Content Cabinet
The short answer
A 60-second script is about 150 words at a normal speaking pace, because people speak at about 150 words a minute. Read slowly it fits about 120; read fast, about 180. A 30-second script is about 75 words, 90 seconds about 225, and 2 minutes about 300.
Numbers run long. ₹2,50,000 is one word on the page and five when it is read out, so the calculator counts what the voice artist will actually say.
Paste a script to see how long it runs.
How many words fit each length?
Words per slot at three paces. Most explainers and voiceovers sit in the middle column.
| Length | Slow (120 a minute) | Normal (150 a minute) | Fast (180 a minute) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 seconds (YouTube bumper) | 12 | 15 | 18 |
| 15 seconds | 30 | 38 | 45 |
| 30 seconds | 60 | 75 | 90 |
| 45 seconds | 90 | 112 | 135 |
| 60 seconds | 120 | 150 | 180 |
| 90 seconds | 180 | 225 | 270 |
| 2 minutes | 240 | 300 | 360 |
| 3 minutes | 360 | 450 | 540 |
| 5 minutes | 600 | 750 | 900 |
| 10 minutes | 1,200 | 1,500 | 1,800 |
Which pace fits which video?
- Bumper and short social ads: fast. A YouTube bumper runs up to 6 seconds, which is about 15 words at a normal pace. Most of the time fewer words land harder.
- Explainers and product videos: normal. Voiceover studios put a 60-second explainer at 140 to 150 words, and describe 140 to 160 a minute as the normal band. The picture needs room to show what the words describe.
- Brand films and founder stories: slow. Music, pauses and silence carry meaning here, so plan on 110 to 130 words a minute and let the edit breathe.
- Anything with a disclaimer: count it in. If your compliance team needs a line read aloud, as wealth and investment firms often do, it comes out of the same 60 seconds. Write it into the script before you time it.
- Audiobook-style narration: normal. ACX, Amazon's audiobook platform, works on about 9,300 words per finished hour, which is about 155 a minute.
Why numbers make scripts run long
A word counter sees "₹2,50,000" as one word. A voice artist says "two lakh fifty thousand rupees", which is five. Finance, deep tech and funding scripts are full of these, so they run longer than their word count suggests.
| On the page | Read aloud | Spoken words |
|---|---|---|
| ₹2,50,000 | two lakh fifty thousand rupees | 5 |
| $100M | one hundred million dollars | 4 |
| 18% | eighteen percent | 2 |
| 2026 | twenty twenty-six | 2 |
| 1.5x | one point five x | 4 |
| 3-5 years | three to five years | 4 |
The fix is usually to put the number on screen and say less. "Our fund returned eighteen percent" can become a caption, while the voiceover says what the number means.
How to cut a script that runs long
- Cut the throat-clearing. Openers such as "In today's fast-moving world" or "We are excited to announce" spend three seconds saying nothing.
- Let the picture talk. If the shot shows the robot lifting the box, the voiceover does not need to say it.
- Move numbers to the screen. See the table above. It often saves 5 to 10 spoken words in a 60-second finance or tech script.
- Keep one message. A 60-second film with three messages is three 20-second films fighting each other.
- Read it out loud, with a timer. The calculator gets you close. A real read with a stopwatch tells you where the voice will stumble.
Where these numbers come from
The 150-words-a-minute average for spoken English comes from the National Center for Voice and Speech. ACX publishes its 9,300-words-per-hour rule for audiobooks. The pace bands for explainers come from two voiceover studios, Bread & Beyond and Stimme24, whose guides put a standard 60-second explainer at 125 to 160 words. Google Ads sets the 6-second limit for bumper ads.
Questions people ask
How many words is a 60-second script?
About 150 words at a normal speaking pace of 150 words a minute. Read slowly it fits about 120 words, and read fast about 180. Most 60-second explainers use 140 to 150.
How many words do I need for a 30-second ad?
About 75 words at a normal pace, or up to 90 if it is read fast. Ads are often read faster than explainers, but fewer words usually work better.
How long is a 1,000-word script?
About 6 minutes 40 seconds at a normal pace of 150 words a minute. Read fast it takes about 5 minutes 33 seconds, and read slowly about 8 minutes 20 seconds.
How many words per minute is a voiceover?
Professional voiceovers usually run at 140 to 160 words a minute. Spoken English averages about 150, and audiobook narration about 155.
How many words fit in a 6-second bumper ad?
About 15 at a normal pace. A YouTube bumper runs up to 6 seconds, so most good ones use fewer words and let the picture land.
Why does my script run longer than the word count says?
Numbers, symbols and abbreviations are read out as several words. A rupee figure such as 2,50,000 is five spoken words, so finance and tech scripts run long. This calculator counts them the way they are said.
