Americans are craving more foreign films and TV shows than ever, with demand for non-U.S. titles reaching 25.3% as of Oct. 31, up from 17.1% in all of 2019, according to data from Parrot Analytics.
Why it matters: The rise of streaming has reshaped U.S. viewing habits and chipped away at Hollywood's cultural dominance.
By the numbers: American appetite for international content has grown steadily for the past six years.
U.K. imports still dominate U.S. demand, but that share has dropped from 33% in 2019 to about 24% as of Nov. 27, according to Parrot.
Demand for imports from the U.K., Canada, Australia and New Zealand has fallen from 47% in 2019 to 37% as of Nov. 27, signaling a shift to more nonEnglish programming.
The big picture: Streamers like Netflix have bet big on localization, producing original shows for regional audiences that sometimes break out globally.
Netflix pledged in 2023 to spend $2.5 billion on South Korean film and TV production over the next four years, double what it had spent in Korea since 2016.
The company committed to investing €1 billion in Spain between 2025 and 2028 in its July earnings, noting that Spanish titles "The Gardener," "Bad Influence" and "A Widow's Game" were hits locally and found global fans.
Japanese titles on Netflix have been viewed for a cumulative 25 billion hours, making them the second most-watched non-English content globally, the company announced this fall.
Yes, but: Netflix said in its July earnings that the U.S. still accounts for the majority of its content spend, workforce and production infrastructure.
What to watch: Spotify has seen similar trends with increased interest in nonEnglish music and K-pop.
According to Spotify, Bad Bunny's "Debí Tirar Más Fotos" was this year's third most popular album in the U.S. followed by the soundtrack to "KPop Demon Hunters."
This article was first posted in Axios.
