Dub or sub: effects of dubbing versus subtitling on TV advertising efficacy

TV advertising can be standardized or adapted for local markets. In that case, the available options are dubbing and subtitling. This research focuses on the comparison of TV advertising efficacy when the same (foreign) ad is dubbed rather than subtitled in the viewer’s native language. It uses a 2 (dubbed vs. subtitled) × 2 (German vs. Italian) experimental design on 260 respondents for an English ad, dubbed or subtitled in German and Italian, respectively. It advances a moderated sequential mediation model with ad adaptation as independent variable, ad attitude and brand attitude as mediators, language similarity as moderator, with ad sharing and brand purchase intention as dependent variables. Results show that dubbing works better than subtitling in driving positive attitudes toward the ad, which in turn affects how viewers perceive the brand. In turn, attitude toward the brand positively affects the intention to share the message and purchase the advertised brand. Instead, language similarity does not moderate the relationship between ad adaptation and attitude toward the ad.