What are the Benefits of Dubbing YouTube Videos?

Dubbing YouTube Videos: A Game-Changer

If YouTube videos make up a significant slice of your content slate, you’re probably wondering how to increase engagement levels. Keeping on top of trends, channel collaborations, and audience interaction can go a long way in driving up those likes, shares, comments, and likes. However, once you’ve exhausted all the usual engagement avenues, you’ll need to look elsewhere. One of the easiest ways to increase engagement and make a YouTube video more accessible is dubbing. 

In February 2023, YouTube introduced a new feature that allows users to add multi-language audio tracks to their content for the first time. While many content creators have reported positive results, it would be a mistake to lean too heavily on artificial intelligence. When it comes to video dubbing, human oversight is essential if you want to ensure pitch-perfect translations and YouTube videos that resonate in every market. 

When should you consider dubbing your videos?

Think you can sidestep dubbing a YouTube video? It might seem like an unnecessary extra step, but dubbing is a key part of the content creation process. Do you require more convincing? Below are just some of the reasons why you should be dubbing your videos as standard. 

Targeting a global audience 

Broadcasting platforms like YouTube have made it easier than ever to get your content in front of a global audience. However, just because you can reach viewers in every corner of the world doesn’t mean your content is going to resonate with them. 

If you’re serious about broadening your reach and striking the right note with audiences in new territories, you need to think about dubbing. You might be content with your content performing well in English-speaking territories. However, internationalizing your content via dubbing can engage millions more viewers. 

Language diversity and regional variations

Overcoming the language barrier isn’t as simple as you might think. Many countries have more than one recognized official language. Linguistic diversity should be a key consideration if you’re keen to extend your global reach. 

Planning on targeting a lucrative consumer market like India? Here, more than 450 different languages are spoken, with the Constitution of India recognizing 22 of them as major ones. To successfully capitalize on these multilingual markets, you need to take into account this degree of diversity, including regional variations. 

Educational content

Are you putting out educational content on YouTube? It’s a good idea to dub videos if you want to aid comprehension. Subtitles can prove useful, but reading them can distract from what’s being discussed on-screen. Dubbing is the ideal alternative, ensuring viewers digest as much information as possible in their native tongue without distraction. 

Compliance and accessibility 

Using video dubbing ensures your videos are as accessible as possible. In many cases, making your content available to as wide an audience as possible is a must for compliance. Many countries have strict accessibility standards, requiring content creators to offer subtitles and video dubbing, along with the original audio. 

Improved viewer engagement 

Whether your content has been uploaded to YouTube or you’re adding videos to social media channels, it’s important that viewers comprehend what’s going on in their native language. The more direct and familiar your content is, the more likely it is that audiences will engage with it. On YouTube, higher engagement rates translate to more shares, likes, and subscriptions. This will boost video performance and enhance your visibility on the platform.

Brand expansion and connection

As well as allowing you to connect with non-native speakers effectively, video dubbing is an invaluable tool as you break into new markets. When you dub your videos, you ensure that your brand voice and identity remain consistent, which increases recognition and fosters consumer trust.

Reach the hearing-impaired

According to statistics from the World Health Organization, around 430 million people are hearing-impaired. That’s more than 5% of the global population. A significant proportion are internet users, which makes dubbed videos essential if you wish to capitalize on this demographic. 

Steps to creating a YouTube video dub 

Need to retool your content for a new market? You can only go so far with subtitles. Thankfully, nailing a YouTube video dub is easier than you think. 

1. Start with script translation 

Once you’ve decided which videos you want to dub into a new language, you’ll need to translate the script. For some language pairs, this can be incredibly straightforward. For others, the translation process will be more involved. No matter what the target language is, you need to ensure that the original message and tone of the original content are preserved, while still ensuring that everything makes sense for a new audience. 

In many instances, a direct translation isn’t possible. Viewers in a different country may not respond to the humor used in the original content, and specific cultural references are also going to be lost on them. If you come up against this obstacle, forget about translation and focus on localization instead. By localizing your content with distinct cultural nuances, your videos have a much better chance of engaging new audiences. 

If you’re overseeing the dubbing process yourself, take the opportunity to look at your script and think about which sections are best suited for localization. Pick out specific dialogue that’s ripe for repurposing so your videos resonate well with foreign audiences. 

2. Select suitable voice talent 

With your translated or localized script to hand, you can start thinking about actually recording it. However, you’ll need to assemble voice talent first. You’ll need to be meticulous when auditioning voice artists. Many voice artists claim to be fluent in a particular language. However, unless it’s their native tongue, there’s no guarantee that they’ll understand the nuances of regional dialects and cultural references included in your localized script. 

You can increase your odds of landing the best auditionees by being particular when putting out casting notes or a drop description. Be detailed when outlining what language skills they need to possess. Along with fluency in the language of your target market, they’ll need to be intimately familiar with any specific dialects you’re looking for. 

While you can take charge of the casting process yourself, it’s often easier to employ professional dubbing services to lighten the load. Unless you’re intimately familiar with the casting process and the qualities that a voice actor needs to possess, you’ll spend more time turning talent down than calling them back for a second audition. An agency can sift through candidates more quickly, assigning the best talent to the right opportunities. 

3. Recording the script

Now you’re ready to record your dubbed audio track. While recording, the new performance must match the movements of the original video as closely as possible. More experienced voice providers will be able to direct voice actors in the studio to utilize lip-sync techniques to ensure the final result is as natural as possible. 

4. Syncing audio to video 

You’re now finally ready to combine your dubbed audio with the original video. It’s not always straightforward, requiring significant skill to ensure both sync together perfectly. As the process involves re-recorded dialogue being placed over previously shot footage, it’s technically a form of automated dialogue replacement (ADR). 

What is the best way to dub a YouTube video?

Taking a traditional approach to dubbing grants you more control over the process. However, the effort involved is considerable. Once you’ve transcribed audio and translated this into a new script, you’ll need to find voice artists and then organize the recording of new audio. You’ll then turn to video editing software to replace the original audio track with the newly-recorded dub. 

AI dubbing offers a comparatively simple alternative. You’ll need to first find AI-powered dubbing software that offers support in the languages you wish to use. You can then upload your original video, select your target language, and leave the software to do the rest. While convenient, AI dubbing doesn’t always guarantee perfect results. Even with meticulous quality control checks by human linguists, inaccurate translations and unnatural pronunciations can render a dub useless. 

Why choose BLEND for your voice-over projects?

If you want your YouTube videos to make an impact everywhere, dubbing is an important part of the content creation process. Searching for a reliable dubbing service provider? BLEND is on hand to help you overcome the language barrier, reach new audiences, and bolster credibility across the globe. 

Not convinced by AI dubbing solutions? At BLEND, we work with a network of thousands of professional voice actors, delivering dubbed audio in 120 different languages. With extensive experience across many industry sectors, our unrivaled insights will help you boost your subscriber count and reach as wide an audience as possible. 

Ready to talk about your requirements? Get in touch with the team today. 

Matt Strach

As BLEND’s Director of Enterprise Marketing, Matt brings 14 years in the audio and video production industries to help businesses execute successful voice and video localization campaigns.

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