YouTube’s Audience Now 60% Non-English Speakers

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How do you say “Double Rainbow” in Afrikaans? Yes, it appears YouTube has truly gone international, with 60% of its users now selecting something other than English while viewing it.

The news comes from a spokesperson from Google (which bought YouTube back in 2006), who dropped the statistic to GigaOm yesterday. Perhaps this shouldn’t be too surprising, considering YouTube just announced that it was offering the site in IsiZulu and Afrikaans, a year after it released it in Kiswahili and Amharic.

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In fact, according to YouTube’s website, you can watch inane cat videos in 43 total languages, with 70% of its traffic coming from outside of the United States. Considering the effort and financial trepidation associated with Netflix’s move to the U.K. and Ireland, this is pretty amazing.

Yes, licensed content may be king, but it doesn’t move across borders very well. Competitors like Vimeo might provide higher-quality video and better curation, but long load times don’t fly in countries with limited Internet infrastructure. There’s a reason that YouTube is the global champ; the concept translates well in other countries and YouTube has taken advantage of that, establishing its partner program in 25 different countries, according to GigaOm.

How much more could YouTube expand? It already gets 800 million unique visitors each month, but, as we’ve seen with the site’s recent push in Africa, it’s obviously looking to tap into new markets. Now imagine if it wasn’t blocked in China.

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