GoLocalise
Advertising voice over recording session with a microphone and screens

Commercial voice over

A voice that has to sell in thirty seconds: cast, directed and recorded to broadcast spec for TV, radio and online, in 100+ languages.

Professional commercial voice over services

Thirty seconds is not much time to earn attention, deliver a message and make it stick. Everything in a commercial works against the clock, and the voice carries more of that weight than any other element. Viewers forgive average visuals far more readily than they forgive a read that sounds like an ad trying too hard.

A professional Commercial Voice Over is what makes those seconds count. At GoLocalise, we cast and record voices for TV, radio, online video and social campaigns, matching the read to your brand, your audience and the media plan behind the spot.

  • Voices cast for the audience you are buying media against, not just for how good the demo sounds
  • Reads timed to the frame, whether the cut is six seconds for social or sixty for cinema
  • Usage rights scoped and cleared for your exact channels, territories and campaign duration
  • Translation and localisation in-house for campaigns running in more than one market
Get a quote
Voice actor recording a TV commercial in a studio

How our commercial voice over services work

Tight deadlines are the natural habitat of advertising, so our process is built to move quickly without skipping steps. Every spot follows the same structured workflow, coordinated by a dedicated project manager:

1

Brief review

2

Translation

3

Voice casting

4

Studio recording

5

Audio editing

6

Quality assurance

7

Feedback & revisions

8

Ready to air

One team, one project manager, one set of references — which is what makes a multi-market advertising delivery land on the air date rather than near it.

Why choose a professional commercial voice over?

Advertising is one of the few formats where the audience did not ask to hear you. A commercial interrupts something the viewer actually wanted, which means the voice has about two seconds to justify staying. Professional commercial talent earns that permission with craft: where to lean in, where to pull back, how to sell without sounding like selling.

Media spend raises the stakes well beyond the recording itself. When a campaign carries serious budget behind it, the voice over is a rounding error in the production cost but a major factor in whether the spot performs. Saving money on the read is economising on the one element every single impression contains.

Commercial work is also legally fussier than most voice over. Broadcast clearance, talent usage terms, renewal windows and territory restrictions all need managing, and getting them wrong can pull a campaign off air. We handle that layer as standard, so your media plan never collides with your talent contract.

And campaigns evolve. The thirty-second hero spot becomes a fifteen, a six, a radio cut and a year-two refresh with new offers. Booking through GoLocalise keeps the same voice available and consistent across every version, so the campaign sounds like one idea rather than a series of compromises.

Commercial formats & delivery

Everything cut to time and cleared for use — across TV, radio, online and social.

Durations
6″, 15″, 30″ and 60″ cutdowns from one session.
Audio formats
Broadcast WAV or MP3 to your platform's spec.
Usage & licensing
Priced by media, territory and term — and cleared for use.
Versions
TV, radio, online and social versions kept voice-consistent.
Turnaround
Most commercials delivered within 24–48 hours.
Languages
Native reads for every market, 100+ languages.

How to choose the right commercial voice over

Start from the media plan, not the voice. A spot built for TV prime time, a pre-roll skippable after five seconds and a radio ad live in drive time each reward different reads, and a voice brilliant in one can disappear in another.

Then be precise about the read. Urgency, warmth and dry understatement are three separate crafts and few actors are equally good at all of them — which a showreel will never tell you, because a showreel is edited to hide it. Put your own script in front of the shortlist and the gaps appear within a line or two.

Finally, settle the usage conversation before recording, not after. Channels, territories and campaign duration shape both the price and the contract, and renegotiating them mid-campaign always costs more than scoping them properly at the start.

When we cast commercial work at GoLocalise, these are the four areas we recommend resolving first

Read style: hard sell, conversational or storytelling

Fit with your target audience

Experience across TV, radio and digital formats

Usage rights and campaign scope

Commercial voice over pricing & project options

Commercial voice over pricing has its own logic: the recording session is only part of the cost, and usage usually matters more. A spot airing nationally on TV for a year is priced differently from the same script running two weeks on social, even when the studio time is identical. That is why we quote per campaign rather than per package. The tiers below are reference points showing how commercial projects of different scopes typically come together:

Bronze plan

Bronze

For a single-market spot with a final script, recorded by the right professional voice. Includes:

  • Professional commercial voice over recording
  • Audio editing and clean-up
  • Delivery in the format your channel requires
Select plan
Silver plan

Silver

For campaigns entering a new market, with the script adapted before recording. Includes:

  • Script translation and localisation by native linguists
  • Professional commercial voice over recording
  • Audio editing and clean-up
  • Delivery reviewed against your target market
Select plan
Gold plan

Gold

For campaigns publishing across platforms with accessibility covered. Includes:

  • Script translation and localisation
  • Professional commercial voice over recording
  • Audio editing and clean-up
  • Subtitles supplied in SRT format
Select plan

Custom projects

Eight markets going live on different dates, a hero film that becomes four cutdowns, end-tags that change every quarter, and a usage licence someone in legal has to sign off. That is what a commercial brief actually looks like, and it is why a rate card is useless here. Send us the plan and we will price the whole shape of it.

Get a tailored quote for your project

Commercial voice over for multilingual and global campaigns

A global campaign lives or dies on a strange balancing act: the big idea must stay recognisable everywhere while sounding native everywhere. Ship the original voice with subtitles and you lose impact; recast carelessly market by market and you lose the campaign.

GoLocalise manages that balance from the centre. One brief and one project manager cover every market version, with casting, direction and delivery held to the same standard from the lead market to the smallest buy.

Carefully selected voice talent for each market

Persuasion does not travel well. A joke that works in one market falls flat in the next, and the level of enthusiasm that reads as warm in the United States can read as pushy in northern Europe.

For each language in the campaign, we shortlist native commercial talent who match the brief and the local audience, and you sign off every voice before the sessions begin.

The result is a campaign that feels locally made in every market it runs.

Commercial being recorded with a TV ad playing on a monitor

One campaign sound across languages

No viewer ever compares the German cut with the Brazilian one. The brand team does, in a review session, and that is where inconsistency gets discovered — usually too late to fix cheaply.

Each market is directed against the approved lead film rather than against the script alone, so attitude and energy carry across.

Line up all the versions afterwards and they sound like one campaign. That is the test, and it is the one we produce for.

Creative team directing a voice over session for an advertising campaign

Centralised production and quality control

Multi-market campaigns multiply deadlines, file specs and approval rounds. Spread across local suppliers, they multiply risks too. We keep the whole programme inside one workflow instead.

Every version passes linguistic and technical QA, including timing against the picture, before it is delivered.

You receive air-ready files for every market, cleared, consistent and on the agreed schedule.

Audio engineer mixing a commercial spot at the console

Trusted to deliver by the world's top brands

Click a logo to watch the work we delivered for them.

  • Ubisoft
  • Vicks
  • Vodafone
  • Warner Bros
  • Xbox
  • American Airlines
  • American Express
  • Bazaarvoice
  • Belkin
  • Ubisoft
  • Vicks
  • Vodafone
  • Warner Bros
  • Xbox
  • American Airlines
  • American Express
  • Bazaarvoice
  • Belkin
  • Ubisoft
  • Vicks
  • Vodafone
  • Warner Bros
  • Xbox
  • American Airlines
  • American Express
  • Bazaarvoice
  • Belkin
  • Ubisoft
  • Vicks
  • Vodafone
  • Warner Bros
  • Xbox
  • American Airlines
  • American Express
  • Bazaarvoice
  • Belkin

What our happy customers say

We have used GoLocalise on a regular basis for projects in a number of languages. The service we receive is great. The team is always friendly and professional. The voiceovers we receive are of a very high quality and the turnaround is extremely quick. We are very happy to recommend GoLocalise to other businesses.
Jo SamuelAnimator at Pixel Circus
We’ve worked with the GoLocalise team on countless video projects and have always had the same consistent, great experience. Not only are they responsive and quick on turnaround, I can always trust the VO will be done right – they are always 100% clear with communication and ensure their talent is prepared to record by asking necessary questions upfront before recording. Highly recommended and will definitely work with them on future projects.
Jonathan LappsAccount Manager at Epipheo
It was a pleasure to work with David and the team at GoLocalise. David gave me lots of help and advice, guiding me through my first subtitling project. He really knows his stuff! The experience was completely pain-free. I would not hesitate to recommend GoLocalise – outstanding work at a good price.
Kerry GilliesDirector at Synergy Language Services
They’re reliable, adaptive and obsessed with quality. And while you can never be 100% guaranteed of perfection, you can be sure GoLocalise will go the extra mile to get it right every time. Whether that’s hiring extra resources, hopping on multiple calls or even changing their internal processes, they’ll do what it takes. We’ve worked with them now for over to 5 years and we are truly thankful to have such a strong localisation partner for our business.
Lucas ColeSales and Marketing Director at Epipheo

FAQs

What is a commercial voice over?

It is the recorded voice in an advertisement, from TV and radio spots to online video and social ads. The job combines performance with precision: selling the message convincingly inside an exact number of seconds.

How much does a commercial voice over cost?

Usage drives the price as much as the recording: channels, territories and campaign duration all count. A national TV buy and a two-week social run are priced very differently. Send us the media plan and script and we will quote precisely.

What read style works best for a commercial?

It depends on the creative and the channel. Hard sell still works for retail and radio, while digital audiences tend to respond to conversational, less polished reads. We help you match style to strategy during casting.

Can you record commercial voice overs in multiple languages?

Yes. Multilingual campaigns are a core part of our work, with native commercial talent for each market, in-house localisation and central management keeping every version on brand.

How do I get started with a commercial voice over?

Send the script, the cut if you have one, and the media plan basics: channels, markets and flight dates. We come back with casting options and a quote. Most spots are recorded within days of sign-off.

What's included in a commercial voice over from GoLocalise?

Your commercial voice over includes voice casting, native-speaking direction, recording in our own Central-London studios, editing and clean-up, and delivery in the formats you need — all managed by a dedicated project manager from brief to final file.

What can I use a commercial voice over for?

We produce commercial voice over for TV and radio commercials, online and social ads, cinema and in-store spots — all delivered to broadcast quality and ready to publish.

Why choose GoLocalise for commercial voice over?

GoLocalise has been a trusted voice over and localisation agency since 2008, with more than 1,000 professional voice actors across 100+ languages, native-speaking directors, our own Central-London studios and a Price Match Promise — so you get broadcast-quality results, on time and on budget.

Can I see samples before I commit to a commercial voice over?

Yes. Ask us for relevant samples and, for any commercial voice over, we will walk you through our approach and share examples so you know exactly what to expect before you book.

What file formats do you deliver a commercial voice over in?

We deliver your commercial voice over in whatever format you need — WAV, MP3, AIFF and more — at broadcast specifications, as separate files or a single mix, ready to use.

How do usage and buyout fees work for a commercial?

A commercial voice over is priced in two parts: the session fee for the recording, and a usage licence for where and how long the ad runs — TV, radio, online, cinema, by territory and term. A buyout can cover defined rights in a single payment where that suits the campaign. We quote both lines separately and itemised, so you only pay for the reach you actually use, and our usage-fee calculator lets you model it before you brief us.

Can you keep the same voice consistent across a whole campaign?

Yes. For multi-execution campaigns we hold your chosen voice and match tone, pace and energy across every spot and any later additions, so the brand sounds continuous. We keep talent availability and session notes on file so pickups weeks or months later still match the original read.

How quickly can you turn around a broadcast commercial?

Most single-language commercials are recorded and delivered within 24 to 48 hours of sign-off, and we can fast-track urgent broadcast deadlines when a slot is booked. Tell us your air date and we will build the schedule around it, including any usage clearance you need in place first.

Do you handle the music and final mix, or just the voice?

Either. We can deliver a clean, broadcast-spec voice track for your editor, or take care of the full mix — voice, music and sound design — so the spot arrives finished and ready to air. Tell us what you need and we will scope it into the quote.

The complete solution to localise your content

Voice over

  • State-of-the-art studios
  • Neumann microphones
  • On-hand sound engineers
  • 1,000+ voice actors
Learn more

Translation

  • 100+ languages covered
  • Tailored to your needs
  • Stringent quality control
  • Dedicated project managers
Learn more

Subtitling

  • Experienced subtitlers
  • Industry-standard software
  • Burn-in and graphic editing
  • Open and closed captions
Learn more

Transcription

  • Improve accessibility
  • Reach a wider audience
  • Boost SEO and video views
  • Maximise video engagement
Learn more

What it costs

What moves a commercial voice over quote

There's no honest one-size figure — a quote is built from a few things. Here's what moves it.

Usage licence

Media, territory and term — the licence that lets you run the ad, and the biggest factor in the fee.

Voice & edits

The voice you cast, plus cutdowns and alternate lines for the campaign.

Versions & edits

Cutdowns, radio and TV versions and alternate lines from the same session.

★★★★★5.0 · from 149 reviews · 24–48h