YouGov uncovers ‘untapped’ market for mother tongue content in India
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Rebecca Hawkes
| 08 July 2019

Most people in India (72%) prefer watching subtitled content in languages they do not speak, according to new YouGov research.

Although most people prefer subtitles, around a quarter like the content dubbed (24%). South India has the greatest preference for subtitled content amongst all regions (82%) while North and East India are twice more likely than the South to prefer dubbed versions (34% vs 16% and 33% vs 16%, respectively).

When it comes to translations (subtitles or dubbing), most people in India prefer to have foreign (non English) or regional (non Hindi) content translated into English (71%), followed by Hindi (23%). Even though the majority wants English translations, 7% said they would prefer translations in their native language.Those most likely to want translations to their native language are speakers of Malayalam (14%) and Tamil (12%).

Hindi is the most spoken language in India, however, only 26% of Hindi-speaking consumers want their foreign content subtitled or dubbed in the same language. Most of them want it translated in English, but among the English-speaking people, a third (34%) want translations in Hindi. However, the highest demand for English translations comes from Indian speakers of Kannada (88%) and Telugu (86%).

Even though a small percentage of people want translations in their mother tongue, the probability of consuming content in one’s native language seems to be high, with around eight in ten claiming they would watch foreign (82%) or regional content (78%) if it was made available to watch in their mother tongue.

At present, more than half of the country (55%) watch foreign language content and a much higher proportion consumes regional content (84%). YouTube is the biggest platform for foreign content consumption, with three-quarters using it to access international content. Some 61% use over the top (OTT) platforms such as Netflix and Amazon to watch foreign content. However, TV is the biggest consumption platform for local content (73%), closely followed by YouTube (72%).

“India is an amalgamation of different languages. In order to win over this lucrative market, content creators need to localise as much as possible. Digital players have an especially great opportunity as a lot of content, both regional and western, is being consumed online. However, most of it is available in only a few languages. A vast regional market still remains untapped,” said Deepa Bhatia, general manager, YouGov India.

YouGov collated data gathered in June 2019 from 1015 representative respondents for its report.

“The data shows that there is an interest in seeking content in one’s native language and brands need to understand the needs and preferences of this set in order to expand their audience base,” added Bhatia.