Voice-over services help businesses, creatives and institutions entertain, inform and educate their target audience. However, when you search for voice-over service prices on the internet today, you will be shocked at what you see. Their prices can go as low as $10 per minute and as high as $7,000 per project.

How do you choose the right voice-over talent to work with so that you can get value for your money?

This article will unearth how agencies and voice talents price their services, the factors that influence how much you pay, and the prices for the top five voice-over agencies in the UK.

Factors that influence the voice over service prices

Voice-over service prices vary from one voice talent to another depending on several factors. These include:

Competency of voice talent

The voice-over industry has all sorts of talents, from amateur freelancers looking to make extra money to trained, certified, and experienced voice actors. The latter will charge more, and you will get real value for your money in return.

You may get high-quality services from some freelancers, but finding suitable talent for your project takes time. Wordsburg voice-over artists are trained, certified, and experienced in handling voice-over projects such as commercials, eLearning, and games.

Project type

Voice-over service prices largely depend on the type of content you want to be produced and the usage. Project types include eLearning videos, gaming and animation, commercials, corporate videos, telephone IVR, and audiobooks.

E-learning projects

Universities, course creators, and organizations produce learning materials in the form of videos. Voice overs for such videos are priced on a per-word basis. Other factors that influence the price of such projects include whether they are monolingual or multilingual and the volume of work.

Commercials

Commercials promote services and products through TV and radio spots. The voice-over services for commercials depend on the project’s complexity, the production fees, the target audience, and content duration.

Telephone IVR

A telephone interactive voice response (IVR) helps you interact with callers in the absence of a customer representative. IVR voice-over service prices depend on the lengths of the message, whether there are technical terms, company jargon, and the number of prompts. Most agencies will price IVRs based on the rate per prompt.

Audiobooks

Due to the current busy schedules, most fans have embraced audiobooks and listen to the content while driving, shopping, or doing house chores.

Voice-over service prices for audiobooks are based on per finished hour. Per finished hour entails the recording and editing of the voice recording.

Video games

Video games are a million-dollar sector, and they require voice-over talent to voice the different characters. Basically, video games and animation voice-over prices will be based on the time taken to record, the complexity of the character in question, and whether the voice-over is wild, time-synced, or lip-synced.

Duration of content

Long content takes time to record and will cost you more money. When it comes to the duration of your project, the following factors will affect voice over service prices:

  • The number of words
  • The audio format required
  • The script’s complexity- does it have technical terms, intonations, emotions, etc.

Time taken to record the audio

Voice-over services fall under three categories based on the complexity of the recording and time constraints. These are:

Wild voice over

A wild voice-over is the simplest voice-over because the voice actor reads the script naturally. It only requires recording and editing; this is the cheapest.

Time sync voice over

This voice-over requires the talent to sync their voice to a set pace. Sometimes the artist has to match their voice to an onscreen speaker, such as an instructor on an explainer video. It is pricier than the wild type because it takes twice the time to record.

Lip sync voice over

A lip sync voice-over is the most complex of the three types because the voice talent has to match an onscreen speaker’s pace and lip movement. This voice-over type is common in animation, video games, and feature films such as musicals. It is the most expensive type of voice over.

At Wordsburg, our voice over artists can deliver all three types with a quick turnaround.

Voice over service prices definition

As you search for voice over service prices on the internet, you will come across the following terms:

  • Per-minute- charging a rate per minute spent recording the audio
  • Per finished minute- charging a rate per minute spent recording and editing the audio
  • Per hour- voice talent rate per hour of recording the audio.
  • Per project- a flat rate agreement between the client and voice talent based on the whole project
  • Per session- some voice talents will charge you for every time spent at the studio recording your script
  • Per spot- pricing based on how many times a voice-over is played on a commercial spot
  • Per usage – the primary determining factor for voice-over service prices because it is based on how the client intends to use the content. i.e., commercial, advertisement, video games, eLearning, corporate use, etc.
  • Buy out fee- an amount of money you pay the voice talent any time their work is used on a platform, e.g., TV spot, radio spot, and social media.

Voice over service prices for the top five agencies globally

#1 Wordsburg

Wordsburg is an industry leader in voice-over services, offering quality at affordable prices. With a pool of well-trained female and male voice-over artists, you will get value for your money. The firm provides voice-over services for eLearning, corporate projects, audiobooks, explainer videos, promotional videos, commercials, telephone IVR, and videogames.

The firm also provides other related services such as translations, transcription, subtitling and captioning, legalization, and interpretation.

Wordsburg charges start at $55.5 per minute.

#2 Voquent

Voquent is a language services provider based in the UK. The agency provides several services, including voice-over, translation, subtitling, and captioning. However, its voice-over services are relatively expensive.

Voquent charges $100- $170 per minute

#3 Voices.com

Voices.com is a global voice-over services provider with a worldwide clientele. The agency uses offshore and local talent, so it may not be suitable if you are looking for localized talent.

Voices.com voice-over prices range between $10 and $125 per minute.

#4 Bunny Studio

Bunny Studio is one of the most sought-after voice-over services globally, with over 13,000 freelance voice-over artists. The online platform offers businesses worldwide excellent services, and clients have a pool of talents to choose from. However, Bunny Studio is a freelancing platform, and finding the perfect fit for your project can be a daunting task.

Bunny Studio rates range between $60 and $123 per minute, but the pricing depends on the project type and the freelancer’s experience.

#5 VoiceCrafters

VoiceCrafters is a global agency that offers professional voice-over services to businesses. They specialize in e-learning, commercials, IVR, explainer, video games, pram, promotional, and music voice-overs. They are an in-house agency and accept freelancer talents with over five years’ experience. However, their rates are pretty high for small businesses.

VoiceCrafters’ pricing model depends on the type of project, but on average, the rates start at $350 per minute.

Wrap up

Voice-over service prices vary from one provider to another. The difference depends on the competency of the voice talent, the type of project, intended usage, complexity in recording, and content duration.