With global content consumption on the rise, and demand for non-English content surpassing that for English movies and shows, entertainment companies are looking for innovative solutions to cater to a broader audience. One such company, IMAX, has partnered with Dubai-based startup Camb.ai to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) in scaling localization on its original content.
The Entertainment Industry’s Expansion
According to a report by PwC, the global entertainment and media industry grew 5% to $2.8 trillion in 2023. The industry is expected to continue its expansion, albeit at a modest compound annual growth rate of nearly 4% to $3.4 trillion over the next five years. Non-English language content is rapidly growing even in English markets, including the U.S., U.K., Australia, and Canada.
Last year, Netflix reported a 90% growth in its viewership of non-English content in the U.K. over the last three years. This trend indicates that audiences are becoming increasingly receptive to diverse languages and cultures.
IMAX’s AI Localization Efforts
In response to this shift, IMAX has explored localization using AI to reach a broader audience. The company announced its partnership with Camb.ai on Monday, which will enable the use of AI speech models to translate original content, including documentaries.
Camb.ai offers two AI models: Boli for speech-to-text translation and Mars for speech emulation. These models are available through the startup’s DubStudio platform, which supports 140 languages, including various low-resource languages that do not have significant data on the internet.
An Exclusive Interview with Akshat Prakash
Co-founder and CTO of Camb.ai, Akshat Prakash, shared his insights on the partnership in an exclusive interview. "Companies like OpenAI and Anthropic have a different vision of society," he said. "They’re trying to build models that are very horizontal and can cover a large breadth of tasks… We don’t have to do that at all. Some of our models are less than 100 million parameters and are super specialized."
Prakash, a former Apple engineer who worked with the team developing AI and ML models for Siri, co-founded Camb.ai with his father Avneesh Prakash last year.
"We are a generation apart, and growing up in India. Thirty years apart, we encountered the same language challenges," he said. "What we don’t do, and we’ve been very careful and completely avoiding that, is potentially scrapping the internet."
Prakash emphasized that Camb.ai pretrains 70% of its models using publicly available data and fine-tunes them for specific use cases.
The Benefits of AI Localization
AI localization offers several benefits to entertainment companies. Firstly, it enables content creators to reach a broader audience without incurring significant translation costs. Secondly, AI-powered translation can be done quickly and accurately, reducing the time-to-market for localized content.
Thirdly, AI localization can help content creators to tap into emerging markets where English may not be the primary language. By catering to diverse languages and cultures, companies can expand their global presence and increase revenue streams.
The Future of Content Localization
As the demand for non-English content continues to grow, entertainment companies must adapt to changing audience preferences. IMAX’s partnership with Camb.ai is a significant step towards leveraging AI in localization efforts.
In conclusion, the use of AI in content localization will revolutionize the way entertainment companies reach global audiences. With its ability to scale quickly and accurately, AI-powered translation can help companies tap into emerging markets and increase revenue streams.
