What Happened in the World of Localization in 2024?
2024 was a year of rapid transformation for the localization industry. Across entertainment, gaming, e-commerce, and education, the demand for multilingual, culturally relevant content surged to new heights. Companies realized more than ever that true global success depends on speaking to audiences in their own language with accuracy, nuance, and cultural resonance.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the key trends and numbers that defined localization in 2024.
🎬 The Rise of Subtitling and Dubbing
The subtitling and dubbing market reached $13.06 billion in 2024, with projections pointing to $13.87 billion in 2025. This steady growth reflects the booming appetite for global media consumption and the need to make video content accessible across languages.
On platforms like YouTube, the scale is staggering: 300 hours of video uploaded every minute and nearly 5 billion views per day. Importantly, 70% of viewers are non-native English speakers, which highlights just how critical localized video content has become.
Even in education, subtitles play a bigger role. The share of educational content using subtitles rose to 41% in 2024, making learning more inclusive and accessible worldwide.
🎮 Gaming Industry: Localization Levels Up
The gaming world remained one of the strongest drivers of localization demand in 2024.
- The video game localization market was valued at around $2 billion in 2023 and is projected to grow to $4.1 billion by 2032, at a CAGR of 8.5%.
- The global gaming industry generated $187.7 billion in 2023, and Newzoo estimates that mobile games alone will hit $113 billion in 2024.
- The game localization services market was worth approximately $1.3 billion in 2024 and is expected to climb to $1.4 billion in 2025.
The Asia-Pacific region stood out, accounting for 46% of global gaming revenue and housing 53% of the world’s gamers. This dominance has accelerated localization demand in the region, as publishers strive to deliver culturally adapted content to vast and diverse audiences.
🛍️ E-Commerce and Multilingual Demand
E-commerce also showed strong momentum. The global e-commerce market is expected to reach $4.8 trillion by 2025, driving up the need for multilingual websites and product descriptions.
Consumer expectations underline this urgency:
- 76% of online shoppers prefer product information in their native language.
- 40% of shoppers refuse to make purchases if content is available only in foreign languages.
In practice, reaching 80% of global online consumers is possible by localizing content into just a few key languages: English, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, German, French, Portuguese, and Italian.
📈 SEO and Digital Marketing Localization
Marketing teams also leaned into localization in 2024. Surveys show that:
- 41% of marketers localized SEO across all their target markets.
- 40% did so in some of their target markets.
This reflects a growing awareness that search visibility and brand resonance are closely tied to language and cultural adaptation.
🚀 Company Strategies and the Future
According to a survey by Lokalise, 88% of companies had already localized their products or planned to do so within the next 18 months. This shows how localization has become a central part of global business strategy, rather than a nice-to-have.
🌍 The Big Picture
The numbers from 2024 tell a clear story: localization is now a business-critical function across industries. Whether it’s entertainment, gaming, e-commerce, or education, the ability to adapt content for global audiences is shaping growth trajectories worldwide.
As we move forward, the companies that embrace localization as a core strategy will be the ones leading in customer trust, engagement, and global success. The future of growth is multilingual and 2024 proved it.
