In today’s competitive business world, most businesses have their presence online, and these businesses are using videos and audio to do marketing of their products and services. Voice-overs in videos make the videos more presentable and easy to understand for viewers or the audience. There are several types of videos created by content creators or organisations, and in most of those videos voice voice-overs are needed to make those videos impactful. Let’s look at some of the categories or genres of voice-overs. In this article, we will discuss 10 different types of voice-overs.
Different types of voice-overs
1. Explainer voice-over
An explainer voice-over explains a product or a service, or something. It talks about how a product works or functions, or how a service is used. For example, a company has launched a new product, and an explainer voice-over will explain how this product can be used by consumers or by customers. It can explain the features and benefits of that product or dos and don’ts. The product could be what we use in our daily life, or it can also be a technical product, for example, an app. The explainer voice-over will explain the process of operating the app.
2. Corporate voice over
A corporate voice-over is needed when an organisation introduces itself through a video. The purpose of a corporate video is to tell clients, customers, buyers and employees what the company deals in. Full stop, it is an overall presentation of an organisation or a company. Companies also talk about the number of employees, facilities, expansion, growth and plans in such videos. When such videos are presented with a powerful and impactful voice-over over then the quality of the videos is enriched manifold.
A quality corporate voice tone makes the videos look very authentic and helps to gain the trust of the audience, customers, clients, etc. Hence, corporate voice-over in a video makes the company look authentic and genuine and also helps to leave a good impression in the market.
3. TV commercial Voice Over
TV commercial voiceover, also known as TVC, is used when organisations or companies want to advertise their newly launched products, especially consumer products that we use in our day-to-day life, so that consumers can be aware of those products. A voice-over narration plays a very significant role in such advertisements, as it helps to grab the attention of the audience. You must have watched many ads on television, and you still remember their dialogues, and at times, you share those funny, emotional and thought-provoking dialogues with your near and dear ones also. A TV commercial voiceover helps increase the sales of those products tremendously through those ads.
4. Documentary Voice Over
Documentary voice-overs refer to those voice-overs that talk about some historical events, or they could also be a narration of any event with the facts, figures and other information. Documentary voice-overs are also informational videos about places, different cultures, etc. You must have watched some documentaries with a captivating voice-over about historical events on Netflix and Amazon Prime, or other OTT platforms based on history. Another example could be wildlife documentaries that you see on channels like National Geographic and the Discovery Channel. Documentaries with authentic voice-over connect very well with the audience and engage them.
5. Whiteboard animation Voice Over
Whiteboard animation videos usually have text and images that seem to be created in the videos with voice narration. These videos could be short educational videos. With the help of a captivating and engaging voiceover, such videos leave a long-lasting impact on listeners because the voiceover makes them more interesting and engaging. The purpose of whiteboard animation videos is to impart some knowledge about something through small stories.
6. Promotional Voice Over
Promotional voiceovers are needed to promote a product, a service or an event. You can also call it an announcement voiceover. The purpose of such videos or audios is to grab more and more attention of the audience to make them participate or buy products and services. Such voice-overs are usually loud because they are created for a certain period of time. Promotional voice-overs can also be used in radio advertisements to announce some offers. Real estate ads are some examples.
7. E-learning Voice over
Universities, colleges, schools, and organisations are converting all their learning content from text to audio & video. Hence, there’s a huge requirement for e-learning voiceovers. Such voice-overs are long. A voice-over recording for e-learning projects is expected to be clean, clear, smooth and easy to understand without much modulation. It’s easy for students, trainees or other learners to watch and listen for their understanding. Most of the e-learning contents are long contents, unlike TV commercials, explainer videos and product videos, etc.
8. IVR Voice Over
IVR, in its full form is called interactive voice response. These voice-overs are needed for automated inbound or outbound calls. It is mostly used in customer service departments of medium-sized or large organisations where there are different departments within the organisation. The voice artist needs to sound very humble, polite and welcoming in the recording. IVRs are helping companies to reduce the cost of human customer service representatives.
9. Cartoon Voice Over or Animation Voice Over
You must have watched different types of cartoons or animated programmes on television. These programmes are specially made for kids’ entertainment. A cartoon voiceover artist gives life to a cartoon character and makes the cartoon more interesting and entertaining for kids. A cartoon voiceover artist should be able to produce different types of voices because he is expected to do multiple characters in a cartoon programme.
10. Audiobooks
With a fast increase in the number of digital audio entertainment platforms like Spotify, Audible, Storytel, Kuku FM, and Pocket FM, content creators are rapidly creating audiobooks for these apps. Audiobooks are made in different genres. With the help of skilled voiceover artists, audiobooks are created in different genres. There are fiction books. There are non-fiction books, dramas, documentaries, storytelling, etc.
Conclusion
In this article, we have discussed 10 different types of voice-overs. These are the most common genres of voiceover. But the voice-over categories are not just confined to these 10. As the industry and businesses are evolving digitally, there are several more genres of voiceovers that have been introduced lately, for example, voice-over for gaming videos, voice-over for YouTube videos. Even Event management companies are also using voice-over services to make their events more lively, exciting, with some captivating announcements.
