Fredrik af Malmborg Talks AI, Dubbing & YouTube Channels

Fredrik af Malmborg has a long history of building and scaling startups and being early to embrace new trends, from pioneering scripted-format rollouts and spotting the global potential of Turkish, Korean and Nordic storytelling to developing innovative funding models to get shows off the ground. Since exiting Eccho Rights—which he co-founded and built into a leading distributor of Turkish and European scripted content, now part of the Night Train Media family—af Malmborg has turned his sights to dubbing and the fast-growing YouTube channel management space, founding Dubhub at the end of 2024.

“When I was at Eccho Rights, we had a lot of YouTube channels in operation,” af Malmborg says. “As soon as we got dubs back from a licensee, we put it on a separate YouTube channel. Because we had an MCN with 30 million subscribers, with ten people in Istanbul doing it, I started to understand the power of language versions. If we had 2 million subscribers on the original channels, we could easily get 4, 5 or 6 million on the language channels. That’s a lot of money. I became intrigued by the idea of localization, audio dubs and creating and launching new YouTube channels. And then you can multiply the revenue. That has been quite expensive so far, as manual dubbing is a costly process. If you can do it at a low investment for 10 or 15 languages, there’s enormous potential to reach the world.”

For its dubbing processes, Dubhub utilizes a combination of human expertise and AI tools. “We’re putting together a qualified production team, and then we have a work suite where we can plug in the APIs of the best solutions for that target language. It’s a flexible solution.”

Many AI-based solutions are just not yet up to par, af Malmborg says. “We did 40 tests for different clients this spring; most said, ‘It’s interesting, but not good enough for professional purposes yet.’ If you’ve spent millions on a good production, why would you save the last buck and ruin the user experience? The problem is emotion. It’s basically text-to-speech. You transcribe the original dialogue, save it as a text file, translate that text file and then instruct the AI to dub it. The problem with text-to-speech is that you don’t really have anywhere to transfer the emotions.”

In response, Dubhub has developed its own proprietary tool, Evocion, which will be launched in September. “We take the essence of the original script and production and give emotional direction to each piece of dialogue. TV production is all about feeling. We provide AI with the headline prompt for the character. Instead of trying to clone the original voice, you direct it. It’s as if you are a casting director.”

The company is utilizing traditional, well-honed production techniques in conjunction with AI-assisted dubs. Still, the considerable savings from not having to hire voice actors means “we’re between one tenth and one third of the cost of traditional dubbing per hour,” he says.

The company has worked on several factual productions and has begun dubbing dramas, including GoQuest Media’s Kuma—The Other Wife, and a package of feature films. YouTube channel localization is a key growth area.

For channels that already have a substantial footprint, “there’s no reason for any of them not to do five language versions. It’s not just about making more money. You’re opening up the world.”

With his long career in production, af Malmborg is not walking away from the traditional business of financing, making and selling shows, working on a package of U.S. TV movies and engaging in structuring co-pros. Staying across all segments of the content ecosystem is crucial, he says.

“Tech enables you to reach audiences in new ways. I’ve always enjoyed finding content in new languages and bridging the world; that combination of content creation, distribution and new technology.”