Adapt Surpasses $1 Million Paid to Linguists and Audio Experts Worldwide

September 2, 2026 – Adapt, an AI localization company serving the streaming and OTT industry, today announced it has paid nearly $1 million to global linguists, translators, and audio experts across 2025 and 2026, supporting localization work for its clients. The company paid $474K in 2025 and has already reached $525K in 2026 and is on track to more than double it's spend by the end of the year.

Where that spend has been allocated also shows interesting trends in localization. German led language spend at 23%, followed by English at 20%, Latin American Spanish at 17%, and French at 14%. Hindi, Brazilian Portuguese, and Arabic rounded out the top contributors, with a broad mix of over 30 additional languages, including Korean and Italian, making up the remainder. Adapt’s Vice President of Global Talent and Recruitment Robert noted “The mix of spend reflects both regional pay rates as well as the volume of work, for example cost of living in Germany is nearly 3X that of South America and Adapt needs to reflect that to ensure fair compensation to our freelancers around the world”

The mix has also shifted year over year as Adapt's client base has grown. In 2025 payments to English freelances held the top spot for both payments volume but that has shifted over to time Spanish in overall volume and German in overall spend. 5, English led at 32.11% of spend, with German at 21.23% and French at 13.06%. By 2026, German had moved into the top spot at 24.54%, with Latin American Spanish climbing to 20.35%, pointing to expanding demand in European and Latin American markets.

“Every dub or subtitle we deliver carries the work of real people who understand language, culture, and storytelling at a level no model can replicate on its own,” said Justin Beaudin, CEO of Adapt. “More importantly, these numbers demonstrate that an expert-in-the-loop approach to AI-enabled localization works — and that the demand for those experts is growing.”

Adapt’s approach inserts human experts at multiple points throughout the AI localization process. The model leverages a global marketplace of freelancers across three key roles: Cultural Ambassadors, highly trained linguists and dubbing professionals who guide and refine AI outputs; Tech Producers, specially trained audio engineers who shape and refine the final mix; and, more recently, VOCAP Artists, professional voice performers who create underlying performances that can be transformed using AI voice models. Together, this growing network of freelancers supports Adapt’s expanding slate of streaming and OTT clients as demand for localized content continues to grow globally.

For more information about Adapt, visit adaptglobal.io.

About Adapt: Adapt is dedicated to integrating AI with human expertise to elevate media services, making the acceptable exceptional. Founded in 2024, Adapt explores the intersection of technology and creativity in media. For more information, visit www.adaptglobal.io or follow us on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/adaptglobal.

Media Contact: Justin Beaudin Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Adapt Email: justin@adaptglobal.io