Discover the World of Media Localization.
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The rollout of YouTube Multilingual Audio is a great thing. But there is also a lot of hype and promises of fully automated access to international audiences: translation, lip-sync, automatic dubbing (“in two years it’ll be flawless”), skyrocketing views and revenue, all without effort, all without headaches, just a few clicks in the interface. Sounds amazing, right? But how does it work? What pitfalls should creators avoid? And how can you actually produce high-quality multilingual content on YouTube today?
Being part of our lives since 2005, Youtube has shaped the way we’re consuming video content and carved out a place among the most widely used social platforms. From everyday people recording videos in their rooms to superstars creators that deliver huge formats, competing with the most famous and traditionnal TV shows. It has offered a unique possibility to transform anyone’s creativity and passion into a real business. And what’s better than sharing that with the entire world? However, until recently, the platform fragmented audiences by keeping them confined to their native countries, and its algorithm wasn’t designed for international reach. Creators who wanted to reach worldwide had to run multiple channels, duplicating their video uploads, causing SEO penalties, lower watch time, and unaccumulated views. But now it is over. YouTube officially launched brand new multilingual audio tools, to help creators open their content to an international stage more easily but above all, using the same video link. So, what do these new options really have to offer? Let’s dig in.
In 2023, a 2-years pilot began to test new multilingual functionalities with famous creators’ channels in US first, then in other area of the world. This program allowed creators to create manual or automatic dubbing, but also thumbnails translation. Thanks to that, their content has been available in various languages, and adapted to the potential target audience, relying on their language preferences set in YouTube settings. This way, an American would see an English thumbnail and description, while a Spanish speaker has all these assets in his native language by default. And the pilot results were very encouraging: YouTube has shared a watch-time increase of 25% in the non-primary language of the content, and some of the creators have claimed they multiplied their videos’ view rate by 3. This system seems revolutionary because all interactions around the world live under the same roof: 1 URL is enough. Doing this boosts views, opens up more marketing and sponsorship opportunities, and ultimately drives higher revenue.
Really simple: one video, one URL, multiple subs and audio tracks.
Two possibilities regarding dubbing. The first one is AI. Youtube Dubbing is powered by Gemini and Google’s translation services. In a few clicks, your video is ready to be exported abroad. The promise is AI dubs are timesaving, cheap (free) as they’re generated instantly, and perfectly scalable. Too good to be true, right? Even if it seems to be a game-changer for growing the audience, reality catches up, and limits appear. The voice remains robotic and flat (disastrous). It’s the same tone all along. The lip-syncing is also inexistant, and the sound and image tend to lag a lot. And it’s not just about form, but also substance: the speech contains poor translations. First, the AI isn’t capable of producing flawless transcriptions. It also struggles to translate correctly idioms, jokes, slang, metaphors, and all the elements we use to create a natural flow in the way we speak our native language. Really, it can be painful. Here we have a perfect example of how AI can be demystified in the translation and voice production industry. Take a look for yourself and see, there’s no magic. YouTube’s automatic dubbing is sometimes simply disastrous. For now, English is the central language: you can automatically dub around 20 languages into English, and around 10 languages from English. But what about the other language pairs...
So yes, AI dubbing can “work” better if you handle it yourself for example, by importing AI-dubbed audio tracks from another solution that you’ve managed, edited, and synchronized. Even then, though, the audio is still not really engaging for the audience. It’s better. You have more language pairs, more voice options, and sometimes the possibility to make corrections yourself. But it still tends to feel unnatural for most viewers, and there’s a high risk they won’t watch the video until the end.
You’ll find two labels under the videos to give you information about the multilingual audio tracks:
AUTOMATIC DUB: This means the dubbing was made automatically by YouTube.
TRANSLATED VERSION: This means the creator uploaded their own audio tracks.
But it doesn’t specify whether they were produced using another AI solution or by real voice actors. (which is a problem.)
So yes, it shouldn’t even be considered as an alternative. But seriously, human dubbing and translation bring something AI can’t touch: emotion, nuance, and a real connection with the audience. A human voice actor can adapt their tone, rhythm, and emphasis to fit the context perfectly. They can make a joke land, a metaphor resonate, or a dramatic moment hit with full impact. The speech flows naturally, just like in your native language, and the lip-syncing is more precise. They know when to pause, when to speed up, and how to match the energy of the original content. Even more, the overall experience becomes immersive: viewers feel like the video was made for them, not just translated and dubbed automatically.
So yes, humans take more time and investment, but the results are incomparable. The audience engages, stays until the end, and the message lands exactly as intended. In short, if you want your content to truly have an impact worldwide, your views and revenues to grow in a sustainable way, humans are still the ultimate choice for multilingual adaptation.
To fully embrace international production on YouTube, creators must totally rethink the way they’re producing content if they want it to adapt smoothly to every language. Thinking about their content as an international product must precede production, because the content construction will have an impact on its adaptation. Every detail must be anticipated when it comes to visual choices: face-cam shots can create lip-sync challenges, and on-screen text cannot be translated, so it's often better to include all target languages on screen, which can be tricky. When it comes to uploading the video online, the metadata plan must be reviewed as well, so the titles and descriptions are ready for multilingual SEO.
Because YouTube is no longer just a space for YouTubers, traditional media, educational channels, brands, and even film producers are increasingly active on the platform. The multilingual feature also allows them to publish their content directly in several languages, giving them access to a wider and more unified global audience. This new capability is likely to encourage even more creators and production studios to join the platform, as they can now reach international viewers without having to manage multiple channels or duplicate uploads. What makes the difference? It’s free for everyone to use, and creators can generate revenue through advertisements and brand partnerships, making YouTube not only accessible but also financially rewarding for multilingual content.
At Studio Fugu, we help YouTube creators take their content multilingual without losing quality. From cultural adaptation and accurate translation to professional voice acting and precise editing, we make sure every video feels natural, engaging, and true to the original. Check out our work on Hugo Décrypte’s videos, one of the most influential creators / online media in France.
We are undeniably entering a new era in digital content creation, with multilingual options addressing a real need on platforms like YouTube. These new tools are a real breakthrough. YouTube has announced upcoming updates to fix some issues and promises AI voices that will sound more natural. But one thing remains clear: this technology will never be perfect. AI cannot replace the depth and nuance of a human voice or the careful attention to detail that makes all the difference. That’s why creators benefit from working with localization professionals, still the best solution, leaving nothing behind.
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