The benefits of multi-language audio to grow your global audience are crystal clear.
YouTube’s multiple language streams make translating your content and reaching massive numbers of viewers easier than ever. No longer needing to separate your content into language-specific channels is a huge competitive advantage, and YouTubers like MrBeast are proving it works.
But the content game isn’t a linear path, and like anything in the industry, there are risks. Voquent has helped hundreds of content creators and brands translate their videos, and we’ve learned what truly works. In this blog, we’ll share our recommendations for how to get started with dubbing & what it costs.
If you want to learn more, book a no-obligation consultation with our team.
Baby Steps
It may be tempting to dub your entire back catalogue from the get-go. Instead, start small. Why?
Firstly, the cost. If you’ve got 500 x 10-minute videos, that’s 5,000 minutes of content to dub. That’s around 1 million words to transcribe, translate and record! Not only will this take many weeks to turn around, but when you publish all that audio simultaneously to your channel, it will be a nightmare tracking the results.
YouTube’s algorithm favours fresh content, so translating your most recent posts first allows you to reduce your costs and gives you more time to grow organically.
We recommend committing to translating your next three months of content, allowing you to spread out the costs and measure success. Three months of data is ideal to see if you’re getting the intended uptick in views before increasing your investment in dubbing.
Language Selection
If you need help deciding what language to focus on first, speak to our team. Language selection will depend on whether you want to focus solely on gaining more views, earning more ad revenue, or monetising the audience via subscribers, Patreon, affiliates and more.
The Top 15 languages for YouTube are typically:
- English
- Hindi
- Japanese
- Spanish
- Portuguese
- German
- French
- Korean
- Indonesian
- Italian
- Arabic
- Punjabi
- Vietnamese
- Tagalog
- Turkish
The best languages for your content depend on your niche and how you monetise your channel.
Most users start with one language, and Hindi, Spanish, and Portuguese are the most popular because of their relatively low cost and broad reach.
However, we recommend talking to our team first just to be sure. It might be worth testing 2 or 3 languages initially to see what works best. Some of our customers even found greater success with dubbed content than their original English version!
Now you’ve selected a language for the test, what will it cost to dub your content?
Dubbing Packages
The Dubbing costs depend on which of the four dubbing packages you choose, the number of minutes, the number of languages, the number of dubbing artists, and whether you have other specific requirements.
For the 3-month test, we recommend going for the Professional package (from $26/ £22 per minute). We’ll manage everything and provide you with the best quality service. Unlike revenue-sharing models, you also own the material and collect the full ad revenue.
Alternatively, if you can supply a timed transcript and don’t need the additional QA or superior audio mix, the Basic package may cover your needs.
The Broadcast package is also worth considering if your content requires creative direction, multiple roles, or needs TV/Film quality dubbing.
With the dubbing package selected, it’s easy to calculate the approximate subscription costs.
3-Month Subscription
Assuming you post content regularly, it’s easy to work out the likely dubbing costs for a 3-month test subscription.
Example 1:
Source/Target language: English > Spanish
Duration: 20 mins per week (240 mins total)
- Starter from $11 per minute = $880 /month ($2,640)
- Basic from $19 per minute = $1,520 /month ($4,560)
- Professional from $26 per minute = $2,080 /month ($6,240)
- Broadcast from $39 per minute = $3,120 /month ($9,360)
Example 2:
Source/Target language(s): English > Spanish, Portuguese & Hindi
Duration: 10 mins per week (360 mins total for 3 languages)
- Starter from $11 per minute = $1,320 /month ($2,640)
- Basic from $19 per minute = $2,280 /month ($6,840)
- Professional from $26 per minute = $3,120 /month ($9,360)
- Broadcast from $39 per minute = $4,680 /month ($14,040)
Example 3:
Source/Target language(s): English > Japanese & German
Duration: 10 mins per week (240 mins total for two languages)
- Starter from $13 per minute = $1,040 /month ($3,120)
- Basic from $23 per minute = $1,840 /month ($5,520)
- Professional from $29 per minute = $2,320 /month ($6,960)
- Broadcast from $42 per minute = $3,360 /month ($10,080)
Please use the rates here as a guide only. We’ll provide a fixed cost when we review your content and objectives.
Measuring Results
After the three-month subscription is completed, we’ll sit down with you to review everything in detail. Normally, we see an initial increase in views from 8-30%, but it can be as high as 60% if you’re trying multiple languages. Together, we’ll help you to create a plan to continue dubbing new content and adding new languages. We’ll also help you decide how to tackle your back catalogue.
Once we’ve agreed on the strategy, we’ll divide the content and payments up over a 12-month subscription plan and have bi-monthly reviews with you on progress. You’ll also get a dedicated project manager, always available by phone or email.
Are you interested in learning more? Book a consultation using the link below.
Book a FREE Channel Review and Consultation Now
Discover Dubbing Packages
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