PARIS, May 29 — Whether Korean, Spanish or Japanese, content in languages other than English is proving popular on Netflix. According to the streaming giant, such content accounted for nearly a third of all viewing on the platform in the second half of 2023.
Between July and December 2023, Netflix subscribers watched 90 billion hours of programming on the platform, according to the streamer’s “What We Watched the Second Half of 2023” report. In all, viewers spent 183 billion hours on Netflix in 2023.
Among the year’s biggest hits, the American giant has highlighted the importance of non-English-language content. Shows and movies shot in a language other than English have won over audiences, Netflix reports, accounting for almost a third of all viewing.
Some of this content is especially popular. The film Nowhere, for example, is Netflix’s third most popular non-English-language movie ever, with 86 million views. Albert Pintó’s Iberian thriller also reflects the popularity of Spanish-language content on Netflix. According to the report, Spanish-language content accounts for 7 per cent of viewing, which is less than Korean-language content (9 per cent), but more than Japanese-language productions (5 per cent).
France is not to be outdone, with the first three parts of the Lupin series, starring Omar Sy, scoring almost 100 million views between July and December 2023.
In the rest of the world, standout shows include Dear Child from Germany (53 million views), Forgotten Love (43 million, Poland), Pact of Silence (21 million, Mexico), Mask Girl (19 million, Korea), Yu Yu Hakusho (17 million, Japan), Berlin (11 million, Spain), and The Railway Men (11 million, India). —ETX Studio
