commission's LIND group and Women in Localization), European Language Industry Survey 2026: Trends, expectations and concerns of the European language industry (2026-03-26). Accessed 2026-11-01.
130. Slator (research vendor to the language industry), Slator 2025 Language Industry Market Report (2025-05-22). Accessed 2026-11-01.
131. CSA Research (research vendor to the language industry), CSA Research Global Market Study (public page) (2026). Accessed 2026-11-01.
132. ElevenLabs (company blog), ElevenLabs raises $500M Series D at $11B valuation (2026-02-04). Accessed 2026-11-01.
133. ElevenLabs (company blog), ElevenLabs crosses $500M ARR as it welcomes new investors including BlackRock, NVIDIA, Jamie Foxx and Eva Longoria (2026-05-05). Accessed 2026-11-01.
134. HeyGen (product page), AI Video Translator - HeyGen (2026). Accessed 2026-11-01.
135. DeepL SE (press releases), DeepL press releases (2025-09-04). Accessed 2026-11-01.
136. Netflix, Inc. (SEC Form 10-K), Netflix, Inc. Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025 (2026-01-23). Accessed 2026-11-01.
137. Spotify Technology S.A. (SEC Form 20-F), Spotify Technology S.A. Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025 (2026-02-10). Accessed 2026-11-01.
138. Duolingo, Inc. (SEC Form 10-K), Duolingo, Inc. Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025 (2026-02-27). Accessed 2026-11-01.
139. European Audiovisual Observatory (Council of Europe), Film and TV content in TVOD, SVOD and FOD catalogues - 2025 edition (C. Grece, November 2025) (2025-11). Accessed 2026-11-01.
140. European Union (european-union.europa.eu), Languages - European Union (2026). Accessed 2026-11-01.
141. European Commission, Directorate-General for Translation (DGT), Annual activity report 2025 - Directorate-General for Translation (2026-06-16). Accessed 2026-11-01.
142. European Parliament and Council of the European Union (EUR-Lex), Directive (EU) 2018/1808 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 November 2018 amending Directive 2010/13/EU (Audiovisual Media Services Directive) (2018-11-28). Accessed 2026-11-01.
143. European Commission (EUR-Lex), Communication from the Commission: Guidelines pursuant to Article 13(7) of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive on the calculation of the share of European works in on-demand catalogues and on the definition of low audience and low turnover (2020/C 223/03) (2020-07-07). Accessed 2026-11-01.
144. European Parliament and Council of the European Union (EUR-Lex), Directive (EU) 2019/882 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on the accessibility requirements for products and services (2019-06-07). Accessed 2026-11-01.
145. UK Parliament (legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives), Media Act 2024 (c. 15), as enacted (2024-05-24). Accessed 2026-11-01.
146. Ofcom, Plain English summary: Ofcom's Code on Television Access Services (undated). Accessed 2026-11-01.
147. Federal Communications Commission (eCFR, Office of the Federal Register), 47 CFR 79.1 Closed captioning of televised video programming (undated). Accessed 2026-11-01.
148. Federal Communications Commission (eCFR, Office of the Federal Register), 47 CFR 79.4 Closed captioning of video programming delivered using Internet protocol (undated). Accessed 2026-11-01.
149. Federal Communications Commission (Federal Register), Wireless Emergency Alerts and the Emergency Alert System (90 FR 57288, FR Doc 2025-22434) (2025-12-10). Accessed 2026-11-01.
150. Federal Communications Commission (eCFR, Office of the Federal Register), 47 CFR 10.480 Language support (undated). Accessed 2026-11-01.
151. Federal Communications Commission (eCFR, Office of the Federal Register), 47 CFR 10.430 Character limit (undated). Accessed 2026-11-01.
152. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (eCFR, Office of the Federal Register), 45 CFR 92.11 Notice of availability of language assistance services and auxiliary aids and services (undated). Accessed 2026-11-01.
153. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (eCFR, Office of the Federal Register), 45 CFR 92.1 Purpose and effective date (undated). Accessed 2026-11-01.
154. U.S. Census Bureau, Census Bureau Releases 2021 Determinations for Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act (CB21-202) (2021-12-08). Accessed 2026-11-01.
155. U.S. Census Bureau (Federal Register), Voting Rights Act Amendments of 2006, Determinations Under Section 203 (86 FR 69611) (2021-12-08). Accessed 2026-11-01.
156. Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), Broadcasting Public Notice CRTC 2007-54: A new policy with respect to closed captioning (2007-05-17). Accessed 2026-11-01.
157. Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2025-299: The Path Forward - Defining 'Canadian program' ... Part 1 (2025-11-18). Accessed 2026-11-01.
158. Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2024-121: The Path Forward - Supporting Canadian and Indigenous content through base contributions (2024-06-04). Accessed 2026-11-01.
159. Government of Quebec (LégisQuébec), Cinema Act, chapter C-18.1 (undated). Accessed 2026-11-01.
160. Government of Quebec (LégisQuébec), Charter of the French language, chapter C-11 (undated). Accessed 2026-11-01.
161. Executive Office of the President (Federal Register), Designating English as the Official Language of the United States (Executive Order 14224, 90 FR 11363) (2025-03-06). Accessed 2026-11-01.
162. Common Sense Advisory (now CSA Research), Business Globalization Research Firm Common Sense Advisory Releases Report on Global Consumer Online Buying Preferences, Showing the Impact of Language, Nationality, and Brand Recognition (2006-10-04). Accessed 2026-11-01.
163. Common Sense Advisory (Don DePalma), column in Chief Marketer, reposted by Pro Bono Net, People Don't Buy What They Can't Understand: Getting Your Web Site To Work For You in Global Market (2009-07-12). Accessed 2026-11-01.
164. CSA Research (Common Sense Advisory), Survey of 3,000 Online Shoppers Across 10 Countries Finds that 60% Rarely or Never Buy from English-only Websites (2014-04-09). Accessed 2026-11-01.
165. Pangea Localization Services (localization vendor), repeating HBR, Pangea Localization Services blog post (pangea.global/?p=13657) (undated). Accessed 2026-11-01.
166. All in Global (localization vendor), repeating Common Sense Advisory, Website localization (undated). Accessed 2026-11-01.
167. CSA Research, Consumers Prefer their Own Language (2020-07-07). Accessed 2026-11-01.
168. 3Play Media (case study of Discovery Digital Networks), Adding Closed Captions to YouTube Videos Increases Views (DDN Study) (undated). Accessed 2026-11-01.
169. Guidde (video documentation software vendor), Free subtitle translation software guide 2026 (undated). Accessed 2026-11-01.
170. VideoDubbing.com (AI dubbing vendor), Translating YouTube Videos Increases Viewers and Revenue: Data-Backed Guide (updated for 2026) (undated). Accessed 2026-11-01.
171. 9to5Google, YouTube multi-language audio (9to5Google, 23 Feb 2023) (2023-02-23). Accessed 2026-11-01.
172. VideoDubber (AI dubbing vendor), How Content Creators Grow Views Using Video Dubbing: Complete Guide [2026] (undated). Accessed 2026-11-01.
173. LongStories.ai (AI video vendor), How Multilingual AI Voices Boost YouTube Growth (undated). Accessed 2026-11-01.
174. Internet World Stats (Miniwatts Marketing Group), Internet World Users by Language: Top 10 Languages (2020-01-31). Accessed 2026-11-01.
175. W3Techs (Q-Success), Usage statistics of content languages for websites (2026-11-01). Accessed 2026-11-01.
176. Unbabel (translation company), Top Languages of the Internet, Today and Tomorrow (2015-06-10). Accessed 2026-11-01.
177. Babbel (language-learning company), What Are The Most-Used Languages On The Internet? (undated). Accessed 2026-11-01.
178. Facebook (now Meta), Facebook for Business, Capture Attention with Updated Features for Video Ads (2016-02-10). Accessed 2026-11-01.
179. Digiday, 85 percent of Facebook video is watched without sound (2016-05-17). Accessed 2026-11-01.
180. Verizon Media and Publicis Media, Make noise with the right digital video captioning (Verizon Media and Publicis Media infographic; PDF title 'SoundandVideo_Infographic_051319') (2019-05-14). Accessed 2026-11-01.
181. Sonix (AI transcription and subtitling vendor), Subtitle generation trends (Sonix resources) (undated). Accessed 2026-11-01.

Update policy and change log

We re-verify every figure quarterly and when a major source publishes a new edition. The next scheduled review is February 2027. Corrections go to contact@markstudios.com.

• Nov 1, 2026: First published with 378 figures from 53 publishers, each checked against its original source.