Campaign Profile

Deepdub’s Ofir Krakowski discusses how the AI-driven dubbing and localisation company is changing the game for clients such as Paramount-owned Ananey and US-based Kartoon Channel.

Like many great innovations, AI-powered dubbing and language localisation firm Deepdub was born from a simple insight, remembers company co-founder and CEO Ofir Krakowski. “Most content distributed around the world is in English, but the majority of people don’t speak English well, if at all. That struck us as significant, not just for audiences but for companies looking to maximise the global impact of their content.”

Tech entrepreneurs by trade, the Deepdub team decided to tackle this issue by developing an intuitive dubbing and localisation platform that seamlessly merges AI technology with human creativity. “Our goal was to facilitate the faithful preservation of original intent across languages at scale,” says Krakowski. “From a commercial perspective, our view was that this would not only enhance brand recognition of a company’s content, but also drive substantial revenue growth.”

Launched in 2019, Deepdub has gone on to establish itself as a market-leader in this space, making it possible for content owners to localise their audiovisual assets across more than 130 languages: “We have hundreds of clients around the world,” says Krakowski, “we have dubbed thousands of hours of video content for major Hollywood studios and streaming platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu.”

Significantly, Deepdub today is about much more than the localisation of English-language content: “Our platform has a key role to play in developing untapped areas of the global economy,” says Krakowski. “Think of a market like India, which has 22 official languages. By creating a wider exchange of content produced in Hindi, Telugu or Bengali, it means more people can participate in the wider economy.”

Krakowski says the potential use cases for Deepdub are hugely varied, ranging from media and entertainment to gaming, corporate/marketing communications and education. Right now, the company is primarily focused on the content business, with international broadcasters, studios and rights holders a major strategic focus.

Crucial to understanding the uniqueness of Deepdub’s platform is that it goes far beyond basic translation, says Krakowski. “True localisation involves a comprehensive understanding of cultural nuances and local preferences,” he explains. “The beauty of Deepdub is that it empowers creators to deliver human-sounding, culturally resonant, and emotionally compelling audiovisual content. The platform features emotive-based text-to-speech models, including capabilities for singing, accent control, voice-to-voice conversion, and voice cloning. These innovations allow content creators to deliver high-end results that resonate authentically with global audiences.”

Intriguingly, Krakowski notes that Deepdub’s role doesn’t just begin once a show has been completed, but right at the initial stages of content production. “A really good illustration of what our platform excels at is our recent work with Ariel Baril, VP of technology for Southern Europe, Africa and the Middle East at Paramount.”

Paramount was seeking a cost-effective solution to localise content and trailers. Partnering with Paramount-owned production house Ananey, Deepdub deployed a tool called Deepdub GO. Baril explains: “One challenge we faced was localising smaller-budget titles while keeping costs low, especially when trying to break into new regions. With Deepdub GO, we found a solution that not only addressed our localisation needs but also allowed us to create multilingual trailers during production. This opened up opportunities for us to pitch content in different languages and secure distribution deals faster than ever.”

Another illustration of Deepdub’s flexibility was its work with leading children’s entertainment network Kartoon Channel, which wanted to reduce localisation costs while maintaining the high quality of its animated TV shows. The specific goal was to adapt content for Spanish Castilian and Italian audiences without compromising on the voice authenticity and emotional depth that are crucial for children’s programming.

Deepdub addressed this challenge with its proprietary eTTS^TM (emotive Text-to-Speech) technology. By deploying eTTS, Deepdub was able to dub two different animation TV shows, completing 34 episodes in just 14 days. This led to a dramatic 70% reduction in localisation costs and a 75% turnaround time reduction.

Kartoon Channel president Paul Robinson was upbeat about the impact Deepdub had. The company “has quickly established itself as a key player in the dubbing industry through its adept use of AI. Deepdub is using AI in a way that gives us a great product at a better price and enables us to get into things we couldn’t otherwise do.”

Krakowski agrees that AI’s ability to keep perfecting itself is a game-changer, but he also stresses that it is “vital to keep humans in the loop, for the times when AI doesn’t get it right. At Deepdub, we have a team who are native speakers of the language of localisation to keep everything sounding real and relevant.”

Another key thing to understand about Deepdub, says Krakowski, is that it is a very user-friendly tool. Delivering bespoke client-centric impact is made possible by the way that Deepdub’s tech dovetails seamlessly with content creation workflows.

Clients can access the tech in different ways, he explains. The Deepdub GO platform, for example, is a virtual AI dubbing studio designed for post-production editors. But there is also a white glove dubbing service offered by Deepdub’s in-house team of post-production and localisation professionals.

“In some regions,” says Krakowksi, “we learned that companies don’t have people to curate the content. So we have an internal marketplace comprising professionals from these regions.”

According to Krakowski, Deepdub isn’t just distinguished by the richness of its localisation and the quality of its user experience. “AI automation means content across a broad range of budgets can reach new markets efficiently. I think the importance of this will become more apparent as the industry turns towards ad-funded business models on YouTube and FAST, where cost-effectiveness is crucial.”

The proliferation of distribution outlets also links to another of Krakowski’s key concerns: “We set out to make Deepdub an ethical platform. Like any technology, AI can be misused, which is why we don’t license our platform to end customers. We built the entire technology focused around scale and enterprise, with the highest standards of security and legality to protect our customers’ IP. I think this is more important than ever now that there is so much content and so many platforms in the global market.”

One area where Deepdub has paid particular attention is the rights of talent. “We believe the participation of voice actors must be respected and rewarded,” says Krakowski. “We have agreements in place regarding how recordings will be used, including stipulations on reuse, modifications, and distribution to ensure they are not exploited. This rigorous approach also helps companies that control content, because it means you have full control over the use of voices and no legal uncertainty.”

Having already made rapid strides, Krakowski expects the platform to accelerate in the coming period. In terms of product development, he is excited by the potential to expand Deepdub’s activities into live areas like news and sport. “We are working with partners on prototypes for a high-quality solution for real-time broadcasting in different languages. With the FIFA World Cup heading for the US and Latin America in 2026, I believe the next few years will be really exciting for real-time dubbing and localisation.”

More generally, he believes the company is well-placed to grow: “The plan for us is to scale up, because we’re at a point where enterprises are really interrogating how AI can provide value. Because we are at the forefront of enterprise-ready AI-based localisation solutions, we know there is an opportunity for content owners to create new streams of monetisation while also streamlining existing processes. Every type of business must stay ahead of this localisation trend to remain competitive.”

To book a meeting with Deepdub at Content London, click here.

• Deepdub’s case study page 
• Kartoon channel + Interview with President Paul Robinson
• Ananey Paramount+ interview with Ariel Bril, VP tech