SV2 – Doubling YouTube Reach with Dubbed Audio Tracks

The Challenge: In 2023 despite a huge English-speaking fanbase, SV2 faced a common hurdle for growing creators, the language barrier. Football is a global passion, but most of SV2’s videos were only in English, limiting their appeal to non-English speaking audiences. In fact, an estimated 75% of YouTube users speak languages other than English. SV2 recognized that to reach the sport’s worldwide fan community, the content needed to speak their language (literally). The goal was to expand beyond the UK and English-speaking markets and tap into new regions like Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East where millions of potential viewers were waiting.

Our Approach (BeMultilingual): January 2024, SV2 partnered with BeMultilingual to break down this language barrier through professional dubbing. Rather than relying solely on subtitles or separate dubbed channels, we utilized YouTube’s multi-language audio track feature to add dubbed audio tracks directly onto SV2’s pre-existing (main) YouTube channel. Our team identified key target languages based on SV2’s content and global football popularity, starting with major languages such as Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese, French, and German, and later adding others like Vietnamese, Turkish, Russian, Indonesian, and more. For each language, BeMultilingual provided native-speaking human voice talent (and culturally nuanced translations) to dub SV2’s energetic commentary and humor in a way that felt authentic to local viewers. We ensured the dubbed audio was synced and sounded natural, so that watching a dubbed SV2 video felt as engaging as the original. By February 1, 2024, the first wave of dubbed audio tracks went live on SV2’s top videos, marking the launch of his truly global content strategy.

Since implementing dubbed audio tracks in February 2024, SV2’s channel metrics have surged, reflecting a dramatic expansion in reach and engagement:

• Massive View Growth: SV2’s total YouTube views have nearly doubled after dubbing was introduced. Comparing the period before dubbing vs. after, the channel’s long form videos went from roughly 252 million views in the 18 months prior to dubbing to about 432 million views in the 18 months since, a huge surge driven by new international audiences. This translates to SV2 reaching almost 1.7X the audience he did previously, simply by speaking viewers’ language. 

SV2 Total YouTube Views Before vs After Dubbing.png

• Extended Watch Time: Along with view counts, watch time (total hours viewers spend watching) saw a major boost,  increasing by a similar magnitude (from ~30.8 million hours before to ~55.2 million hours after dubbing). This indicates that not only are more people tuning in, but they are watching longer. In fact, the channel’s average view duration (how long each viewer watches on average) inched up from about 7 minutes 20 seconds to 7 minutes 40 seconds. This slight improvement in viewing duration shows higher audience retention, especially impressive given the influx of new viewers from different languages. Non-English audiences are engaging with SV2’s videos almost as fully as English viewers, if not more in certain languages. A true testament to the quality and appeal of the dubbed content.

• Viral Videos: Dubbing has not only boosted overall channel growth but has also transformed the performance of SV2’s new releases. A recent example comes from his “SLIP N SLIDE” series, where one video amassed over 11 million views in less than 90 days. A major factor in this success was releasing the video with nine localized audio tracks from day one, including Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese, French, German, Vietnamese, Turkish, Russian, and Indonesian. This ensured the content was instantly accessible to fans across the world. The result was clear: the video ranked as a 1/10 performer on SV2’s channel, with a large portion of the views coming directly from the dubbed audio tracks.

  

Overall, SV2’s collaboration with BeMultilingual shows what is possible when an already successful YouTube channel is made accessible in multiple languages. What began as a UK-based football channel is now a global brand, connecting with fans from Latin America to the Middle East to Asia. By speaking to audiences in their own language, SV2 unlocked millions of new views, stronger engagement, and a clear advantage over creators who only publish in one language.

“BeMultilingual dubbing has helped my channel reach a whole new audience! Views have increased by almost double since working with them!” – SV2