Korean, Spanish series lead non-English content on Netflix, says Omdia
Money Heist: Berlin is a Spanish series created by Álex Pina and Esther Martínez Lobato for Netflix
MIPCOM: Korean and Spanish content dominated global viewership as the top non-English-language content on Netflix in the first half of 2024, according to UK researcher Omdia’s analysis of What We Watched: A Netflix Engagement Report.
Korean content accounted for 8.71% of all non-English-language content consumption, while Spanish-language content followed closely with 7.11%.
Omdia’s analysis further reveals that while the share of non-English-language consumption accounted for by Korean content was down from H2 2023’s figure of 9.1%, the figure for Spanish-language content was up from H2 2023’s 6.95%.
Spanish and Korean content is the most popular non-English-language programming on Netflix
This means that in the first half of 2024, Korean content accounted for 8.19 billion viewing hours and Spanish-language content accounted for 6.69 billion, with 3.28 billion hours specifically coming from Spain.
Viewing hours for Spanish-language content more than doubled the combined totals for French, German and Portuguese content, underscoring the growing global demand for diverse non-English-language content.
After Korean and Spanish, the third most popular language of origin for non-English-language content is Japanese.
“Netflix has played a significant role in expanding the appetite for diverse content,” said Maria Rua Aguete, senior director of media and entertainment at Omdia.
“Spanish content, in particular, has gained worldwide popularity, becoming synonymous with quality and engaging storytelling. Thanks to series like Money Heist [aka La Casa de Papel] and films such as Society of the Snow [La Sociedad de la Nieve], Spanish productions are now reaching international audiences at an unprecedented scale.”
Omdia’s analysis also revealed that Spanish-language titles from Spain accounted for 49% of Netflix’s total Spanish-language offerings, followed by Colombia (19%) and Mexico (18%). Among the top 10 most popular Spanish-language shows on Netflix, seven originated from Spain, with three hailing from Colombia.
The top Spanish-language titles on Netflix include:
1. Money Heist: Berlin S1
2. Society of the Snow
3. The Asunta Case
4. Raising Voices S1
5. Pablo Escobar, el Patrón del Mal: Season 1 (Colombia)
6. Wrong Side of the Tracks S3
7. Iron Reign S1
8. Pasión de Gavilanes: Season 1 (Colombia)
9. Money Heist: Part 1
10. Café con Aroma de Mujer: Season 1 (Colombia)
These insights highlight Netflix’s strategy of expanding its non-English-language content offerings to cater to international audiences. Both Spain and South Korea have emerged as key content hubs, with Netflix heavily investing in original productions from these regions.
The analysis comes as Netflix announced this week that it added 5.1 million subscribers in the third quarter, taking it to 282.7 million globally. However, the growth was mainly focused on Asia-Pacific (2.28 million) and EMEA (2.17 million) while US/Canada saw 690,000 subscribers added and Latin America saw a decline of 70,000.
Omdia’s analysts will present these key trends at Mipcom next week, where Spain will be celebrated as the Country of Honour for its influential role in shaping global content creation.
Check out the Spain in Focus section of Channel21 International’s Mipcom edition here.
