21 percent of voice actors say they have knowingly lost a job to a synthetic voice, according to the National Association of Voice Actors 2026 State of Voiceover Survey of 1,379 performers (NAVA, 2026). In the same survey, 9 percent found a synthetic copy of their voice used in a professional project without their knowledge, while 13 percent had willingly consented to a clone. The counterweight came from organized labor: the 2024-2025 SAG-AFTRA video game strike ended after roughly 11 months with a 95.04 percent ratification vote and the first bargained consent, disclosure and compensation rules for AI voice replicas (SAG-AFTRA, 2025). This analysis consolidates data from the National Association of Voice Actors (NAVA), SAG-AFTRA, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Audio Publishers Association, and 8 other primary sources published in 2024-2026.
TL;DR
- 21 percent of voice actors say they have knowingly lost a job to a synthetic voice (NAVA, 2026 State of Voiceover Survey).
- The 2024-2025 SAG-AFTRA video game strike ended after about 11 months with a 95.04 percent ratification vote (SAG-AFTRA, 2025).
- US actors earned a median 23.33 dollars per hour in May 2024 (BLS OEWS, 2024).
- 74.9 percent of voice actors earn 50,000 dollars or less per year (NAVA, 2025 State of Voiceover Survey).
- The dubbing and voice-over market reached about 4.2 billion dollars in 2024, heading to 8.6 billion by 2034 (Market.us, 2025).
- The AI voice generator market is forecast to grow roughly 30 percent a year, from 4.16 billion dollars in 2025 to 20.71 billion by 2031 (MarketsandMarkets, 2025).
- US audiobook sales hit 2.43 billion dollars in 2025, up 9 percent (Audio Publishers Association, 2026).
- AI narration accounted for just 0.03 percent of audiobook sales revenue in 2025 (Audio Publishers Association, 2026).
- Only 26 percent of voice buyers have tried an AI voice, and 70 percent of them used it on under a quarter of projects (Voices.com, 2025 Trends Report).
- The SAG-AFTRA deal set a 15.17 percent immediate pay raise plus AI consent, disclosure and compensation rules (SAG-AFTRA, 2025).
- 13 percent of voice actors have consented to a synthetic clone of their own voice (NAVA, 2026).
- 58 percent of US adults, roughly 157 million people, have listened to an audiobook (Audio Publishers Association / Edison Research, 2026).
1. Market Size and Growth
Two markets sit side by side under the same “voice” label and grow at very different speeds. Human dubbing and voice-over services expand at a steady single-digit clip, while the AI voice generator segment compounds near 30 percent a year. Independent forecasts from MarketsandMarkets and Grand View Research converge on roughly 20 to 22 billion dollars for the AI voice generator market by the early 2030s despite using different base years, which raises confidence that the trajectory is real rather than a single firm’s outlier. For working performers, the takeaway is that budget is not shrinking; it is splitting between two supply chains.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Dubbing and voice-over market, 2024 | 4.2 billion USD | Market.us, 2025 |
| Dubbing and voice-over market, 2034 forecast | 8.6 billion USD (7.4% CAGR) | Market.us, 2025 |
| AI voice generator market, 2025 | 4.16 billion USD | MarketsandMarkets, 2025 |
| AI voice generator market, 2031 forecast | 20.71 billion USD (30.7% CAGR) | MarketsandMarkets, 2025 |
| AI voice generators market, 2030 forecast | 21.8 billion USD (29.5% CAGR) | Grand View Research, 2024 |
| AI-powered dubbing tools market, 2025 | 2.75 billion USD (21.3% CAGR to 2035) | Market.us, 2025 |
| Neural TTS share of AI voice generator market, 2025 | 49.6% | MarketsandMarkets, 2025 |
| Voice and language intelligence market, 2035 forecast | 145.03 billion USD (21.85% CAGR) | Precedence Research, 2025 |
Context: the broader AI voice generator market and traditional voice-over services are increasingly quoted as one addressable market, which inflates headline numbers when reports blend them. Firm-level figures are drawn from Market.us and MarketsandMarkets.
2. AI Adoption and Its Impact on Voice Actors
The performer and buyer data tell a consistent story from opposite ends. Voice actors report real, unconsented harm, yet the people who hire them are adopting AI cautiously and still favor human delivery. The fact that only 26 percent of voice buyers have ever tried an AI voice, and 70 percent of those confined it to under a quarter of their projects, means AI is currently an accent on human work rather than a replacement for it (Voices.com, 2025 Trends Report). That gap between fear and current buyer behavior is where consent-based licensing matters most: a performer who controls a licensed clone of their own voice captures the upside instead of being copied for free.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Voice actors who consented to a synthetic clone of their voice | 13% | NAVA, 2026 State of Voiceover Survey |
| Found a synthetic version of their voice used without consent | 9% | NAVA, 2026 State of Voiceover Survey |
| Knowingly lost a job to a synthetic voice | 21% | NAVA, 2026 State of Voiceover Survey |
| Voice buyers who have tried an AI voice for a project | 26% | Voices.com, 2025 Trends Report |
| Of those buyers, share using AI on under 25% of projects | 70% | Voices.com, 2025 Trends Report |
| Buyers citing human-like quality as top factor in AI choice | ~80% | Voices.com, 2025 Trends Report |
The consent question ties directly to consent-based cloning of your own voice and to the broader voice cloning statistics for 2026. Survey detail is published by NAVA.
3. The SAG-AFTRA Strike and AI Labor Protections
The longest strike in SAG-AFTRA history was fought largely over AI. It ran from July 26, 2024 to July 9, 2025, and the near-unanimous ratification tells you how central AI protections were to members. The contract’s 7.5x-scale minimum for “Real Time Generation,” embedding a digital-replica-voiced chatbot in a game, is the first collectively bargained price on an AI voice performing live (SAG-AFTRA, 2025). It converts an open-ended replacement risk into a licensable, paid transaction, which is the model performers have asked for.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Strike duration | ~11 months (Jul 2024 to Jul 2025) | SAG-AFTRA, 2025 |
| Performers involved in the strike | ~2,600 | 2024-2025 SAG-AFTRA video game strike, 2025 |
| Ratification vote | 95.04% to 4.96% | SAG-AFTRA, 2025 |
| Strike authorization vote (2023) | 98.32% in favor | 2024-2025 SAG-AFTRA video game strike, 2025 |
| Immediate pay increase on ratification | 15.17% (plus 3% in Nov 2025, 2026, 2027) | SAG-AFTRA, 2025 |
| Real Time Generation digital replica minimum | 7.5x scale | SAG-AFTRA, 2025 |
| Interim and independent agreements signed by Sept 5, 2024 | 80 games | 2024-2025 SAG-AFTRA video game strike, 2025 |
The deal also requires consent and disclosure before any digital replica is created and lets performers suspend that consent during a strike. Terms are documented by SAG-AFTRA.
4. Voice Actor Earnings and the Workforce
The wage picture is bimodal and thin at the top. A median of 23.33 dollars an hour with a top decile above 97 dollars looks healthy until you see the annual reality reported by performers themselves. When 74.9 percent of voice actors earn 50,000 dollars or less per year, the “top-decile” hourly rate is describing occasional bookings, not a stable salary (NAVA, 2025). Combined with BLS projecting little or no headcount growth through 2034, the data describes a crowded field where diversified, direct-marketing performers pull ahead of those relying on a single channel.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| US actors employed | ~57,000 (2024) | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2024 |
| Median hourly wage | 23.33 USD (May 2024) | BLS OEWS, 2024 |
| Bottom 10 percent hourly wage | under 14.00 USD | BLS OEWS, 2024 |
| Top 10 percent hourly wage | over 97.19 USD | BLS OEWS, 2024 |
| Voice actors earning 50,000 USD or less per year | 74.9% | NAVA, 2025 State of Voiceover Survey |
| Voice actors earning 75,000 USD or less per year | 81.6% | NAVA, 2025 State of Voiceover Survey |
| Projected annual openings for actors, 2024-2034 | ~6,300 | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2024 |
| NAVA 2026 respondents reporting income growth in 2025 | 41% (30% reported a decline) | NAVA, 2026 State of Voiceover Survey |
Context: NAVA’s 2026 respondent pool skewed toward experienced professionals (70 percent professional level, 25 percent with 15-plus years) and was 52 percent female, 41 percent male and 7 percent non-binary, with 15 percent identifying as disabled (NAVA, 2026). Wage data is from the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook.
5. Audiobooks and AI Narration
Audiobooks are the loudest test case for synthetic narration, and the market is voting for humans with its wallet. Sales keep climbing and title counts are exploding, but the AI share of revenue is a rounding error and consumer appetite for it is falling. AI narration generated 0.03 percent of audiobook sales revenue in 2025 even as the number of AI-narrated titles rose, meaning supply is running well ahead of demand (Audio Publishers Association, 2026). Stated willingness to try an AI-narrated book dropped from 70 to 61 percent in a single year, the clearest sign yet that listeners notice and prefer human performance.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| US audiobook sales, 2025 | 2.43 billion USD (+9%) | Audio Publishers Association, 2026 |
| US audiobook sales, 2024 | 2.22 billion USD (+13%) | Audio Publishers Association / Publishers Weekly, 2025 |
| Active audiobook titles, 2025 | 750,000+ (+43% vs 2024) | Audio Publishers Association, 2026 |
| AI narration share of sales revenue, 2025 | 0.03% | Audio Publishers Association, 2026 |
| Listeners who have tried an AI-voiced audiobook | 16% | Audio Publishers Association, 2026 |
| Willingness to try AI narration (2025 to 2026) | 70% falling to 61% | Audio Publishers Association, 2026 |
| US adults who have listened to an audiobook | 58% (~157 million) | Audio Publishers Association / Edison Research, 2026 |
| Audio-First revenue, 2024 to 2025 | 91.1 million to 136 million USD (+50%) | Audio Publishers Association, 2026 |
For the full breakdown see the audiobook statistics for 2026. Figures are published by the Audio Publishers Association and reported by Publishers Weekly.
6. Demand by Segment, Language and Region
Where the work is going matters as much as how much of it exists. Buyer surveys show demand concentrating in brand and character work and expanding across languages, which favors performers who can range and localize. With more than half of voice buyers now purchasing or planning non-English voice over, multilingual capability has shifted from a niche premium to a baseline expectation (Voices.com, 2025 Trends Report). Spanish is the clear front-runner for expansion, and streaming platforms keep dubbing volume high across a familiar set of large-population markets.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Voice buyers purchasing or planning non-English work | more than 50% | Voices.com, 2025 Trends Report |
| Top requested non-English language: Spanish | 40% | Voices.com, 2025 Trends Report |
| French (second) | 22% | Voices.com, 2025 Trends Report |
| German (third) | 11% | Voices.com, 2025 Trends Report |
| Top anticipated 2025 demand: brand marketing | 52% | Voices.com, 2025 Trends Report |
| Animation | 45% | Voices.com, 2025 Trends Report |
| Internet ads and television | 35% each | Voices.com, 2025 Trends Report |
Outlier note: streaming platforms concentrate high-volume multilingual dubbing in Germany, France, Spain, Brazil, South Korea and Japan (Market.us, 2025). Buyer demand data is published by Voices.com.
Summary: The Voice Acting Industry by the Numbers
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Voice actors who knowingly lost a job to a synthetic voice | 21% | NAVA, 2026 State of Voiceover Survey |
| Voice actors whose voice was used without consent | 9% | NAVA, 2026 State of Voiceover Survey |
| Voice actors who consented to a synthetic clone | 13% | NAVA, 2026 State of Voiceover Survey |
| SAG-AFTRA video game agreement ratification vote | 95.04% to 4.96% | SAG-AFTRA, 2025 |
| Immediate pay increase in the new SAG-AFTRA contract | 15.17% | SAG-AFTRA, 2025 |
| Real Time Generation digital replica minimum | 7.5x scale | SAG-AFTRA, 2025 |
| US actors employed | ~57,000 (2024) | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2024 |
| Median hourly wage for actors | 23.33 USD (May 2024) | BLS OEWS, 2024 |
| Voice actors earning 50,000 USD or less per year | 74.9% | NAVA, 2025 State of Voiceover Survey |
| Dubbing and voice-over market, 2024 | 4.2 billion USD | Market.us, 2025 |
| AI voice generator market, 2031 forecast | 20.71 billion USD (30.7% CAGR) | MarketsandMarkets, 2025 |
| AI voice generators market, 2030 forecast | 21.8 billion USD (29.5% CAGR) | Grand View Research, 2024 |
| US audiobook sales, 2025 | 2.43 billion USD (+9%) | Audio Publishers Association, 2026 |
| AI narration share of audiobook sales revenue, 2025 | 0.03% | Audio Publishers Association, 2026 |
| Willingness to try AI narration (2025 to 2026) | 70% falling to 61% | Audio Publishers Association, 2026 |
| US adults who have listened to an audiobook | 58% (~157 million) | Audio Publishers Association / Edison Research, 2026 |
| Voice buyers who have tried an AI voice | 26% | Voices.com, 2025 Trends Report |
| Voice buyers purchasing or planning non-English work | more than 50% | Voices.com, 2025 Trends Report |
| Top requested non-English language: Spanish | 40% | Voices.com, 2025 Trends Report |
Methodology and Sources
Data was gathered by prioritizing primary sources: government agencies, industry association annual surveys, the ratified union agreement, and named market-research firms that disclose methodology. Market-size and growth figures were cross-referenced across at least two firms where possible, and any figure older than 2024 is flagged as most recent available in context. All statistics were verified against a search result or fetched source page during research in July 2026; no numbers are estimated, combined, or carried over from memory.
- National Association of Voice Actors (NAVA), State of Voiceover Survey 2026 (1,379 respondents) and 2025 (1,305 respondents) - https://navavoices.org/voiceover-survey-2026/ and https://navavoices.org/voiceover-survey-2025/
- SAG-AFTRA, 2025 Interactive Media (Video Game) Agreement - https://www.sagaftra.org/contracts-industry-resources/interactive/2025-interactive-media-video-game-agreement
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2024) and Occupational Outlook Handbook: Actors - https://www.bls.gov/ooh/entertainment-and-sports/actors.htm
- Audio Publishers Association, Annual Sales Survey and Consumer Survey 2026 (conducted by Toluna and Edison Research at SSRS) - https://www.audiopub.org/surveys
- Edison Research at SSRS, APA 2026 Consumer Survey - https://www.edisonresearch.com/audiobook-reach-hits-new-high/
- Publishers Weekly, US audiobook sales coverage 2024-2025 - https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/audio-books/article/100588-u-s-audiobook-sales-up-9-in-2025-reaches-2-43-billion.html
- Voices.com, 2025 Voice and Audio Trends Report - https://www.voices.com/2025-trends-report
- Grand View Research, AI Voice Generators Market Report 2024-2030 - https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/ai-voice-generators-market-report
- MarketsandMarkets, AI Voice Generator Market Report 2025-2031 - https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/ai-voice-generator-market-144271159.html
- Market.us, Dubbing and Voice-over Market and AI-Powered Dubbing Tools Market 2025 - https://market.us/report/dubbing-and-voice-over-market/
- Precedence Research, Voice and Language Intelligence Market 2025 - https://www.precedenceresearch.com/press-release/voice-and-language-intelligence-market
- Wikipedia, 2024-2025 SAG-AFTRA video game strike (used to cross-check strike dates and vote figures against SAG-AFTRA releases) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024%E2%80%932025_SAG-AFTRA_video_game_strike
Data watch: NAVA’s State of Voiceover Survey and the Audio Publishers Association’s Annual Sales and Consumer Survey are both published yearly; their next editions are expected in early 2027 and will be folded in here. Voices.com’s Trends Report and the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics also update annually, typically landing in Q1 and spring respectively.
Last updated: July 5, 2026.
We review and update this page quarterly as new data is published.