Free tool
Ad script timer
Paste your voiceover script and see right away how many seconds it takes to read — and whether it fits the spot. We count syllables, not words: “cat” and “unbelievably” are both one word, but a voice takes far longer to say one than the other. Pace and pauses come from 51 real commercials we clocked ourselves — Ukrainian ones, so English timings are a touch less precise.
Phrase by phrase
Where each phrase starts at the “Standard” pace. Handy for checking against the storyboard — and you can see exactly what doesn't fit.
The breakdown shows up here once you paste some text.
How we count
Syllables and pace
We clocked pace on 51 real commercials — our own plus TV spots from the archive, all in Ukrainian. A standard Ukrainian read runs 5.3 syllables a second, a calm one 4.3, an upbeat one 6.1. Roughly 2 words for every second of the spot. English is a rougher estimate: we only had five English spots, so it runs on the studio rule of thumb — about 2.5 words a second.
Pauses
In a Ukrainian read the voice barely stops at a comma — we measured five hundredths of a second. After a period it's a quarter of a second, a little more after a paragraph. English reads breathe more, so English pauses run longer. An ellipsis, “//” or [pause] is a pause the voice holds on purpose.
Numbers and symbols
A voice reads “2026” as “twenty twenty-six.” That's five syllables, not one word. Same goes for %, $, €, mg, ml and “+”.
Script notes
Anything in [square brackets] or (parentheses), “SUPER:” lines, speaker labels like “VO:”, timecodes — none of it is read aloud, so none of it is counted. Uncheck the box under the text to turn this off.
Pace is everything
A brand spot gets read twice as slowly as a sales promo. Pick the right pace and the average error is 4% — we checked against those same spots. Not sure? Hit “Time it,” read it out loud and compare. The final number only comes after the recording anyway.
We built it for ourselves — we time voiceovers every day. Use it, pass it on to your team. And when you need the actual spot, drop us a line.
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