Channel Factory, the suitability and performance platform for YouTube, commissioned the research by Lucid to look at the number of languages spoken across the UK and consumer sentiment to English-only video campaigns.

It found that 81% of research respondents live in bi-lingual homes and 29% speak at least one language in addition to English within their household. Despite these high figures, the data shows that 72% of video campaigns run on the YouTube platform throughout 2020 and 2021, were targeted at English-only audiences.

“If we are going to continue to help brands and advertisers drive performance in a more conscious way, we have to put cultural diversity at the heart of every campaign - to recognise that the English language is not a one size fits all solution for today’s global society,” says Rob Blake, UK managing director of Channel Factory.

Looking at the demand for language diversity in video comms, 85% of respondents said they feel more likely to engage with brands whose adverts are more relevant to the content they are consuming. A further 66% said they are more likely to tune into adverting if is run in the same language as they content they are consuming.

“It’s no secret that consumer sentiment is changing drastically right now, and we need to support and help today’s marketers to ensure their advertising strategy reflects this,” says Chrisa Chatzisavva, partner and head of paid social WW & UK at Mindshare. “This research shows us that the industry’s approach is completely outdated when it comes to audience diversity and language inclusivity, but also, fails to face the reality.”

The research found that 87% of respondents watch television, and 37% watch YouTube content in their native language rather than English. This data points to increasing diversity in audiences consuming digital content and within various languages. Comms teams need to ensure values of inclusion are reflected in their video campaigns to engage with diverse audiences.

Lucid surveyed 1,000 UK residents between the ages of 18 and 65. Channel Factory commissioned the research as part of its wider Conscious Advertising Initiative.