Mumbai, July 8 (PTI): Nearly 72 per cent people prefer watching content in languages other than the ones they speak or understand, with subtitles, finds a survey. According to England-based online market research and data analytics firm YouGov, majority of people consume foreign and regional content with subtitles. By foreign content, it means those in languages other than English and by regional content it means those innon– Hindi languages. It notes that at present almost 84 per cent consume regional content and 55 per cent watch foreign language content.
‘YouTube is the biggest platform for foreign content consumption, with three-quarters saying they watch international content on it. OTT platforms such as Netflix and Amazon are the second biggest medium to devour foreign content (61 per cent). However, TV is the biggest consumption platform for local content (73 per cent), closely followed by YouTube (72 per cent),’ says the survey.
It surveyed over 1,000 respondents in the country in June and notes that although most people prefer subtitles, around 24 per cent like the dubbed content. ‘South India has the greatest preference for subtitled content amongst all regions with 82 per cent, while the Northern and the Eastern states are twice more likely than the South to prefer dubbed versions,’ it said.
For translations – subtitles or dubbing – it notes that 71 per cent prefer to have foreign or regional content translated into English, followed by Hindi at 23 per cent. However, 7 per cent prefer translations into their native language. Of the people who prefer this, Malayalam tops at 14 per cent followed by Tamil at 12 per cent. The probability of consuming content in one’s native language seems to be high, with 82 per cent claiming they would watch foreign or 78 per cent if it is available in their mother-tongue.
Even though Hindi is the most-widely spoken language, it notes that only 26 per cent of Hindi-speakers want their content subtitled or dubbed in the same language. Most of them want it translated into English, but among the English-speakers, 34 per cent want Hindi translations. However, the highest demand for English translations comes from Kannada speakers at 88 per cent, followed by Telugu speakers at 86 per cent