#170 Dubbing for Top Youtube Creators with Unilingo CEO Farbod Mansorian

Unilingo Founder and CEO, Farbod Mansorian, joins SlatorPod to talk about launching the leading dubbing provider for Youtube creators, enabling them to get billions of additional views.

As a regular consumer of YouTube, Farbod came across TED Talks, and after translating a talk for his mother, the idea to bring this to other non-English speaking communities was born. This idea evolved into Unilingo, where Farbod formed a team to work on dubbing YouTube videos so content creators can reach fans across the world.

Farbod reveals how he develops the business by connecting with popular creators in person at YouTube conferences around the world and scaling through word of mouth.

Asked about AI dubbing Farbod emphasizes that AI has not yet been able to capture emotions and intonations effectively, which is evidenced by lower average viewing retention rates than human-dubbed content.

Farbod discusses the pros and cons of YouTube’s multitrack audio feature, with multiple language options increasing engagement and showing dedication to the audience. However, text on screen, thumbnails, and comments pose challenges as they are not currently translated into multiple languages. 

The CEO addresses the challenges faced by voice actors and how Unilingo pays their talent within hours instead of weeks. The pod rounds off with Unilingo's roadmap, where they will continue their human-first AI-assisted approach to developing software tools that enable more voice actors to enter the dubbing space.