• by Larissa Faw , December 19, 2018

As audio content grows, brands are increasingly seeking female voices as well as regular-folks voices over celebrities and robots, according to Voices.com's annual trend report predicting advertising, marketing and voiceover trends for 2019. 

The report includes the results of a survey of more than 1,700 creative professionals worldwide.

Nearly one in three brands and advertisers (30%) say they will look for more female voices over the next 12 months, while 27% will seek more "authoritative or professional" voices. Another one in four (27%) want the "girl/guy-next-door" type of voice and a similar percentage will seek more non-English languages. 

Notably, 70% indicate that they’re either looking for fewer celebrity voices, or not looking for them at all. 

Human voices continue to be preferred over synthetic voices, with 91% of creatives agreeing that a human voice is more powerful than a computer-generated one.

Last year, 61% of respondents identified themselves as part of an agency or production house, whereas in 2018, only 48% did.

This 13% drop is reflective of reports throughout 2018 that brands are increasingly building their own in-house teams. "The fact that global juggernaut Amazon has cut agencies out of advertising deals, opting to work directly with brands, is more proof of this shift."

In addition to the survey, the trend paper is also supported by an M.I.T Analytics Lab research project designed to forecast the vocal characteristics that will be most in demand for next year.  

More on the report can be found here.