is an award-winning AI dubbing solution enabling creators and media owners to expand global reach for their channels.
Want to start working with with us? More details on YouTube’s third-party solutions page.
There is huge global demand for YouTube content originally created in other languages, which is why we launched our multi-language audio feature.
For viewers, it means means they can now watch videos dubbed in their primary language, introducing them to even more content that they otherwise may not have seen. And for channel owners, the feature helps them expand their global reach.
Papercup is a dubbing solution that uses AI to create dubbed tracks that can be uploaded to our multi-language audio feature.
They’ve already seen success with some big name clients, so their knowledge of the space will benefit channels looking to start using the feature to find new audiences.
Ritz Campbell
Product manager
What is multi-language audio?
As more and more people across the world come online, there’s been a rise in demand for
content that spans a diverse range of spoken languages. YouTube is enabling channels with the features they need to meet this opportunity – which is why they launched multi-language audio.
*Based on channel performance analysis of a Papercup customer
Gain 1 million views 5x faster* with MLA than on dedicated language channels
One YouTube channel or many?
While using MLA to post to all languages can simplify maintenance and analytics tracking, some channel owners might prefer to create a second channel targeted at a specific language and audience. To make the best decision, ask these questions:
Do I envision a future where I’ll dub my content across many languages or only a few?
Do I have the time and resources to invest in more than one channel?
Does my content require additional localization efforts for it to resonate with audiences in other languages?
(for example, translating text on screen, modifying the script, etc)
How to upload dubbed audio
1
2
3
Open YouTube Studio
Hit the edit button on one of your videos
In the subtitles section
In the subtitle section, hit the 'add language' button
In the audio section
This is where you can add your audio file
One channel vs. many channels
Separate localized channels
Channel management
The day to day management of multiple channels can be more resource intensive (e.g. managing comments, creating thumbnails, organizing playslists etc.)
Audience building
Takes a long time to build an audience, monetize and break even
Business opportunity
Splitting audiences may enable creators to further target any business opportunities based on geography
VS
Single global channel
Channel management
All channel management activities are centralized in one place
Audience building
MLA leverages your existing channel's reach to catapult your launch into new languages
Business opportunity
Potential to increase monetization by growing views and videos’ average view duration
Community management
more time. However, keeping a single language per channel can allow you to focus on growing your community around a shared language
Content localization
Channel owners have the option to translate the text within the video, in order to provide a better localization experience to the audience. Channel owners can also choose to localize any text that appears in the thumbnail
Data and analytics
Data gets split across channels
VS
Community management
You can manage all of your comments in one place. However, it’s not currently possible to split comments by languages so viewers will see multiple language in the comments section
Content localization
The thumbnail and video file will remain the same across languages, which means that any text burnt into the video or the thumbnail will appear in their original language, unless channels work with a managed service like Papercup with in-house post-production services
Data and analytics
All the data and analytics from viewership across languages gets centralised and accumulated in a single channel
Greater YouTube watch time, means more ad exposure and revenue
In the multicultural world we live in, where 15% of the US population speaks Spanish, French is the second most studied language in the world and Arabic is a primary language in 25 different countries, there are untapped audience segments that professionals and creators can reach thanks to multi-language audio.
Brett Snelgrove
Strategic Leader in Digital Media, Social Media & Digital Video, Ex-Sony
Top most spoken languages in the world, after English
Modern Standard Arabic
274 million speakers
French
280 million speakers
Mandarin
1,118 million speakers
Spanish
548+ million speakers
Hindi
602+ million
speakers
How to dub for YouTube’s MLA feature
Automatic dubbing
YouTube’s automatic dubbing ​creates dubs that creators and ​brands can add to their videos ​for global reach
Pros:
Fast and automated
Cons:
No quality check
AI dubbing platform
The Papercup platform generates the script, translates it, creates the dub and has expert translators verify the quality of the audio.
Pros:
High quality, fast,
affordable
Cons:
No self-serve access
Traditional dubbing
This option uses voice actors to record the dubbed audio in a traditional dubbing studio.
Pros:
High quality
Cons:
Labor and time intensive
How MLA is being used in the wild (MrBeast)
MrBeast released a vlog telling his global audience to migrate from his separate languages channels to view content in their languages on his main channel using the MLA feature.
MrBeast has already dubbed his videos into 15 languages
"It [MLA] supercharges the heck out of the videos"
-MrBeast
MrBeast hit 200m subscribers. That’s 100m increase in 18 months.
No. 1 reason his manager Reed Duchscher puts this is that MrBeast dubbed his content into 15 languages
In January 2024, YouTube released these multi-language audio results...
30% watch time
from views in videos’ non-primary language.
Over 50,000
MLA videos uploaded
The early results
7 million daily views
of dubbed video consumed in January alone.
50 languages
supported by the feature
How do recommendations work with MLA?
The language track is automatically matched to a user’s language profile
The recommendation algorithm takes into account not only the viewer’s profile default language, but also overlays overlay the viewer’s actual watch history.*
Audio tracks gaining traction are recommended to viewers in the relevant language
*If a viewer has English selected in their profile but actually tends to consume the majority of their content in Spanish, the algorithm will adjust and make more recommendations based on their actual watch history.
How do MLA analytics work?
Can you analyze the performance of dubbed videos and break up my viewership by language?
Yes, analytics are at language-level, so video owners can use the viewership reports by audio track
A view from a given country is a view, regardless of whether that viewer watches in English or Spanish.
Will multi-language audio have an impact on the channel’s RPM?
Your overall monetization should only improve. While your CPM might dip as you reach different international audiences with lower CPMs, the overall revenue will increase with more reach.
Digital creators, whether music artists, blog writers, podcasters, or video producers, are history’s largest class of entrepreneurs to ever exist, and I want to do what I can to make sure that these entrepreneurs are successful.
In the fiercely competitive landscape, growing a global audience is essential for success. Critically, though, it’s about producing localized content that global audiences actually want to engage with because the translation quality is good, there’s enough localized content that they have a good journey of discovery.
The market has been flooded with AI dubbing providers and it’s our job to make sure that we can connect our creators with the providers that can offer the quality level and simple workflows that will allow them to make a success of using the feature to grow their global audience.
Soham H. Patel
Global Head of Enterprise Partnerships,
YouTube best practises
1
Prioritize the right languages
The choice of language depends on content and target audience, but these languages are likely to have high returns when considering watch time and revenue per mille (RPM).
English
Spanish
Portugese
French
German
Indonesian
Arabic
Japanese
But bear in mind...
To get the best results, quality dubbing matters
Work with one of
YouTube's listed dubbing providers
Understand what level of quality dubbing providers offer
MLA should be paired with a good overall strategy
Relevancy of content
Overall execution
Creators who have cultivated large audiences with MLA dub videos that make up the greatest % of their overall watch time.
Dub your back catalog
2
Prioritize dubbing videos with the highest watch time (or if you have the resources at least half of your catalog)
For some creators, this means dubbing a large portion of back catalog content
For other creators, this can be achieved with just a few high performing videos
New content drives discovery, back catalog feeds recommendations. Ensure videos with high watch time are dubbed.
Translate titles and descriptions
3
Make it easy for viewers in a new target language find you by translating your video’s metadata. Remember that viewers can search for content using the video's translated title and description.
Preserving the spirit and intrigue of the original title and description in the translated version is vital for effectively engaging viewers.
Proactive promotion
4
Proactive promotion can help drive additional reach when testing MLA
Share with your audience
Let your viewers know that you have dubbed your content.
You can use visually distinct graphics to help non-native viewers find and enable your additional audio tracks.
Paid promotions
Paid ads, while
cost-intensive, provide another avenue for reaching viewers in different languages
How MLA performs for Papercup customers
57%
Increase in RPM due to watch time for the translated audio being much longer
4.6x
Longer watch time for Spanish; 3X longer for French
28X
Spanish dub tracks drove 28x more views than subtitles over the same period of time
1M
MLA reached 1 million views 5X faster than dedicated language channels
With MLA, creators can access a global audience without having to create new channels, which means more work, more admin and more headaches. It also lets creators expand the potential audience pool by many multiples - depending on the original language of the post”
Jim Louderback
Ex-CEO of VidCon
