If you’re one of the 81% of B2B marketers creating video content, then your audience has been watching your videos and you are likely seeing some ROI based on that. But what if you could get a lot more customers around the globe to watch your content? YouTube has become the second-largest search engine on the internet, processing over 3 billion searches a month. In this blog, you will find details on why localizing your YouTube videos can increase the number of viewers and revenue!
But what is video localization?
Video localization is the process of taking your video content produced in a specific language for a specific audience and transforming it to be understood by other relevant or new markets to meet the needs of a particular language, culture or desired population‘s “look-and-feel.”
Without video localization, even if non-English speakers were to come across one of your videos, they will probably click away, once they realize they can’t understand it. Although visual cues in a video can go a long way, viewers are also less likely to follow and share your content if you haven’t translated and localized it.
Why video localization is crucial to your content strategy
By localizing your videos, you can boost your reach, increase engagement, and improve the ROI on your content creation.
- Boost your Organic Reach
Organic search continues to be the most effective way for audiences to discover your content. Organic search results are the unpaid listings that appear on a search engine results page (SERP). These results are based on many factors, such as relevance to the user’s search query, incoming links, valid search engine optimization (SEO) efforts and domain authority. In fact, 53% of website traffic comes from organic search so knowing how to improve your organic search results is key to getting more views!
What does organic reach have to do with video translation? According to a study from Cisco, by 2023, 89% of all internet traffic will be video content. Therefore, to succeed with search engine optimization (SEO), video must be a core part of your marketing strategy.
Translation only increases the potential reach of your video content. You can take it a step further and add captions to your videos in multiple languages. This will allow search engines to crawl everything that was said in your video — which will increase the chances of your video showing up in search results in multiple languages. Adding transcripts and captions to your videos is a proven strategy for improving search rankings, views, and engagement.
With 60% of all video views on YouTube coming from non-English users, imagine the boost you’ll get from adding video subtitles in multiple languages.
However, adding multilingual voiceover and subtitles to your videos can’t be an afterthought. They need to be a part of your strategy from the start. As you build the video scripts and pages that will live on your website, make sure your on-page search engine optimization SEO elements match the phrasing in your videos, so your keywords are consistent. With video localization, working with a professional agency can help you capture the nuances of the local spoken language, helping you improve search engine optimization (SEO) for voice search. The professionals doing the video localization can also help you craft your video strategy to make your content go the distance.
- Boost Engagement
Research from PLYmedia suggests that adding subtitles to a video increases video viewing time by an average of 40%.
According to the research, “Without subtitles, the videos were watched (on average) 66% to completion, compared with 91% with subtitles. The average improvement in audience viewing was 38%.” Therefore, subtitles not only enable you to reach a wider audience, but they also help improve viewing times and engagement once your videos are being watched.
- Improve ROI
Let’s be real: creating quality videos is a costly investment. As with every other marketing activity you do, you have to justify the budget.
While sometimes costly up front, videos add great value because they can be reused across many different channels. Videos can be shared on YouTube, social media, email, and on your website.
That last point is often overlooked. Videos should always have a dedicated landing page or vlog on your website, including a full transcript of the video. Not only will this help boost the search engine optimization (SEO) rankings of your content, but it can also lead more customers to your website, thus, boosting sales.
This is especially true if your goal is to reach the Latin American and EMEA markets. These two regions are the two highest video consumers in the world. By localizing your videos for these markets, you won’t only be boosting reach and engagement, you’ll also be using video to boost sales.
How localizing your videos can increase the number of viewers and revenue.
MrBeast is a shining example of how localization can expand the reach of video content. MrBeast has become one of the most popular—and richest (making $54 million in 2021)—YouTubers in the world thanks to his videos. His content features a mix of outrageous stunts, pranks, and eye-popping cash giveaways.
In his most popular video, he gives 456 contestants the chance to play Squid Game in real life (without dying, of course) for a $456,000 grand prize after successfully completing a series of challenges that mimic the hit South Korean show. So far, it has racked up an impressive 259 million views on YouTube.
The viewing figures for his English language YouTube channel alone are impressive. However, MrBeast also has a Spanish language channel, where his videos are dubbed, which has helped his Squid Game challenge rack up another 57 million views. Some 16 million more Squid Game views come from the MrBeast Brazil channel, where his content is dubbed into Portuguese, and seven million each from his French and Hindi-language channels.
MrBeast is just one of many YouTubers who are now embracing localization in a professional way. Other top YouTubers who have also embraced localization include sports and comedy group Dude Perfect and kids’ entertainers Ryan’s World and Like Nastya.
So why would someone localize videos? The reason is simple: the more content they localize, the more international views they are likely to gain—and the more ad revenue they will earn from the platform.
While the English language may seem ubiquitous, let’s keep in mind that only 5% of the world’s population speak it as a native language. That’s 373 million out of the world’s 7.8 billion people. By contrast, 12% speak Mandarin Chinese and 6% have Spanish as their first language.
All the research shows that people largely spend time on websites that are in their own language. So, it follows that YouTubers who translate their YouTube videos and other content into several languages will only grow their audience.
That’s especially true for a global platform like YouTube. Four out of every five videos uploaded to the site are in a language other than English.
Let’s Talk About the Ways to Localize
Of course, many content creators already caption their videos and add translated metadata in multiple languages—and YouTube has the tools to help them do it. This is a great first step to try and reach more international viewers, but the quality of automated captioning varies greatly and can lead to inaccuracies that could turn off audiences.
Professional subtitling is a big step up over automated captioning. Not only will it be more accurate, but it will take into account cultural references and nuances.
Voiceover is another great solution. It can be more expensive but is very popular with many international viewers because it makes it easier for them to follow the content so they can multi–task without having to read off the screen.
Scaling Up Internationally
As YouTubers create increasingly impressive (and expensive) content, it’s little wonder that they are emulating major streamers like Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime Video who have scaled up internationally by offering high-quality dubbing and subtitling for their videos.
It might seem expensive and time-consuming to translate a YouTube video, but it’s often a more cost-effective and efficient way to gain new viewers than creating brand new content.
It’s not just high-profile YouTubers who can benefit from localization. YouTube is home to a vast array of videos—from product videos, tutorials, and interviews to demos and presentations. No matter the format, figures show that 76% of online shoppers prefer to buy products with information in their native language.
Although employing professionals to subtitle or provide voiceover for your YouTube videos may seem like a significant investment, offering your content in new languages will attract a wider audience—and it will ultimately help you monetize your channel more effectively.
Conclusion
When developing YouTube video content, make sure it’s culturally accurate to the audience you want to reach. Bromberg & Associates offers various solutions to communicate your message around the world. Learn more about our services and solutions and contact us today.