Scaling global video production can be a challenge. Balancing the speed and cost-effectiveness of AI voiceovers with human creativity and expertise can help you deliver impact.
Streaming companies recognize the power of video for high-performing global marketing efforts. But it’s tricky to balance audience demands for high-volume, hyperlocal content with the time and budget pressures caused by a lack of in-market resources.
AI voiceovers promise a potential solution. It’s possible to generate voiceovers in any language in seconds, at a fraction of the cost – although the resulting voice can sound inauthentic and off-putting.
Thankfully there’s a better way, one that blends the best of human creativity and AI scalability. It’s how we recently helped one of our clients achieve their marketing goals in Spain. And it can tell us a lot about how to scale global video production effectively.
THE CHALLENGE
Our client’s a well-established international brand. We partnered with them to develop and deliver their paid media strategy across several European markets.
We recommended creating locally relevant video content to build greater brand awareness in Spain. Until now, video hadn’t been part of our client’s local strategy. Prohibitive costs and a lack of in-market bandwidth had rendered it impossible. Or had they?
The challenge was clear: combine the best human talent with cutting-edge AI technology to deliver cost-effective and impactful content.
OUR APPROACH
Our strategy involved creating a set of three testimonial-style videos. They would feature a fictional character called Juan who represented our target audience. He would describe the specific pain points a Spanish customer might face, and outline how our client could help. Of course, we’d need to include a human in the video for this to work. And our client didn’t have the budget for extensive casting and shooting.
So we created Juan from stock footage, making sure he resembled our target audience and was clearly situated in a local Spanish setting. He would tell his story via voiceover.
As we knew the voiceover was vital to the video’s success, we asked a trusted Spanish copywriter to craft a compelling script. Once we knew what Juan was going to say, we turned our attention to how he was going to say it.
CREATING AN AI VOICEOVER
To bring Juan’s voice to life, we used an AI voice-generating platform that can deliver human-like speech in multiple languages – including Spanish. You just upload your script, select your voice, and the tool generates the voiceover for you.
There are three big advantages to this approach:
- Choice: There’s a wide range of voice options to choose from in each language, even down to specific regional accents.
- Speed: It’s significantly faster than casting and recording – with all the challenges time zones and language barriers can create.
- Cost: Freemium price models mean you pay very little (or nothing at all) for short-form voiceover.
However, relying solely on AI – without human input – can create an inaccurate voiceover that falls flat. Native speakers quickly spot speed and intonation issues that make the voice sound unnatural. National or regional accents can be incorrectly labelled and so need to be verified. And if you do want to make changes, you may have to regenerate the voice each time, adding complexity to the editing process.
That said, combining the speed and scale of AI with native-speaking expertise can help you create something remarkable.
HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF AI VOICEOVER
Here’s how to leverage human input to ensure your AI voiceover hits the mark in any language.
Bad input = bad output.
As with all AI tools, you get out what you put in. Typos, grammatical mistakes, and inaccuracies will all be picked up by the AI. Involve humans in the process of writing and checking your script to ensure it’s accurate.
Actively review with a native speaker.
Get in a room or on a call with a native speaker and listen to the voiceover together. You can then make changes and vet as you go, so you can be confident the end result is locally relevant and impactful. This also cuts out multiple time-consuming rounds of feedback.
Phonetically spell out tricky sections.
Ask your native speaker to flag any mispronounced words or unnatural rhythms. Pay particular attention to English brand and product names, which can easily be pronounced incorrectly. If you do need to make edits, spell the words out phonetically, exactly as you’d like the voiceover to say it. Adding punctuation will also introduce pauses, helping you direct the rhythm and flow of the narration.
Make sure the script is the right length.
There are only so many directional cues you can give an AI voiceover to speed up or slow down before it sounds unnatural. Ensure your script is the right length to fill the allotted time, as this will help the voiceover flow more smoothly.
DID IT WORK?
In the first week after publishing, our videos achieved a view rate of 78% on YouTube – well above Google’s target of 10–15%. This suggests we succeeded in our goal of creating compelling content that resonated with local pain points.
And because the AI tool we used was free, we could deliver high-quality video for a substantially lower cost. This in turn opens the door for scalability. The same approach can be utilized for other markets, tailoring the stock footage and AI voice as needed for specific locales.
FINAL THOUGHT
This success comes with an important caveat: it wouldn’t have been possible without human input.
AI was highly effective in getting us where we wanted to go. But it was human creativity that originated the concept, human craftsmanship that shaped the script, and human expertise that ensured the final voice felt authentic. Our success was powered by humans and empowered by technology.
So what does this mean for the future? AI technology allows us to apply targeted solutions depending on the requirements of the project. For high-visibility brand or campaign videos, it still makes sense to work with human voice talent. But for lower-profile video content, leveraging AI voiceover alongside human creativity can be an effective way of delivering impact at scale.
Want help balancing human expertise and AI scalability to achieve your global marketing goals? Get in touch with us today.
