Japan and Japanese media is actually a very interesting example, because even pre-internet there were people xeroxing translated manga scripts and trading fansub tapes samizdat-style to spread Japanese popular culture to the US. Of course, manga/anime/JPTV have vastly greater presences in the Western world today (both legal and illegal, like scanlations). The internet was just a new and particularly effective conduit for pre-existing curiosity in a culture beyond the borders of the West.