A spoken ad script in 75 words

Thirty seconds sounds like plenty of time until you write the words down. A presenter speaking at a normal pace gets through roughly two and a half words per second, so a 30-second ad holds about 75 words. That is one short paragraph. Everything the ad has to do, from stopping the scroll to asking for the order, has to fit inside it, because in a short vertical ad the viewer gets exactly two things: the presenter's voice and the captions of what that voice says.

This article is about writing that paragraph well.

Why 75 words, and not more

The arithmetic is simple and worth memorizing, because it decides how many ideas you can afford:

Ad length	Spoken words (about 2.5 per second)
10 seconds	25
20 seconds	50
30 seconds	75
45 seconds	about 112
60 seconds	150

Clipelle treats this as a hard limit. When it writes the script for you, it writes within the count for the length you picked. When you paste your own script, the same limit applies. The reason is not stubbornness. A presenter who has to squeeze 100 words into 30 seconds sounds like the fine print at the end of a radio commercial, and captions that flash past faster than people read them stop being captions. Fewer words, spoken at a human pace, is what makes the ad feel like a person talking.

Speaking speed does not buy you more room either. Clipelle lets you set the presenter to slower, normal or faster, but the word budget is fixed at a normal pace. Faster speech is a delivery choice, not a way to smuggle in an extra benefit.

Five parts, one budget

A spoken ad script in Clipelle runs in a fixed order: hook, problem, product, benefits, call to action. Every part is spoken; nothing is a text card. Here is a reasonable way to spend 75 words across those five parts. Treat it as a budget, not a formula.

Hook: 8 to 12 words

One sentence that makes the right person stop. It usually names the situation the viewer is in, not the product. "Still eating a lukewarm lunch at your desk?" does more than "Meet the new lunch box." The hook also sets the caption that appears first, so it should read well as text. We have a whole article on this: Hooks for short product ads.

Problem: 12 to 15 words

One or two sentences that make the problem specific. Not "lunch is hard", but what actually happens: the salad goes limp, the lid leaks into the bag. Specific problems feel observed; general problems feel like marketing.

Product: 10 to 15 words

Name the product once and say what it is in plain terms. This is also the moment the product clip tends to appear over the presenter, so you do not have to describe what it looks like. The viewer can see it. Say what it does.

Benefits: 20 to 25 words

Two or three benefits, one per sentence, each concrete enough to picture. "Keeps food cold until two o'clock" beats "superior insulation." "Goes in the dishwasher" beats "easy care." If you have four benefits, pick the three that matter to the person in the hook and drop the fourth.

Call to action: 8 to 10 words

The last sentence, always. It asks for one thing and says where to do it. If there is a deal, this is where it lands, and in Clipelle the only way a deal gets into the call to action is the Offer line on the form (80 characters at most). Without an Offer, the script will not invent one. More on this in Calls to action that are spoken, not shown.

Two example scripts

Both examples are for an invented insulated lunch box. The first is a 30-second script in a direct tone. Count the words if you like; it lands just under 75.

Still eating a lukewarm lunch at your desk? Most lunch boxes give up by eleven, and the salad you packed turns into something you push around with a fork. This box holds cold for a full working day, with a lid that actually seals. It fits a complete meal, goes straight in the dishwasher, and the strap clips onto any bag. Order yours today and the fork set comes free.

Notice what is not in it. No greeting. No "introducing." No "we are proud to." No description of the colors, because the clip shows them. Each sentence carries one idea, and the last sentence is the only one that asks for anything.

The second example is the 10-second version. At 25 words there is no room for a problem section or a benefit list, so the structure collapses to hook, product and call to action:

Lukewarm lunch again? This box keeps food cold all day and seals shut in your bag. Order today, fork set included.

That is 22 words. Shorter ads are not compressed long ads; they are different ads that make one point.

Writing for a voice, not a page

A script is read aloud by a presenter and shown as captions at the same time, so it has to work in both forms.

• Short sentences. One idea each. A sentence that needs a comma and a "which" is usually two sentences.
• Contractions. "It's," "you'll," "doesn't." Written-out forms sound like a legal notice when spoken.
• Numbers as you would say them. Write what you want heard, and remember the captions show the same words.
• No stacked adjectives. "Premium, durable, innovative design" is three words that mean nothing out loud. Replace the stack with one fact.
• Read it with a timer. If you cannot say it comfortably in the time, the presenter cannot either.
• The product name once, maybe twice. Repetition that looks fine on paper sounds like a jingle.

What the limit does to your thinking

The word budget forces a choice most product descriptions avoid: what is the one problem and who has it? A product page can list twelve features for twelve kinds of buyers. A 75-word ad cannot, and should not try. Pick one buyer, one problem, three benefits. If you want to reach a second kind of buyer, make a second ad with a different hook. That is also the honest way to test what works, as the 30-second ad structure article explains in more depth.

How this works in Clipelle

On the ad form you give one product photo (or a product page link, which fills in the name, description and photos for you to check), two or three sentences about the product, and a length. Clipelle writes the spoken script inside the word limit for that length, in the tone you chose: elegant, playful, direct or warm. The Direction field (200 characters) steers the audience and emphasis, for example "office workers, stress the leak-proof lid." The Offer line puts a real deal into the last sentence. Free text in these fields is treated as information about the product, never as instructions.

If you want to see the words before anything else is made, tick "Review script first." The project pauses after the script step: you pick one of three hooks, edit any sentence, and only then does the product clip and presenter work begin. For the two or three sentences you type at the start, the product description guide shows what gives the script writer something to work with.

Seventy-five words is not a limitation to work around. It is the size of an ad someone will actually listen to.