YouTube is rolling out a feature that will allow creators to dub their videos in multiple languages, streamlining the process for those seeking to reach audiences in their native languages around the globe.
Eligible creators will receive an invitation to use the feature in YouTube’s creator studio. To offer multiple dubs on a video, creators will be able to add different audio tracks through the subtitles editor tool on YouTube and can update new and existing videos with additional audio tracks.
The multi-language feature was initially tested by a smaller group of creators that included YouTube star Jimmy Donaldson, best known as MrBeast. Though YouTube did not share the exact number of creators who will have access to the feature beginning Thursday, a spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter that “thousands more” creators are being included in the rollout, with further expansions expected in the future.
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In a Thursday interview with YouTube’s creator liaison, Rene Ritchie, Donaldson said the ability to offer multi-language support would help reduce the workload for creators currently operating multiple channels in different languages. Instead, Donaldson encouraged creators to use the dubbing tool to create a single, multi-language channel.
“It’s a lot simpler for the fans,” Donaldson said, noting how viewers wouldn’t need to navigate to different versions of his videos depending on which language they were dubbed in. “Whether you’re in Mexico, you’re in Brazil, you’re in India, all the dubs are in one place, on one video, so it’s also just a lot simpler for people to understand.”
Popular dubbing languages on YouTube have included Spanish, Portuguese and Hindi, according to the YouTube spokesperson. The company said the test group of creators using multi-language dubbing saw more than 15 percent of their videos’ watch time coming from viewers who were watching the video in a dubbed language.
