Today, YouTube has a global audience of over 2 billion monthly active users who watch over a billion hours of video every day. These numbers make YouTube the second largest search engine after Google. Although successful content creators can make substantial amounts of money through ad revenue, sponsorships, and merchandise sales, how can upcoming creators catch attention and establish themselves with the number of creators and channels growing every day?
The solution is expanding your reach and going global. In fact, YouTube’s upcoming feature called “Multi-language Audio Track Support,” which enables creators to upload multiple audio tracks for a single video, allowing viewers to switch between languages on the fly, also encourages creators to share localized videos. But with 193 countries in the world, it becomes challenging to localize for every country.
This is why we have created a list of top 10 countries in the world with highest video consumption rates to help you maximize returns on your localization efforts.
Leveraging Multi-Language Content
Localization plays a crucial role in ensuring that the content resonates with the target audience by considering cultural context, nuances, and language preferences. For example, let’s consider a YouTube creator who wants to expand their audience in Japan.
Instead of just translating the English script to Japanese, they would need to localize the content by incorporating Japanese cultural references, using appropriate humor or expressions, and considering the unique preferences of Japanese viewers.
Dubbing and subtitling are effective methods to make content accessible to viewers who prefer consuming content in their native language. Subtitles are particularly useful when viewers want to maintain the authenticity of the original audio while understanding the content through written translation.
Ten Countries With Most YouTube Screen-time
Here are the top ten countries who are hooked on YouTube the most:
1. India
Based on the most recent data on YouTube user demographics, India boasts the largest audience on the platform of a staggering 467 million individuals. The type of content that Indian audiences consume on YouTube is diverse, ranging from entertainment, travel and music videos to news, educational and DIY content. However, the most popular categories are entertainment, technology, education, and gaming, with a preference for regional languages and local cultural nuances.
Statistics reveal that India has over 467 million YouTube users. The majority of popular channels publish content in India’s regional languages such as Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Punjabi, and more. Aspiring creators in India should focus on creating content that caters to the specific interests of their audience in regional geographies and dub it into top regional languages.
2. United States
With a population of over 246 million people (3 quarters of the country’s population), the platform has a vast penetration into the US audience. In other words, around 77% of American internet users use YouTube, making it one of the most popular online platforms in the country. When it comes to content consumption, YouTube has become an integral part of the daily digital lives of Americans majorly as a source for beauty and fashion tutorials, product reviews, and informative and engaging content. On average, users spend over 45 minutes on YouTube every day, indicating a high level of engagement.
If you’re a regional creator, localizing your content for the US audience can bring you impressive results with a few changes.
3. Brazil
Brazil is a highly active market for YouTube, with 138 million YouTube users, presenting great opportunities for content creators aiming to expand their global audience. Music holds a dominant position, with four out of five of 2022’s top channels in Brazil being musical artists. Notably, all channels are Portuguese and Spanish.
Hence, it’s worth noting that creating content in Portuguese and/or Spanish can significantly enhance the appeal and accessibility of your videos to Brazilian viewers.
4. Indonesia
Indonesia ranks third in terms of YouTube user base by country, with approximately 139 million active users. Interestingly, Indonesia is also known for having one of the highest rates of social media usage globally. The average Indonesian consumer spends around 195 minutes per day engaging with social media platforms.
Offering a mix of content in both Bahasa Indonesia and English can help content creators cater to the preferences of Indonesian viewers who prefer consuming content in both languages. This dual-language strategy can help content creators to tap into the local market while also attracting English-speaking viewers within Indonesia.
5. Mexico
Mexico occupies the fifth position in the top-ranked countries for YouTube users, with an impressive count of 81.8 million active users on the platform. The vast majority of videos consumed by Mexican viewers are in their native language — Spanish — reflecting the preference for content that resonates with their cultural context and linguistic understanding.
Creating content in Spanish is essential for content creators aiming to connect with the Mexican audience effectively. By employing localization strategies, tapping into local cultural references, and producing Spanish subtitles and dubs for their videos, content creators can expand their reach to over 81 million users and effectively engage with Mexican viewers.
6. Japan
Sixth on the list is Japan with 78.4 million YouTube users. The primary language of content consumption on YouTube in Japan is Japanese. To expand their global audience to Japan, content creators should prioritize creating content in Japanese to cater to the preferences of the local audience.
Simultaneously, considering occasional English-language content and providing English subtitles or captions can help appeal to bilingual or English-speaking viewers in Japan. The Japanese audience is attracted to content related to anime, gaming, pop culture, food, travel, and beauty and fashion. YouTube creators who can produce high-quality, engaging content related to these interests are likely to find success on the platform.
7. Pakistan
Pakistan comes 7th on the list with 71.7 million YouTube users. Urdu dominates as the language of choice for YouTube users in Pakistan. Creating content in Urdu is crucial for content creators aiming to effectively engage with the Pakistani audience. Engaging with the Pakistani YouTube ecosystem, understanding the local culture, and staying updated with the latest trends are key to establishing a strong presence and building a dedicated audience in Pakistan.
8. Germany
A close runner up to Pakistan is Germany with 70.9 million YouTube users. A large percentage of videos consumed by German viewers are in their native language — German. However, many Germans are proficient in English, and they actively seek out content in English as well.
Besides adding German subtitles and dubs to the videos, collaborating with popular German creators or participating in trending topics and events within the German YouTube community can significantly enhance a content creator’s visibility and appeal to the local audience.
9. Vietnam
Second to last on the list is Vietnam with 63 million YouTube consumers. The primary language of content consumption is Vietnamese.
Vietnamese viewers have a preference for bite-sized, easily digestible videos which is why formats like YouTube Shorts, which offer vertical, quick-format videos, have gained significant traction among the audiences. Vietnamese viewers also have diverse interests, and they actively seek out specialized content that caters to their specific hobbies, such as DIY, cooking, travel, fashion, beauty, and gaming.
10. Turkey
Finally- Turkey rounds up this list with 57.9 million active YouTube users. Turkish viewers prefer content in their native language. Of note is the fact that Turkish viewers actively seek out videos that provide knowledge, tips, and tutorials across various fields, including technology, health, beauty, cooking, and personal development.
Creating educational and informative content in Turkish can help content creators tap into this interest and build a dedicated audience. Another notable content consumption habit in Turkey is the popularity of comedy and entertainment content. Turkish viewers enjoy humor and entertainment-driven videos, including sketch comedy, pranks, and funny challenges.
Creators on the Global Wavelength
There are many YouTube creators who are already leveraging multilingual content to expand their audience reach. For instance, PewDiePie, one of the most subscribed YouTubers with over 110 million subscribers, has localized his content in multiple languages, including German, French, and Spanish. He has also partnered with creators from different countries, such as Japan and India, to produce multilingual videos that cater to those audiences.
Another example is the channel “Easy Languages,” which produces language learning content in various languages and cultural contexts, such as German, Spanish, and Arabic. The channel’s videos feature native speakers conversing with locals, providing viewers with an immersive language learning experience. These creators have recognized the importance of catering to diverse audiences and have successfully leveraged multilingual content to engage with viewers from all over the world.
Dissolve Language Barriers & Go Global
By creating videos with multiple language tracks, creators can attract viewers from different regions and improve their engagement metrics. Additionally, early adopters of YouTube’s multi language audio track feature can benefit from the novelty factor and gain more exposure as YouTube promotes its new feature.
Here is where Dubverse can fit into the workflow of YouTube creators seamlessly. While you can build a human-powered team of language experts and voiceover artists to create dubbing for your videos, Dubverse can streamline the process via an automated, AI-powered dubbing and subtitling platform, simplifying the localization process with high-quality, accurate voice-overs and subtitles created in 30+ languages within minutes.
By using Dubverse, YouTube creators can easily localize their content, incorporating dubbing or subtitling according to their target countries. It helps them save time and resources while ensuring the quality and accuracy of the localized content. Try it now and start creating multilingual content instantly!
