Netflix’s Non-English Shows Paid Off Big in 2021

When Narcos first premiered in August of 2015, it felt like a bit of anomaly. Here was a network that clearly had its sights set on disrupting television, and it was hedging its bets with a show half in English, half in Spanish. Six years and an entire industry revolution later, Netflix’s bet doesn’t look nearly as surprising. After years of investing in non-English language shows, in 2021 Netflix proved that it was right. The future of TV is international.

Narcos was soon followed by other series… Spanish-language hits like Ingobernable, 3%, and Cable Girls came to the network as well as broader international hits like the Danish The Rain and the German Dark. But in years past, these success stories have largely played out in the background as American audiences have flocked to English-language hits like Stranger Things, Ozark, and 13 Reasons Why. This year, that hasn’t been the case at all.

Some of Netflix’s biggest slam dunks of 2021 have necessitated subtitles for American audiences. When the French Lupin premiered in January, it was the most-watched non-English language series on Netflix at the time with an estimated 70 million viewers tuning in during its first month. That was then followed by Who Killed Sara?, which saw a reported 55 million viewers during its first 28 days. Those hits were then followed by one of the most jaw-dropping success stories of the year: Squid Game. The South Korean thriller became the most-watched Netflix series of all time, besting even Bridgerton‘s numbers. At the height of its popularity, it became the most-watched program in 94 countries, was watched by more than 142 million households, and was responsible for 1.65 billion viewing hours.

And then there’s Money Heist. Netflix first acquired the streaming rights to Álex Pina’s Spanish-language heist thriller in 2017. Since then, it’s grown to be one of the most popular Netflix originals of all time. In September of this year (before the premiere of Squid Game), it was reported that Money Heist was the most in-demand series worldwide, according to Parrot Analytics. Its anti-fascist theme “Bella Ciao” even became a hit across Europe in 2018, and the show has inspired multiple rallies and copycats. Money Heist even has its own documentary and an upcoming spinoff series about the character of Berlin. And according to Netflix’s own metrics, the drama’s final season has stayed in the streaming giant’s Top 10 list for eight weeks and has accumulated over 147 million viewership hours.

That’s a behemoth trend, one that would give even the most confident network pause. And yet, those four shows are just a fraction of the international success Netflix has seen recently The Spanish-language teen thriller Elite managed to be a powerhouse across its four seasons and Short Stories spinoff. Last year saw the Spanish-language Dark Desire and the Japanese-language Alice in Borderland become major hits. And after a spinoff series and six seasons in total, Narcos: Mexico finally premiered its final season in 2021.

While these shows become more and more popular on Netflix, it seems that the network has gotten more comfortable looking beyond what director Bong Joon-Ho once dubbed “the one-inch tall barrier” of subtitles. “I know in the early seasons… we had to be really careful that there was the right balance between English and Spanish, and there was always a pressure to make sure there was enough English in the episode,” Narcos and Narcos: Mexico executive producer Carlo Bernard told Decider. “But it’s funny, those notes kind of stopped coming this last season. We didn’t really get those notes anymore because I think the franchise established that concept that people are really comfortable with it now, which is a good thing.”

There are hard numbers to back up the streaming giant’s gradual confidence. Currently, Netflix is available for streaming in 190 countries. Of those, the streaming service has made shows in 40 different countries, subtitled series in 37 languages, and dubbed them in 34 languages. The same USA Today article responsible for those numbers reported that, since 2019, non-English language viewing has increased 71 percent in the United States. Additionally, Netflix has claimed that 97 percent of U.S. subscribers have watched at least one non-English language show in the past year.

Ten years ago, watching a subtitled or dubbed show would earn you a raised eyebrow. Five years ago, you may have been able to talk to one or two friends about your latest obsession, but you’d still be considered a niche viewer. Now we’re wrapping up a year where one of the most popular Halloween costumes of 2021 came from a South Korean thriller that seemingly came out of nowhere. Six years ago, Netflix bet on Narcos and shows like it. Now we’re finally seeing that bet pay off in a way that rewards television leaders, not for star power, but for excellent storytelling and big swings. That in and of itself is cause for celebration.