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Movies Television Entertainment

Americans Are Consuming More Foreign Content than Ever (axios.com) 215

Posted by msmash from the closer-look dept.
Content from abroad is boosting its share of the American entertainment diet, thanks in large part to streaming, the pandemic and the creator economy. From a report: "As 'American exceptionalism' has become less of a truth geopolitically, the same goes for entertainment," says Brad Grossman, founder and CEO of ZEITGUIDE. The U.S. demand share for non-U.S. content was higher each quarter in 2020 than in the previous two years, according to data provided to Axios from Parrot Analytics, which measures demand for entertainment content "This trend started in mid 2019, so it pre-dates COVID-19, but the strong upward trend has continued into 2020," says Wade Payson-Denney, an insights analyst at Parrot. In Q3 2020, non-U.S. shows accounted for nearly 30% of demand in the U.S. The data shows that U.S. audiences are discovering content from previously unfamiliar markets, like India, Spain and Turkey. The top 5 international markets in the U.S. by Q4 2020 were the U.K. (8.3%), Japan (5.7%), Canada (3.2%), Korea (1.9%), and India (1.5%), per Parrot.
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Americans Are Consuming More Foreign Content than Ever More

Americans Are Consuming More Foreign Content than Ever

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  • "American exceptionalism' has become less of a truth"

    I was going to write a rant that that is something an American would say, talking the place up... but it is true.

    Religious crazy people, extremism, racism, incarceration of citizens, gun ownership, bad health care for a rich country, wealth divide etc etc.

    "Merica is exceptional, and as soon as Americans realise it, the better.

    • Re:American exceptionalism' has become less of a . (Score:5, Insightful)

      by dhickman ( 958529 ) on Wednesday February 17, 2021 @08:42AM (#61071646)
      What a crock!

      The reason americans are consuming more non-US material is because people have access to it. We have hit the threshold where almost all people own a roku or something similar.


      The lockdowns forced people to have more time on their hands. Hollywood did not release or produce their usual amount of crap, and there was no real sports this year.


      The more adventurous went to other parts of Netflix and Amazon video and realized that there is some decent stuff out there, and started to look around in their Roku for more.
      • It might also be Americans looking to see if there is ANY content out there that isn't constantly trying to shove WOKE content down their throats....'cause it seems that's about all you get these days on any media produced in the US.

        • Re:American exceptionalism' has become less of a . (Score:5, Insightful)

          by Srin Tuar ( 147269 ) <zeroday26@yahoo.com> on Wednesday February 17, 2021 @10:05AM (#61071956)

          > It might also be Americans looking to see if there is ANY content out there that isn't constantly trying to shove WOKE content down their throats....

          Exactly. In recent years hollywood has become so hyper politicized that storytelling has fallen away to be replaced by a predictable series of stale state propaganda points. Its almost but not quite as thick as china produced content.

          Its so formulaic and repetitive that it is failing as entertainment - in the same way that communist countries failed to produce entertainment due to overbearing propaganda departments.

          People are flocking to foreign content because it is not burdened with hyper PC quotas and content, or at least is filled with unfamiliar ones that the viewers dont recognize as clearly.

      • Some truth to it, but foreign content has been available for years depending on the market one lived in. Especially Spanish related.

      • > because people have access to it.

        Exactly this! Gee, who knew that people would watch foreign films if they are available!

        This bullshit policy of geoblocking stops income and drives people to piracy. It needs to stop. I _want_ to watch more movies outside my geo region, am willing to pay for it, but can't due to business short sightedness??? What kind of business turns away customers???

        I have no problems watching foreign movies IF they are available!

        For example, a few years back I watched Hawaizaada [netflix.com]

    • So, freedom, freedom, freedom, law enforcement, freedom, freedom, freedom, etc.?

      Fine by me.

  • Netflix is all Scandinavian now (Score:3)

    by mykepredko ( 40154 ) on Wednesday February 17, 2021 @02:22AM (#61071094) Homepage

    I don't know what I did in terms of watching to end up with an all foreign language detective profile, but all my Netflix suggestions are:

    - Trapped, Icelandic murder mystery

    - The Break

    - Swedish Dicks

    - La Mante

    - The Forest

    - Deadwind, Love those Finnish mysteries

    - Dogs of Berlin

    I'm guessing that the lack of new local programming is bringing up these "Netflix Originals" as suggestions to keep me from looking elsewhere.

    But it ain't working.

    • If you have it, I'd recommend Comrade Detective (on Amazon). It's only 6 episodes, and relatively cheaply made, and pretty cheesy, but it was created in the soviet era (latterly dubbed with american accents - would have been better with local accents, IMHO).

      It's essentially an american style cop show, but supposedly made into propaganda. It feels like the writers had watched a few and were really trying to make a hard-hitting cop show, but knew they had to play the party game so threw in a few lines to keep

    • Interestingly I haven't seen or even heard of most of these. But a couple or recent Netflix shows have been from all over the place, and mostly very good:

      The Spy
      Fauda
      Kalifat
      Lupin

  • Subtitles may not be a big issue for the occasional foreign feature film, the foreign language may even add to the experience, but I would assume the situation is a bit different for many people with more mundane entertainment content.

    Constantly having to read subtitles can be a bit tedious, and on all shows I have watched, the dubbing -if available at all- is horrible. That's to be expected to some degree I guess, high quality dubbing is difficult and expensive and most of these shows have a tight budget

    • Re:language can be a bit of a spoiler (Score:5, Funny)

      by El_Muerte_TDS ( 592157 ) on Wednesday February 17, 2021 @02:53AM (#61071132) Homepage

      Your comic books contain nothing but subtitles you have to read.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Please, grow the fuck up.

      People all over the planet have managed to enjoy content with subtitles for decades. You'll be fine.

    • Re:language can be a bit of a spoiler (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Luckyo ( 1726890 ) on Wednesday February 17, 2021 @04:45AM (#61071264)

      It's interesting that in many genres, people grow to hate dubs for that exact reason. It tends to be "localised" and in anglosphere has absolutely horrible voice actors on top of it.

      Of the "Japan" chunk on that pie chart, a significant amount of content is subbed specifically because voice actors in Japan tend to be of high quality in part because of huge dubbing industry. You can actually make a really good living being a voice actor there. Which in turn leads to horrible comparison between that and US dub voice actors, ending in a situation where many if not most people end up preferring subtitles with original foreign voice actors.

      Because voice is also needed for things like accents and intonations which are very comprehensible regardless of language in which they are used. Hence original top notch foreign talent being better with subtitles than low quality English one.

      Same thing exists in many other non-Anglosphere nations, to the point where big name Hollywood actors end up having the same voice actor playing them across movies.

      P.S. Fun anecdote to look up if you want to know more is a story about how Germans chose to use another actor to voice act as Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator in spite of him being a native speaker and available for the dub. I won't spoil it, but it's a genuinely interesting and funny story. Google it.

      • P.S. Fun anecdote to look up if you want to know more is a story about how Germans chose to use another actor to voice act as Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator in spite of him being a native speaker and available for the dub. I won't spoil it, but it's a genuinely interesting and funny story. Google it.

        What kind of accent did they use for the Terminator dub? Just using a mainstream German accent wouldn't seem to fit. Maybe a German speaker with a Russian accent?

      • No, Japanese plots contain dialogue that can't be directly translated to English, because it wouldn't have meaning without explanation. You can't dub it without dumbing-down or changing the plot.

        Only neckbeards want a dumbed-down story. Same for Korean.

        American voice actors make a lot of money, too; many A-list actors also do voice acting.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

          >Japanese plots contain dialogue that can't be directly translated to English, because it wouldn't have meaning without explanation.

          This is true for all languages that represent sufficiently different cultures. Japanese make a great example because of remoteness of their culture in relationship to anglosphere cultures, but it also applies to other cultures who may be less divergent (and as a result, more directly translatable in terms of linguistics). They'll still have dialogue and plot points that cann

        • Well, can't be literally translated, but most concepts can still be accurately conveyed. Even idioms tend to have useable counterparts. The real problem seems to be with things like puns and rhymes. That's probably why Shin-Chan's dub is entirely unrelated to the original content, which revolves around puns and mispronunciations.

          One thing I really like about some fansubs is that they'll include translation notes. I wish professional outlets would follow suit.

      • I've noticed that there are only a handful of voice actors who do most of the Japanese dub work. Probably because one company, Funimation, does most of the dubbing.

    • Dubbing is only unusual in the US because usually it wasn't necessary, as content was made in the English language to begin with.

      Over here, the broadcasting networks themselves pay for good dubbing, so the original shows usually don't have to. So it does not matter if the show is small. It only matters id the network wants to be successful with it.

      This is no different for Netflix & co.
      It's just that is seems Netflix didn't realize the amount of work involved with actually being a TV network for the enti

    • Interesting that language has come up as the main differentiating feature. I see the difference as cultural. Different cultures view their worlds in different ways & tell different stories about them. I think perhaps that's why people are willing to put up with the inconvenience of the language barrier. To see the world through the eyes of people from other cultures.

      And yes, Australian, British, Canadian, New Zealand, etc. films & TV shows are foreign. They have very different cultures & differe

  • Are they really? (Score:4, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 17, 2021 @02:32AM (#61071112)

    First off, Canada is cheating. Americans have watched "Canadian" content for years. Because Canada tends to be cheaper to film in, low budget TV is frequently filmed in Canada.

    Secondly, calling UK content "foreign content" is technically correct but it's not very foreign, being in the same language and all. There's also a surprising amount of "technically BBC but filmed for an American audience" stuff out there. (For example, Killing Eve is technically a BBC show. Except it was produced by BBC America which is actually AMC. It aired first in the US despite being "British.")

    The article also mentions the other caveat: a lot of "foreign" content being watched isn't quite so much "foreign" as it is "produced by a company that's technically not part of a giant American conglomerate but just so happens to be owned by the same people and exclusively produces content for American companies." So, sure, it's technically foreign, in that it was shot outside the US and used a foreign film crew. But it was paid for by US companies and designed for a US audience and, sometimes, starring US actors with foreign actors left in the background.

  • Big surprise (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Vinegar Joe ( 998110 ) on Wednesday February 17, 2021 @02:32AM (#61071114)

    There are only so many comic book "hero" movies you can watch till you puke.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Rosco P. Coltrane ( 209368 )

      Yeah no kidding.

      I've always wondered whether Americans actually *want* to see the shit they watch or whether they don't know no better. Now that they are getting exposed to foreign content, they might just being to realize what awful mindless tripe their domestic entertainment providers feed them.

      • Oh trust me, Americans don't want that stuff either. It was fun in the beginning. But it has gotten ridiculous. Anyone can see that offering something different to Americans is /the/ market opportunity right now.

      • Most Americans don't even watch any of the "shows."

        10M viewers is a really super popular show, but there are 330M Americans.

        The 2015 Superbowl had 114M viewers, that's the record. The final episode of M*A*S*H, in 1983, had 105M, and that is the only non-Superbowl in the top 30.

        By percent of households, the top was that M*A*S*H episode at 60%. In the top 30 alltime by percent of households, the most recent that wasn't a Superbowl was 1994 Winter Olympics (Ladies' singles). The most recent fictional show on t

    • So true. I thought I am the only one who feels that way, though, considering how widespread that crap has become nowadays.

      • So true. I thought I am the only one who feels that way

        I also hate superhero movies.

        I enjoyed the original Ironman because he was a nerd who got laid, something we all fantasize about. His powers were based on technology, not magic.

        I don't mind the moves with one superhero.

        But the "team" moves about the Avengers or whoever, make me want to vomit. Thor and Ironman do not belong in the same movie.

        As a general rule, the films I hate the most are the biggest hits. So maybe the Hollywood studios can hire me as a consultant and do the opposite of everything I tell

        • You would make a great Dogbert!

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by jbengt ( 874751 )

          As a general rule, the films I hate the most are the biggest hits.

          I don't hate the superhero movies; I just find them mostly boring. The more meaningless action they have, the more boring they are, the bigger hits they become.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by jlar ( 584848 )

      There are only so many comic book "hero" movies you can watch till you puke.

      I used to like movies based on comic books. But I haven't seen any for years due to Marvel overload...

    • What's even worse is that if you read comic books back in the 80s like I did, then this shit is a repeat of stuff you grew bored of 30+ years ago. Its like movies have reverted.

    • Absolutely! How DARE other people enjoy a genre that you don't like.

      Suggestion: Don't watch superhero movies if you don't want to.

  • Eh (Score:5, Interesting)

    by isomer1 ( 749303 ) on Wednesday February 17, 2021 @02:40AM (#61071118)
    In the US we have one station that produces content for adults: PBS. The UK alone has far more content of that quality. Then you add Scandinavia, France, Brazil, etc. I think the geopolitical exceptionalism story is just inane banter. Reality is much simpler: Americans consume content at a rate higher than the American entertainment industry can/will produce. With this new fangled internet and streaming capabilities we're choosing new episodes of foreign content over reruns of Spongebob/Jersey Shore/Kardashi-whoevers.

    • In the US we have one station that produces content for adults: PBS. The UK alone has far more content of that quality.

      I guess it was inevitable that someone would say that, but, serious, that garbage makes me want to puke. You may as well say something like, "The UK along has asparagus, broccoli*, and brussel's sprouts--aka pod people--of that 'quality'. 99% of the crap on PBS and BBC even people in the UK don't want to watch but are forced to pay for thorugh taxes anyway.

      *Albert Broccoli and his family being noteworthy exceptions

      • And yet, he's right.

        That's the worst part. At least probably for you.

        Yes, it makes you want to puke. But that is the real reaaon why. (It triggered you.)

    • Americans consume content at a rate higher than the American entertainment industry can/will produce.
      That is basically true for every nation/region - especially if you focus on smaller genres like SF etc.

    • People are forgetting foreign stations on cable (usually Spanish since America has a lot of Spanish speakers) and the availability of dishes (no, not DishTV). I remember watching Canadian TV for example.

    • In the US we have one station that produces content for adults: PBS. The UK alone has far more content of that quality.

      I dunno, I think the UK, or at least The BBC is about as Politically Correct conscious as the whole US media market is getting.

      Hell, The BBC would never have Monty Python on today if it were a new show.

  • A lot of American youtubers in technical things are doing unit conversions into metric since, clearly, a lot of their audience must live outside of the USA, and it's compelling them to include and cater to people who don't use inches, gallons and pounds.

    • ... American youtubers ...

      You didn't notice American Tv (eg. CSI) went metric in about 2007. Real scientists have been using metric for 45 years and the US military (and NATO) adopted metres, via MGRS, in the 1950s although the rest of the US government didn't adopt metres, via USNG, until 2001-2005. It's about time US people joined the rest of the world.

      Yet, the USA was the second country (beaten by Russia) to have centesimal (AKA decimal) currency.

  • At least lately, it seems like Netflix is predominately stuffed full of years old foreign shows that you know they paid absolutely peanuts for. Because they know most of them are garbage, they just keep throwing more in, so you focus on the next one rather than complaining about the last. At least I can pretend I'm cultured now.

    • I dunno, some of the best movies I've seen in the last couple of years have been foreign. Maybe they paid peanuts to get them on netflix but that doesn't mean they're bad. Back when I had satellite the best shows all tended to be on the Independent Film Channel, many of which were also foreign. American cinema and television is really lousy; of course most foreign stuff is too, but it also means that it's a very low bar for an above average foreign offering to be extremely good relative the the average Ame

      • I disagree that American movies/shows are lousy. Most nowadays is lousy, yes. But as a foreigner, remember that until recently, *most* good stuff we watched over here, *also* came from you guys. You can definitely produce amazing content.

  • Give it a rest already. Do we really need yet another story about how there’s no actual beef in Taco Bell’s beef tacos?

  • ....flashy, slick and generally big budget, but unsophisticated.

    Foreign content is generally a lot more raw, no huge CGI scenes and explosions, actors might not all have perfect teeth and full heads of hair no mayyer their age...but is much better at storytelling.

    • I predict a US indie movie culture to grow from this. A new wave, so to speak.

      Just like you grew a craft beer culture, and, hipsterism aside, got some really good beers now. I say that as a German.

      • At least the hipsters have moved on to sours. Now those of us who actually enjoy IPAs can drink them in peace.

    • I think you're running into some selection bias in your sample. Given the lower production value (the rawness you mentioned), foreign content has to really shine in the remaining aspects in order to make it into the US market. The rest is just soap operas, primetime melodramas, variety shows, game shows and sitcoms in which foreign audiences just aren't that interested. Oh, and a ton of imported American content. Wherever you are in the world, you can probably watch The Simpsons.

  • Tired formulas (Score:5, Insightful)

    by vix86 ( 592763 ) on Wednesday February 17, 2021 @04:53AM (#61071278)

    I, with some initial reluctance, started watching a few mainstream Korean Dramas/Shows a year and a half ago. I had been afraid they'd be similar to the few Japanese dramas which were always super hammy, but I was pleasantly surprised.

    If many Americans are looking to foreign content nowadays then there is a good chance it's because of the same feeling I got from the Korean shows -- freshness. Having grown up in the US and seen at least 100 TV shows here, you eventually get burned out on the formula's that get used here. These foreign shows also have their own formulas that they rely on when building shows/stories, but their formulas born out of partially their own culture. So what you end up with is something that's very novel.

    A good example I found was in the Crime/Detective genre. The US like's their "mystery" to be wrapped up in a single episode but I found that many Korean shows like to solve the current "mystery" in an episode and then start the next one in the last 15-20 minutes of the episode and pick up in the next episode. This creates a feeling (to me anyway) that there is a progressive storyline in the show. The US TV market has slowly progressed to more narrative driven shows as time has gone on in part thanks to the DVR.

    I think the final key thing in this whole "More Americans watching foreign content" is simply that there is a nice backlog of really good shows overseas. If you pick a country like the UK or Korea, and you've never watched anything from there before, then you have at least 50 TV shows you could pick from that are award winning shows on par with stuff like The Wire, GoT, etc. Depending on how fast/slow you consume that content, you could easily have a few years worth of content to get through.

  • Everyone on the planet has watched everything Netflix et al are offering.

    • Nah. No Netflix in this household.
      I'm not paying criminal leeches. I'm only paying actual creators.

    • Does "everything" include the DVD library, because most people forget that part of the company. People have become streaming-myopic in that if it's not streamed over the internet it doesn't exist.

  • Then they will realize that there aren't that many monsters out there and people everywhere are just people.

    We're not enemies. Don't let any propaganda or terrorist convince you otherwise.

  • I would have thought Japan would have been first on the list despite the language barrier.

    After all, WEEEEBS!

  • With all the "shelter-in-place" orders (no, no where in the US had real lockdowns), people who normally watch the latest season of, "Real Housewives..." (or whatever replaced it), Survivor, and whatever else they watch these days had nothing to watch after they finished their previous seasons and there were no 2020 seasons for them to binge through. All the back catalogs of foreign shows exist and it's far easier tracked these days.

  • I used to love foreign movies and shows, but I just donâ(TM)t have time to read subtitles for two hours Provide dubbed English language versions and Iâ(TM)ll watch, but Netflix is too cheap for that
  • Curious if the fact that Netflix has taken a lot of foreign content and placed it on their platform with english audio tracks has played a role here. I've turned off quite a number of movies in the past year after a few minutes of play because I find they've been overdubbed in english and the mis-sync of the lips and audio bothers me. Wish they'd label these.

    • Naturally. When Hollywood basically left Netflix to start up their own money making streaming service. e.g. Disney that left a big hole and Netflix's own original content being slim (DVD library notwithstanding) they took up a lot of anime and other foreign content.

      • Netflix was already shifting to making their own content long before Disney left. Years before they realized it was cheaper to make their own than license it and having exclusive content keeps people on their platform. They'd already committed billions to production of original content long before Disney and others made the choice to pull their content and put it on their own services.
  • My wife has been studying Finnish as part of her study of her family tree, and so I seek out Finnish series for her so she can hear it in Finnish and read the English subtitles. They have some great, dark cop shows - Deadwinds, Bordertown. Bordertown is especially great because I speak some Swedish and Russian, and both of those appear in the show as well.

  • Been watching British shows for many years (Doctor Who, Misfits, Shameless), and more recently Australian (Tomorrow People, Spellbinder, Sea Patrol), Columbian (Sempre Bruja), Spanish (Elite), Korean (Cinderella and the Four Knights). Always subtitled non-english shows, as voice dubbing is nearly always really awful.

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