YouTube Localization
In two years at YouTube, our video team produced over 8,000 localized videos that spanned dozens of projects, 32 languages and almost every country on earth. We did this work for YouTube Music, YouTube Premium, and YouTube Shorts.
Localization: Voice Over and Supers UX/UI Localization
The core of our work was taking an American English ad spot and rebuilding the animations so we could easily change superimposed copy for up to 32 languages. We also localized VO and recorded all languages as required by the project. In addition, we would also typically receive a 30-second spot that we cutdown to 15, 10, and 6 second versions as well as reformat for vertical and square applications across all devices and platforms.
Critical to the process of localization was maintaining accurate depictions of the YouTube Music app across the globe and ensuring that we properly updated the UX/UI to match what a user would find in the country they were watching the video in. We went to great lengths to ensure that animations were not only pixel perfect, but built to easily swap out languages as seen in this Billie Eilish spot:
15s American English
6s American English
15s Korean
6s Korean
15s Thai
6s Thai
Hyperlocalization of Video Conent
Sometimes the various global teams we worked with asked us to modify the footage we used in addition to updating for the local language. Below is a key example of a Holiday video where Northern Europe required us to show snow, Mediterranean countries required us to not show snow, and the US wanted us to show families “that felt American.” Here’s how we updated the footage, but kept the same ad spot: