Presented by Brigid Reale at the 2024 Euro VO Retreat in Barcelona, Spain

Non-Broadcast VO refers to things like explainer videos, corporate narration, and e-learning. The project featuring the VO is not aired or distributed on TV, radio, social media, or cinema, which are broadcast channels.

First, Brigid talked about the importance of understanding client requirements for audio transcription, analyzing and interpreting acronyms and scientific symbols in narration scripts, and optimizing website content for SEO. Later, we discussed strategies for negotiating rates with clients, including transparency, customized quotes, and providing value beyond the initial quote.

Quoting and pricing

Brigid talked about some of the uncertainties that come with quoting a non-broadcast project. For example, I told her that one of the rosters I’m on only produces explainers, and they have a set price that they pay voice actors depending on the length of the video (60 seconds, 90 seconds, or 120 seconds). Those prices don’t account for the script length, complexity, or usage.

However, everyone reads at a different pace. So if you use a standard words-to-time tool to estimate how long it will take you to read the script, your result could be very different from reality. A few of us took turns reading the same script and got slightly different results (except for me and Brigid, who ended up with the same time).

When prospects ask for a quote, it’s important to understand whether the project where your voice would be used is paid, boosted or sponsored. That kind of usage requires a higher quote.

Determining script length

When determining the length of a script, your average word counter will miss counting things like numbers, URLs, initialisms and acronyms. For example, when you read a phone number, you utter each number is a separate word. Same thing for USA and FBI, which are initialisms (you utter each letter separately), so they each count as three words, not one. But if the script says “POTUS,” since it’s uttered as one word, it’s an acronym for “President of the United States,” which only counts as one word. Brigid recommended a word counter made for voice actors called Real Count.

We talked more about quoting, including how to determine usage, along with some bonus content: how to improve your Voice123 profile with SEO techniques for your voice samples, and legal verbiage for your invoices.