The number of voice-over job postings for female voices grew 24% and will exceed that of males within 7 years. This is a big deal because the voice-over industry has historically been male-dominated.

This shift to female voices correlates to the emergence of the  “just like me” trend in advertising. What this means is that consumers increasingly prefer (and relate better) to someone who sounds like them. As a result, there’ll be a continuing push to select talent that sounds the same age and gender as a brand’s or campaign’s target market, including dialect.

According to the Voice-Over Trends in Marketing and Advertising, 2018, this is also the year of the approachable expert – the voice of authority but with a high-level of relatability.

 

Read on below for more on The Female Economy and the most popular famous voices of  2018.

 

As the Harvard Business Review predicted in 2009 in the article The Female Economy, “women [. . .] will represent one of the largest market opportunities in our lifetimes.”

• This prediction is set to ring true in 2018, with Statista reporting that U.S. women are expected to spend $40 trillion this year, up $11 trillion since 2013, a shift that will see advertisers selecting more female voice-over talent in an effort to attract those dollars for their clients and brands.

Buying power and market trends also have implications on preferences for celebrity voice overs and the vocal archetypes they represent, that producers, marketers, advertisers and consumers will gravitate toward for campaigns. If this is of interest, check the link above for full listing as well as voice samples.

• One of the most in-demand vocal archetypes for 2018 is the Approachable Expert, as represented by the likes of female celebrities Meryl Streep and Emma Stone.

 

Charts below show which generation is the most favored by advertisers – not surprisingly all millennials all the time.  Boomers represent a mere 2% of projects although demand is up.

To read the complete 2018 Trends Report report, visit https://www.voices.com/company/reports/marketing-voice-over-trends-2018

 

 

About Voices.com
Founded in 2005, Voices.com is the largest global online marketplace for audio and voice over products and services comprised of half a million producers, voice actors, and talent agents. Its flagship website, http://www.voices.com, records approximately two million unique visitors annually and has enabled over 250,000 transactions to date. Headquartered in London, Canada, the Company employs more than 100 people and has clients and voice talent in 139 countries.