Ad Trend for 2010 - More Voice Over Work?

I am constantly looking for any glimmer of hope. Any sign that says "Don't worry Jim, the VO business might just be bigger than you think next year". I have one that I want to share with you.

The Wall Street Journal printed an article two days ago that shows some hope. Here's how it applies to the VO business. Ad trends are now showing a bit of recovery for first quarter of 2010. But with that recovery, production stratagies are changing. No longer will the big name actor or sports figure play into the budget equation. It's just too expensive, and the risk is way to high. We can thank Tiger Woods for at least some of this new enlightenment. But new ad trends have more to do with is than you can imagine.

• Live TV commercials may return to the talk show
• Social Networking Personalities may be the new pitch masters
• Animated characters may replace big name stars
• On line & mobile advertising is looking sexier all the time
• Employees may become pitch men
• More ads made on the cheap in an effort to reach digital savy potential customers

I don't know about you, but in my opinion this is all good news to the voice over actor. Advertising trends may come and go, but the trend that remains the fall-back are the utility men and women of the voice over business. Animation needs us, amateur pitch men need us to wrap them professionally, low cost video production will always look to us. Especially with the dawn of portable video delivery systems.