Hire The Best Voice Actor For Your Television Ad Or Commercial
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Frequently Asked Questions
A TV commercial is a block of time on a television channel used to sell a product or service.
The average consumer spends just shy of four hours each day watching TV in the U.S., making television the ideal medium for advertisers to reach, attract, and delight potential customers.
The ideal length of a TV commercial depends on the message you are trying to get across, whether it is concise or needs a longer amount of time to tell a story. In many cases, 30 seconds is the ideal commercial length.
The cost of a TV commercial can really run the gamut, depending on what kind of campaign you and your team are looking at pulling off. The cost has two components, one is the media placement cost (what you pay a network to air your spot) and the other is the production cost (what it costs to actually create the spot).
While the placement cost of a local TV station commercial can typically cost anywhere from $200 to $1,500 for a 30-second commercial. For a 30-second ad to run in a national broadcast in the US, the average cost is around $123,000.
However, for comparison, a 30-second commercial for US TV’s biggest property, the NFL’s Sunday Night Football averages out at $665,677.
The average production cost of a 30-second TV commercial is around $350,000, according to AdAge. That average includes lower end cable TV spots and Super Bowl commercials that cost well over $1 million.
Your TV commercial script needs to be organized and clear for the voice actor. Here are four steps you should follow when writing your TV commercial script:
1. Write Like You Speak
One of the most popular styles of voice over reads is ‘conversational,’ so it’s important to write as though you were speaking the words out loud to a friend.
2. Read What You’ve Written Out Loud
A great script rolls off the tongue when it’s read out loud. Try voicing the script out yourself before it’s sent over to the voice over talent.
3. Proper Punctuation Is Crucial
Every good script has good punctuation. Proper punctuation totally impacts the flow of the script.
4. Vocal Direction Matches The Tone Of Your Script
Make sure the written description of how the voice should sound, matches the punctuation you’ve included in the script. The topic of your script also should match the tone of your script. Always keep your target demographic in mind when selecting your voice actor.
Read more about how to write a great script. Check out our full range of free sample voice over scripts as well.
Yes, contrary to some opinions, TV advertising is still the most powerful advertising medium. TV is also the safest (or lowest risk) advertising investment, with the highest likelihood of profit return (70% likelihood of profit return over 3-6 months and 86% likelihood of return over three years).
Historically, TV advertising has been used by companies to achieve mass reach, however with digital advertising and streaming, that has changed dramatically.
It’s important to consider when your target demographic are watching TV and pinpoint those time slots. For instance, when you look at your demographics, you may discover that primetime may not be the best time for your brand to advertise on TV.
Narrative and humor have long been the key ingredients to a successful TV commercial. If you’re not telling a compelling story or making your audience laugh in your 15, 30 or 1-minute window, you’re not putting together a worthwhile commercial.
Here are 9 other tips to implement to make an engaging and memorable TV commercial:
1. Stand out from the noise
2. Only communicate one message
3. Focus on the first three seconds
4. Target and talk to a specific audience
5. Build brand awareness
6. Use a memorable tagline, jingle or sonic branding
7. Use influencers or celebrities that align with your brand
8. Tie it to a social media campaign
9. Use great voice over
These tips will help you select the best voice actor for your TV project:
They embody your brand’s sound: There is a bit of a divide when it comes to how voice over is done on television. Many companies (often those that have a lot of history or a legacy brand) still opt for a more classic, announcer-like voice for their television commercials. Others look for that girl/guy-next-door, authentic style voice. Make sure you pick the talent who has the TV voice that fits best for your audience and brand.
They have experience with TV: You’ll want to keep an eye (and a keen ear) out for voice actors who have completed multiple television ads or shows. Professional talent who have previously undertaken these projects have shown they can adhere to the high level of professionalism needed in TV.
They have TV voice over demos: When looking for a voice actor, you can post your voice over job for free and receive free custom auditions. However, you can also find a voice actor by conducting a search on Voices and listening to their demos.
They nailed the delivery of your: Taking direction means being able to adhere to script markups (such as pronunciation indicators) with ease and adapt to the flow of the ever-changing tv project.
Their tone fits the level of sell (soft, medium or hard sell): Every radio ad is selling something, it’s just a matter of whether it’s a soft, medium or hard sell. You’ll want a voice that can deliver a stellar sell, depending on the tone of your radio ad campaign.
There are several styles of TV commercials that have typically performed well, depending on the brand and message.
The most popular styles of TV commercials are:
1. Funny
Getting people laughing is the most powerful way to achieve brand recall. Think Isaiah Mustafa’s Old Spice ads, Rebook’s ‘Terry Tate, Office Linebacker’ ads and Snicker’s ‘You’re Not You When You’re Hungry’ campaign.
2. Animated
Animation allows for the audience to be pulled into your ad in a way that just isn’t possible with any other format. Chipotle has long been a leader with incredible animated commercials that tell a riveting story without using any words.
3. Weird
From Casper’s ‘Can’t Sleep?’ campaign that ran on multiple channels at 2 am to target an insomniac audience, these one odd commercials can stick with audiences for decades and leave them saying, ‘remember that weird ad for…?’
4. Emotional
The advantage of an emotional ad is it allows your brand to make a deep connection with your target demographic. Whether it’s one of Apple’s tear-jerkers, or Dove’s ‘Real Beauty’ campaign, all of these TV commercials get audience’s emotions in a knot.
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All About Television Ad Voices
Do you need a voice over for your television ad? You’ve come to the right place. When you’re in need of a voice actor who can quickly hook your viewers and create a lasting impression, our professional TV commercial voice actors are the perfect choice. Whether it’s for a national daytime television campaign, a local advertisement, or an ad destined to air during the ‘Big Game,’ a television ad voice actor delivers a memorable performance that is bound to keep viewers from reaching for their remote control.
While TV ad voice actors are most commonly heard on television, they can also work with creative producers to repackage television commercial content across different formats, like online video or radio ads, to create a seamless and consistent cross-channel advertising experience. These voice over professionals lend their voices to commercials across almost every industry, including retail, hospitality, entertainment, and many other sectors. Though every industry has its own unique needs when it comes to desired vocal qualities and style, the primary role of the TV commercial voice actor remains the same: to promote products and services to consumers.
How television ad voices connect with audiences
When it comes to TV commercials, like in any advertising medium, audience connection is key. By nature, television commercials reach a wide and often diverse audience, so finding the right balance between universal appeal and target market appeal is crucial. When casting a voice actor for a TV commercial, many creative producers select a voice over professional who not only fits the sound of the industry but fits the demographics of the desired audience — as consumers have been found to prefer to gather information from someone who sounds like a peer. For instance, a TV commercial for a truck would appeal to a different demographic than a mid-size SUV. The truck ad may opt for an authoritative male voice to appeal to a male target audience, while the SUV commercial may take a conversational, millennial male or female voice to appeal to a different, family-oriented demographic.
When hiring a TV commercial voice actor, another demographic characteristic to consider is location. Are you casting a voice actor for a regional TV ad with a specific accent or dialect? Or maybe you’re looking for voice over for a nationwide commercial and are seeking a more generalized sound? Perhaps you are casting for an international ad campaign and are looking for more of a global accent?
Television ad voice accent considerations
In the case of locations where distinct accents can be heard, many creative producers choose to use a local accent within their regional campaigns. A national campaign may be suited to a general North American accent, however, the global accent is also a growing trend within national, and by extension, international campaigns. The global accent is a blend of all the major English dialects, creating a new accent that is easily understood and not tied to any specific geography. No matter the accent or dialect you’re looking for, with access to talented voice over professionals from 160 countries, you’re bound to find the right voice actor for your TV commercial here at Voices.
Popular television ad vocal styles
An additional layer to consider when casting a TV commercial voice actor is your commercial style. If your ad is taking the soft sell approach, which features a persuasive yet friendly positioning, it is important to convey the appropriate tone. In the soft sell, creative producers often select a familiar, yet not too pushy voice over style, like the guy or girl next door — someone who is more conversational in tone and who can gently inspire consideration or action. On the other end of the spectrum is the hard sell, a more aggressive approach designed to get consumers to purchase right away. These commercials are attention-grabbing and often feature a limited-time offer, so an announcer voice is a powerful choice in this instance.
TV commercial voice actors keep audiences tuned in with their engaging and relatable vocal style. Whether you’re casting for a fast food commercial, a new cleaning product ad, or the next big mobile service app, you can find exactly the style of TV commercial voice over you’re looking for here at Voices. Browse by style, age, language, or accent, and listen to our voice actors’ demos to get started today.