10 Strategies to Grow on YouTube with Multilingual Videos in 2026

There’s a statistic that should make every serious creator pause and think: in 2026, those who publish videos in a single language are leaving roughly 90% of their potential audience on the table. That’s not an exaggeration. Over 500 million YouTube users don’t speak English as their first language, and three-quarters of viewers prefer consuming content in their native tongue. The smartest creators figured this out long ago, and they’re using AI dubbing to transform local channels into global brands.

In this article, I want to share the strategies I’ve seen work best—the ones that have allowed average creators to grow from a few thousand subscribers to millions.

📺 The Secondary Channel Question

The most widespread strategy among major creators is creating dedicated channels for each primary language. MrBeast does it, tech channels do it, gaming channels do it. The reason is simple: YouTube’s algorithm works better when it can clearly categorize your content for a specific audience.

When you create a secondary channel—say, “YourChannel EN” for the English-speaking audience—you’re essentially giving YouTube a clear signal: this content is for this audience. The algorithm can then recommend it to the right viewers, subscribers are more engaged because they only see content in their language, and monetization works separately for each market.

Implementation is relatively straightforward. You create the secondary channel while maintaining consistent branding, dub your best videos with a tool like NovaDub, and publish regularly. Two or three dubbed videos per week is a good starting point. Meanwhile, promote the secondary channel in your main channel’s description to capture international viewers who already follow you.

🎯 Not All Videos Deserve to Be Dubbed

Here’s a mistake I see often: dubbing everything indiscriminately. The reality is that some videos have far more potential than others for international audiences.

The ideal candidates are evergreen content: tutorials and how-to guides, reviews of popular products, educational videos, lists and rankings. These videos continue generating views for months or years, and the dubbing cost pays off quickly.

Conversely, videos with very specific time references, those too culturally localized, or those with low audio/video quality aren’t worth the investment. A useful trick: check the retention curves of your videos. Those with the flattest curve are the best dubbing candidates because they hold viewers’ attention regardless of language.

🔍 The Other Half of the Work: Multilingual SEO

Dubbing a video is only half the job. If you really want to maximize views, you need to optimize every element for each target language’s SEO.

This means not literally translating the title, but adapting it for the most searched keywords in that market. The description must include target language keywords. Tags should be those actually searched in each country. And if your thumbnail contains text, consider creating localized versions.

Tools like TubeBuddy and VidIQ are invaluable for multilingual keyword research and analyzing local competitors. Google Trends lets you compare search volumes between markets. It’s extra work, but it makes an enormous difference in results.

🔊 YouTube’s Multi-Audio Feature

YouTube introduced a feature that many creators still don’t leverage: Multi-Audio. It allows viewers to choose the audio language directly from the player, without having to visit a separate channel.

The process is simple: you upload the video with the original audio, then add dubbed audio tracks as alternative tracks. Viewers can switch languages with a single click. The main advantage is that one video serves multiple languages without managing separate channels. And YouTube tends to promote these videos in local markets because it offers a better user experience.

The flip side is that you have less control over discovery and statistics are aggregated. For some creators, separate channels work better; for others, Multi-Audio is the ideal solution. It depends on your overall strategy.

🤝 International Collaborations

AI dubbing opens doors to a type of collaboration that was nearly impossible before: content exchanges with creators from other countries.

The mechanism is simple. You find a creator in your niche from another market, propose a dubbed video exchange, and cross-promote on your respective channels. They publish your video dubbed in their language, you do the same with one of theirs. Both of you gain exposure in a new market with minimal investment.

I’ve seen Italian tech reviewers collaborate with Spanish ones, French food bloggers collaborate with Germans, American fitness channels collaborate with Brazilians. In every case, both parties win.

🌍 Choosing the Right Markets

Not all languages have the same potential for your content. Before expanding, do a serious market analysis.

There are four factors to consider. First, market size: how many speakers? Second, competition: how saturated is that market in your niche? Third, local CPM: how much does advertising pay in that country? Fourth, cultural affinity: does your content suit that culture?

In 2026, the markets with the best potential are Spanish (550 million speakers and growing CPM), Portuguese (Brazil is booming and competition is still low), Japanese (very high CPM and tech-savvy audience), German (top CPM and loyal audience), and Hindi (huge volume and growing CPM). But the optimal choice depends on your specific niche.

✨ Consistency in Branding, Flexibility in Content

When you expand into multiple languages, you need to balance consistency and adaptation. Branding should remain recognizable: logo, colors, thumbnail style, intro and outro, music and sound effects. These elements create continuity and allow viewers to recognize you immediately.

But other elements should be adapted. The communication tone might need to be different: what works in Italy might sound too formal in Brazil or too casual in Japan. Cultural references obviously need localizing. And calls to action might need to differ depending on market habits.

⏰ Publication Timing

Every market has its peak hours, and publishing at the wrong time can halve your initial views. For Italy, the optimal time is between 6 and 9 PM. For the USA, between 3 and 6 PM EST (which corresponds to 9 PM to midnight Italian time). For the UK, between 5 and 8 PM GMT. For Brazil, between 7 and 10 PM BRT. For Japan, between 8 and 11 PM JST.

YouTube Studio lets you schedule videos in advance, so you can prepare everything and let the system publish at the optimal time for each market.

💬 Multilingual Engagement

Engagement is fundamental to the algorithm, and this includes responding to comments. But what do you do when comments arrive in languages you don’t speak?

There are several solutions. The simplest is using Google Translate to understand and respond. It won’t be perfect, but viewers appreciate the effort. Alternatively, you can respond in English as a lingua franca. For larger channels, it might be worth hiring a part-time native-speaking moderator. And for the most common comments, you can create template responses to customize on the fly.

The important thing is not to ignore comments. A comment with a response generates more engagement than an ignored one, and the algorithm notices.

📊 Measure to Improve

You can’t improve what you don’t measure. For each language, track average watch time, thumbnail CTR, retention curve, subscriber growth, and revenue. YouTube Analytics lets you filter by geography and compare performance between markets.

This data tells you where you’re succeeding and where you need to improve. Maybe your content performs great in Spain but poorly in Mexico. Maybe your thumbnails work in Germany but not in France. Without data, you’re navigating blind.

💼 A Real Case

Marco, an Italian tech tutorial creator, used these strategies to grow from 10,000 to over one million subscribers in 18 months. He started by dubbing his 50 best videos into English and Spanish using NovaDub, created two secondary channels, optimized SEO for each market, and maintained consistent publication of three videos per week per channel.

The results? The Italian channel grew from 300,000 to 400,000 subscribers. The English channel, starting from zero, reached 450,000. The Spanish channel, also starting from zero, hit 200,000. Revenue increased by 400%.

💰 What Does It Really Cost?

Let’s do a realistic calculation. If you publish four ten-minute videos per week and want to add two languages, we’re talking about 320 minutes of dubbing per month. With NovaDub Pro at €1.49 per minute, that’s about €475 per month.

Seems like a lot? It depends on the return. If you double your views, you also double your revenue. A channel earning €1,000 per month that goes to €2,000 has a 110% ROI in the first month. And the advantage grows over time because dubbed videos continue generating views.

🚀 The Time to Act Is Now

AI technology has made dubbing accessible to everyone. What used to cost thousands of euros and weeks of work now costs a few hundred euros and requires just a few hours. Those who move first build a competitive advantage that will become increasingly difficult to close.

My advice: identify your ten best videos, choose one or two target languages based on market analysis, dub those videos with NovaDub, publish, and monitor results. Then scale based on data. It’s an iterative process, and each step teaches you something about your international audience.

---

Ready to conquer the world? Try NovaDub free and start dubbing your videos today.

Have you already tried expanding your channel to other languages? Share your experience in the comments!