with files from Jeremy Dickson

When subtitles go viral, you know you’re onto something. Season four of Netflix’s popular series Stranger Things (pictured) added a sensory dimension with closed-captioned subtitles ranging from “tentacles squelching wetly” to “swarm chittering,” inspiring a genre of dedicated memes and revealing how avidly younger viewers are embracing printed text on screen.

The worldwide popularity of South Korean drama Squid Game—subbed in 31 languages and dubbed in 13—further confirms that the globalization of content is fueling what used to be considered an unsexy sector of the entertainment business.

Localization—the use of subtitles, closed captioning and overdubbing dialogue for local audiences—is increasing in popularity as both linear broadcasting and OTT streamers ramp up content portfolios for worldwide viewers.

The numbers reflect enormous growth potential, according to market analysts. Verified Market Research forecasts a 50% increase in the global film dubbing market from US$2.4 billion in 2019 to US$3.6 billion by 2027; and Market Research Future predicts that the global translation service market will exceed US$47 billion by 2031, largely driven by the media and entertainment sectors.

Localization is also becoming more complex, says Chris Carey, EVP of operations for the Americas and head of global marketing for LA-based Iyuno, the largest localization services provider in the world. And that complexity has required many businesses in the sector to rethink their operating models and approach to client relationships.

“The industry has gone through a big transformation,” says Carey, whose company operates 67 facilities in 34 countries, specifically serving filmed entertainment. “Localization was always, ‘We make our show, we sell it to the market we produce in—which is largely an English-speaking market—and we give it to some other guys to dub into a few languages.’ It was an afterthought.”

Today, Iyuno’s approach to localization is much more tactical. “Now, the strategic planning of [taking a project] all the way to the green-light of a TV show or film has the studios and producers thinking about which markets they want to go to, and how they will release it and build up the expectation with post-production and localization managers to start building a pipeline for hitting day-and-date [multi-platform releases] worldwide.”

This is especially true of kid-oriented content, which was already playing a big role in the growth of the localization market pre-2020. But the arrival of the pandemic and a suddenly voracious demand for localized programming to entertain children stuck at home changed the landscape significantly.

That demand has spawned an increase in subtitled and dubbed works in territories all around the world, including North America. The effort is clearly warranted: In a 2021 survey by London-based Kids Industries, 74% of American parents said their children (ages five to 15) viewed content with closed captions or subtitles, and half of parents polled in the US and UK said their kids required subtitles or closed captions to enrich their enjoyment of content viewing experiences.

The global demand for kids and family content—especially library content—on both streaming platforms and traditional linear TV has created a constant stream of localization work that hasn’t let up.

“Most of the dubbing businesses have had their best years ever because of the amazing growth in TV viewing for kids and families in every language,” says Deeny Kaplan, EVP of Miami-based The Kitchen, a global localization firm that offers subtitling, dubbing, video game localization and anime and media services from 14 locations around the world.

But that growth has brought its own set of challenges to keep up with demand, including building new dubbing studios and continually sourcing new voice talent, engineers, translators and adaptors.

And it’s not simply a case of pasting in the translations aurally or visually, says Greg Peters, Netflix’s COO and CPO. “We’re learning how to make that localization more compelling to our members…and how to present these titles in an emotionally evocative way,” he says, adding that Netflix subtitled seven million run-time minutes and dubbed another five million in 2021.

Netflix’s Stranger Things has taken subtitles to new dimensions, with graphic descriptions of sounds that are almost as popular as the show itself.

Meanwhile, Iyuno—whose main volume is in the dubbing and subbing business, according to Carey—bought BTI Studios in 2019 and SDI Media in 2021 with the intention of becoming “a strategic partner.” He adds that the purchase of BTI (which provides both services in more than 80 languages for kids content creators including Disney, WildBrain, CAKE and Hasbro) and SDI (which services 37 countries in Asia, EMEA and the Americas) allows Iyuno to forge more of an enterprising relationship with content producers and plan the localization process earlier.

“Now it’s more like a well-planned supply chain and integration with our customers,” says Carey, adding that the deals give Iyuno access to a larger pool of child actors, music talent and translation experts.

Today, Iyuno boasts more than 3,000 full-time employees and thousands of freelance adaptors, translators and actors—as well as more than 270 recording studios and 130-plus mixing rooms globally—and the company has delivered upwards of 35 million subtitled minutes of content, along with 10 million dubbed minutes in more than 100 languages.

With a client roster that includes Disney, Amazon, DreamWorks, Warner Bros. Discovery, Hasbro/eOne, HBO and BBC Studios—and functioning as a preferred fulfilment and post partner for Netflix, which produces original films and TV shows in more than 50 countries—Iyuno reported more than US$450 million in revenue in 2021, and it continues to expand with new hirings.

“Business is booming,” says Carey, who was BTI’s CRO and GM of US operations until Iyuno scooped up the company four years ago.

CULTURAL FLEXIBILITY

Not surprisingly, localization requires flexibility along with cultural sensitivity. “When we started The Kitchen EMEA and began building the global brand, we did it because the international networks were saying we need two things: capacity—because we have a lot of work—and [the ability] to go to one source for multiple languages, like a one-stop shop,” Kaplan explains. “Because programming is dubbed into so many languages—or subtitled, or both—we need to have the flexibility to do as many languages as we can for our clients. The challenge is making sure that those things are continuous.

“We can now do neutral Spanish in The Kitchen Miami, Mexico and Argentina. We have a lot of growth there. We do Brazilian Portuguese in Brazil and Miami. You need the capacity and the ability to grow as the industry warrants.”

And when the equation involves a cast of children, even more challenges are thrown into the mix.

“As a producer, it’s hard because you are restricted on the days and the amount of time per day that you can work with kids,” explains Martina Berninger, managing director for Germany at European specialist Eva Localization. “Also, the types of permits you require differ by country and might even differ by city. In Madrid, it’s a totally different story than it is in Barcelona.”

Producers also have to keep cultural distinctions in mind, and these often require a bit of research, says Kaplan. “If you are [broadcasting in] India, the characters can’t hold hands, for example,” she notes. “You have to look at code compliance as well, so it’s not just the translation. [It’s also] who is your audience, what is the age, what is accepted, etc. We have to know all of this before we even start the translation.”

Hiring child voice actors for dubbing means adhering to each country’s restrictions on kids’ work schedules and respecting cultural differences. Picture courtesy of Iyuno.

Kaplan adds that the highest demand for children’s voices is in the two to 10 age range, since the onset of of male puberty affects young boys’ vocal timber after age 10. “Once little boys are 11 years old, their voices change, so we have to keep developing young children in our talent pool.”

Adds Berninger, “It’s also a challenge if the kid doesn’t want to voice act anymore. You need another solution.”

However, there are some advantages to working with child voice actors. For one thing, it’s easier to find a match to replace a child’s voice than it is to replace an adult’s, says Berninger. “Childlike voices tend to resemble each other more closely because they are not refined on a single tone.”

Other solutions that some localization providers have been turning to include automation, AI and machine-learning platforms that handle translation, subtitling and dubbing. To that end, Iyuno’s Carey says his company is heavily invested in R&D. “We apply technology, automation and state-of-the-art advanced tech like AI, neuro-machine translation, voice synthesis and voice cloning,” he explains. “These are all a part of our pipeline of research, innovation and applied sciences.”

Iyuno also developed an in-house subtitling process, adds Carey. “We have a global cloud that runs all of our subtitling workloads, and we have a global studio management system that deals with booking the recording room and the talent, and putting the script into an automated system that the engineer, director and actor can have in front of them.”

Iyuno’s co-founder and co-owner, David Lee, has also invested in California-based AI-powered XL8, one of the leading providers of machine translation engines. Carey says XL8 has completed millions of translations over the years by training the translation engine. “We can teach the engine the right way to translate source language X to target language Y,” he notes.

Of course, there’s always the question of cost. Oz Krakowski, chief revenue officer of Israel-based Deepdub, says his company relies heavily on artificial intelligence to create low-cost workflows for adaptation, using a “voice-generation” process that includes “either text-to-speech that we use for scripted and high-quality localization, or voice guides, where we have experienced voice talent go in and record a guide for all of the characters. Then we can replace those voice guides with the machine-generated voice that we cast.”

Using voice guides immediately lowers the complexity of the entire dubbing process, says Krakowski. “Casting in the traditional workflow takes about two to three weeks. It’s an expensive process, and it is also tedious,” he explains. “For us, it takes less than a day. We cast machine-generated voices. We also only need two to four voice talents for an entire show. Traditionally, you need 25 to 50 voice talents. Our way improves the turn-around time and the cost for high-quality dubs.”

This process also saves up to 30% in studio costs, he adds. “We have a low-cost workflow. We transcribe our content, automatically cast voices, and machine-generate the voices. We have a person that quality-checks from a curation POV. It is low-cost, very fast, and works for some types of content.”

In terms of future growth in regionalized markets, FAST channels are proving to be fertile for localization expansion—especially when it comes to certain types of kids content, says Krakowski.

“The big demand is for FAST channels right now, which will also require animated kids content, because there’s a ton of content out there that never went on broadcast, but is waiting to be monetized,” he notes. “FAST channels are the way for all of those library owners to monetize this content. FAST is the only solution because they are not going to spend hundreds of millions of dollars dubbing to other languages for something that has no subscription. The monetization is only based on advertising.”

This story originally appeared in Kidscreen’s June/July 2023 issue. Keep an eye out for tomorrow (Friday’s) Kidscreen Daily for a look at how one company is nurturing diversity in the sector.