Jamie Oliver’s team says choosing which languages to expand into was a strategic move. They analyzed channel data to see where viewers were watching from and what kind of content those markets wanted. They initially focused on Spanish and Portuguese audiences because of the high penetration of those languages. Fremantle also started in those markets, but W4tch TV, which has a French-language channel, naturally chose English to enter the U.S. market.
Since Fremantle launched Multilingual Audio (MLA), shows like The X Factor have been able to allow viewers to switch between different language audio tracks within a single video, without having to switch to a localized version. According to the team, the results have been impressive: MLA tracks have received nearly six million views since launching the product. This approach has also helped grow the success of Jamie Oliver’s channel, tripling the number of views of his MLA dubbed tracks.
“These days it’s a numbers game – the more content you put out, the more engaged your audience is. Our content has many sub-segments, such as pasta recipes and vegetarian cooking. Being able to localise at scale is really useful for us,” says Richard Hurd, head of video at Jamie Oliver Group.
W4tch TV has further expanded its market targeting Spanish-speaking countries. With MLA, the company now offers video in nine different languages.