Interest in non-English language content has increased 50% since the start of the year among US subscribers, Netflix revealed. Furthermore, following the Oscar success of Parasite last year, the US audience for Korean content on the streamer grew by 100%. Netflix co-CEO and chief content officer Ted Sarandos revealed it at the Banff World Media Festival, according to THR. Several non-English language shows have become big business on the service, such as the French show Lupine, the German sci-fi drama Dark and the Spanish series Money Heist, and the streamer invests heavily in local content where it tries. to develop your presence. Another popular Spanish series, Elite, returns for a new season this week. Sarandos believes that rapidly changing circumstances have helped stimulate people's interest in shows they normally wouldn't have watched. “During the pandemic, people had a lot more free time and were more curious about things and denied the opportunity to travel, so they were more interested in seeing things. all over the world,” says Sarandos. Sarandos also expects the total number of hours we spend streaming to return to its pre-pandemic levels when theaters reopen. "Things will become normal in the way people view (content)," he said. "I think people will be very excited to be back in theaters," added Sarandos. "I'm delighted that this is coming back as well." The executive noted that he expects theatrical windows, meaning the time between the release of movies in theaters and the release of streamers, continue to shrink due to the accelerated transition to streaming we've seen over the past year. .