How Many Words Fit in a 30-Second Commercial Spot?

About 75 to 85 words fit in a 30-second commercial spot read at a natural pace, and about 35 to 40 words fit in 15 seconds. That is roughly two and a half words per second, which leaves room for breath, emphasis and a short bed at the start and end. Club Ready Music's commercial spot tool uses 40 words per 15 seconds as its guide.

Words per second

Conversational speech runs at two to three words per second. Voice-over reads for advertising sit at the upper end, around 2.5 to 2.8 words per second, because the voice is trained and the script is written to be read aloud. Faster reads are possible but comprehension drops, and the last thing a spot should lose is the call to action.

Spot length	Natural pace	Fast read
10 seconds	25 words	30 words
15 seconds	35 to 40 words	45 words
30 seconds	75 to 85 words	95 words
60 seconds	150 to 170 words	190 words

Leave a second at the start for a bed to open and a second at the end for the tail, which is already built into these numbers.

Structure of a 30-second spot

1. Hook (one line): what is happening or why the listener cares.
2. Detail (two or three lines): what, where, when, who.
3. Call to action (one line): what to do, with the one detail they must remember, such as the date or a short web address.

Repeat the business or event name at least twice, once early and once at the end. Avoid phone numbers longer than a few digits; listeners rarely retain them.

Example at 80 words

"This Saturday, Club Noir opens its doors for the first time. Three rooms, two terraces and a sound system built for the city's best DJs. Doors at ten, with a resident line-up all night and a special guest at midnight. Tickets are twenty at the door, or fifteen online before Friday. Club Noir, downtown on Fifth. One night, one opening, and you were there. Club Noir. Saturday. Doors at ten."

That reads in about 30 seconds at a natural pace.

Making a spot in Club Ready Music

The Commercial spot tab in the Drops studio takes:

• Business or event and a call to action as separate fields, so the essentials are captured before the script.
• Script of up to 900 characters, with the guide "about 40 words per 15 seconds" under the box. A "Write it for me" button drafts a script from the title and call to action.
• Voice: Smooth is the default for spots; Hype suits event promos; Imaging suits station-sponsored reads.
• Bed: Dry by default, or Impact open and Riser.
• Length: 15 or 30 seconds.

Speech is never cut short, so if the script runs long the clip runs long. Trim the words to land on the chosen length. The spot is leveled to -8 LUFS and delivered as a produced MP3 with a dry voice version, which is useful when a station or venue wants to lay the read over their own bed.