I originally wrote this blog a few years ago after realising something slightly alarming about myself.
My attention span appeared to have disappeared.
Not entirely, obviously. I could still sit through a film, read a script or concentrate on a recording session without wandering off halfway through.
But give me 45 minutes of something on any number of the streamers and I’d find myself checking my phone for messages (work or personal), rising from the sofa to stretch the old back and legs, or sneaking up on the fridge when it wasn’t looking to get a snack.
YouTube, on the other hand?
Five minutes. Ten minutes. Something interesting, entertaining or informative and then on to the next thing.
Once I’d noticed it in myself, I started noticing it everywhere.
We’re all competing for attention
Sit in a café, stand in a queue or wait for a train and you don’t need to look very far before you see somebody scrolling, watching or listening to something.
Usually while doing something else at the same time.
I’m not going to be dramatic and proclaim that the human attention span has officially collapsed. I’m sure there are people more qualified than me to assess that situation.
I do, however, think we’re dealing with an awful lot of competition for our attention.
And, as my mind mused over the topic, I found myself thinking about voiceover.
Because whether it’s a 30-second commercial, a corporate film, an explainer video, an e-learning programme or a documentary, somebody has made a decision to listen.
My job is to make sure they carry on.
Good voiceover delivery isn’t just about having a good voice
This is one of the things I’ve learned after more than thirty years as a professional voiceover artist.
A voice can be rich, deep, authoritative, warm – even quirky and characterful.
All good traits in essence. None of them really matter though, if the delivery loses the listener.
How you interpret a script. The energy you inject – and at exactly which point. The words that need some welly… and the ones that need a gentle touch.
And, importantly, not sounding as though you’re articulating out loud in a secondary school reading lesson.
The listener tends to have an ear for all of those things.
Different scripts demand different kinds of attention
A commercial might have seconds to make its point.
An e-learning voiceover could need to hold somebody’s attention for considerably longer while explaining something complicated.
Corporate voiceover often sits somewhere in between. The information matters, but it still needs warmth, variation and enough personality to prevent the whole thing from becoming audio wallpaper.
That’s why professional voiceover isn’t simply the process of reading words aloud.
The performance becomes part of the brand. It has to land the message – and understand the audience.
So, the musing on the original point of this blog comes back into focus.
The challenge of holding attention in a distracted world.
Perhaps ‘bite-sized’ isn’t the whole answer
Looking back, I think I had the wrong end of the stick when I originally wrote this.
Maybe the lesson isn’t simply that everything has to become shorter.
After all, people will happily spend hours listening to a great audiobook, podcast or documentary when they’re absorbed in it.
Perhaps the better question is whether they’ve got enough of a reason to keep listening.
A good script helps. As does production.
But the voice delivering those words really does matter.
Thirty-odd years behind a microphone has taught me that getting somebody’s attention is one thing.
Keeping their ears with you is another altogether.
