Can YouTube's multi-language audio feature take your channel to the next level?

As a YouTube-approved partner, we dub YouTube videos for some of the world’s biggest media companies and creators so they can reach global YouTube audiences as part of their distribution strategy. Here, we impart some of the most valuable lessons we’ve learnt when evaluating the impact of multi-language audio (MLA )on our customers’ YouTube videos and their overall channel performance. 

What is the YouTube multi-language audio feature, and who is using it?

In February 2023, YouTube began beta testing its multi-language audio feature to expand its international appeal. By enabling content owners to add audio in multiple languages to their YouTube videos, the feature aims to break down language barriers and increase engagement among global viewers. It also means that content creators and brands who can't afford to dub in a studio with voice actors or whose content does not qualify for investment in traditional dubbing can reach global audiences by dubbing.

How are multi-language audio tracks served to viewers?

Multi-language audio tracks are served to viewers not based on their geographical location but rather on the language their device interface is set to. A native Spanish speaker in Australia, for example, will be automatically served a YouTube video with a Spanish audio track and all related metadata like the title and description of the video in Spanish (while the creator enjoys Australia’s sweet, sweet RPMs) if their device language is Spanish. 

Who is the multi-language audio track feature available to?

As it stands, only brands and creators in the partner program and with a partner manager are eligible for the MLA feature. Most creators who fulfil the above criteria had MLA enabled between February 2023 and now, but some might need to contact their partner manager to enable the feature manually. 

YouTube has yet to release timelines of when the MLA feature will become available to all creators. When they do, it's likely that the feature will have a huge impact on YouTube content owners' ability to reach global audiences by breaking down language barriers.

What data is available in the studio to help creators and companies understand MLA track performance?

A limited amount of direct multi-language data is available on the YouTube studio dashboard. 

Currently, in advanced mode, companies and creators can filter the data by ‘audio track’ to see metrics such as views, watch time, average view duration and average % viewed. It isn’t possible to view any revenue data per audio track, so RPMs and estimated revenue has to be calculated outside of the dashboard based on the RPMs of the videos that have MLA tracks added to them and the target region RPMs. 

As the multi-language audio feature evolves out of its Beta phase and is rolled out to more companies and creators distributing on YouTube, we anticipate that the analytics will expand and become more granular. It would be exceptionally useful to see which exact geographies MLA views are coming from to make it easier to calculate the revenue driven by the feature.

Papercup’s key learnings from managing MLA dubbed tracks for top YouTubers and media companies

YouTube has shared a series of recommendations regarding the best strategy for MLA success. You can find a comprehensive list of those here.

Before launching MLA, YouTube recommends looking at which videos have driven the most watch time to the channel in the last 28 days and translating all of the videos that brought in between 50-80% of watch time. 

After adding these translated MLA tracks to the channel, YouTube recommends focusing on live uploads. According to YouTube, it is ideal to upload multi-language audio for a brand new video simultaneously as it goes live. If that’s not possible, the next best option is to upload the MLA track within a 48-72-hour window to capitalize on the new video's viewership velocity. 

However, after almost a full year of helping media companies and creators navigate multi-language audio on YouTube, we can confidently say that such strategies do not apply to every content category. 

From our experience, the above recommendation might be more suitable for certain creators whose video libraries contain more evergreen content like educational, informative or documentary/reporting channels. Channels that rely more on time-sensitive videos like tech reviewers, news or daily vloggers may not see the same results as most of the watch time on their channels will come from the most recent uploads, rather than being more evenly spread out between multiple older videos. 

How to level up your MLA analytics game

Even though YouTube provides limited metrics that let us gauge the performance of MLA tracks in each given language, there are other metrics that companies and creators can use to level up their understanding of how MLA can affect a channel on a much broader level. 

1. Look at regional performance before and after using the feature across the whole channel

One of the key metrics creators must look at is viewership from a given region before and after the launch of MLA across the entire channel. Many of our clients saw views from their target region grow exponentially since launching MLA. It’s important to note that sometimes more than one territory will make up a ‘region’ (e.g. for the Portuguese-speaking region, we look at views from Portugal and Brazil, or to identify a German-speaking region, we take Germany, Austria and Switzerland into consideration).

3. Look for a spike in RPMs

Another important effect MLA can have on a channel is boosting overall channel RPMs by increasing viewership from a region with high CPMs, like Germany, Japan, or Italy. 

3. Look for increased viewership, even on the original English videos

By far, the most powerful impact of MLA on a channel is seen subtly in the overall increase in viewership, even in the original English videos. If the content is compelling enough, a new viewer who lands on the channel through a video with an MLA track will often consume the rest of the multi-language audio feature-dubbed content. When that runs out, they are likely to move on to the rest of the catalogue, increasing the channel’s views and watch time.

The wider localization ecosystem

No matter how much YouTube tries to position its multi-language audio feature as a single panacea that will cure all localization challenges of companies distributing on YouTube, one should never put their eggs in one basket. The most successful content owners out there know which of their content requires dubbing with voice actors in a studio and which can be dubbing with AI dubbing. 

Those who thrive the most in the digital media landscape understand its multi-tired nature and take advantage of all possible revenue diversification streams.  

To learn which dubbing strategy will yield the best results for your content, get in touch.