Text-to-video editors allow video content to be produced simply by inputting a previously created text document, such as an article, blog post, or even a database. By pushing a few buttons, professional quality videos suitable for multiple use cases are made quickly, affordably, and at scale. Crucially, text-to-video editors allow changes and edits to be incorporated the same way, without requiring time-consuming, expensive reshoots.
Considering that 86% of organizations utilize video as a marketing strategy and that 92% of internet users globally watch online videos, it’s clear that creating video content is key to business success. Let’s take a deeper look into what text-to-video editors can do, why you should be using one, and survey the top six solutions available today.
What is a text-to-video editor?
First, we must be clear on precisely what text-to-video means. Any procedure intended to convert text content into video footage is referred to as text-to-video. Although the phrase is frequently used in connection with software, text-to-video conversion options are available at every price point and technological sophistication. Generally speaking, you have two options for turning text content into a video: you can use automated software tools or employ human beings to do it meticulously and expensively.
A text-to-video editor is a robust, end-to-end video creation software that converts text documents to completed videos. They are usually powered by artificial intelligence, offer a media library that includes a variety of video templates and virtual presenters, and do not require any physical IRL production. They also allow created videos to be easily edited or changed so that it’s simple to scale projects across multiple languages, for example.
Other products can be easily confused with text-to-video editors but are not the same. These include online video makers that create transcriptions of videos uploaded by the user, video text adders that add graphical text elements to existing videos, and AI text-to-video tools such as Imagen Video by Google, which create a very short video based on a brief text description.
Text-to-video editors allow organizational teams to easily create the videos they need with minimum training and labor. The best part is that they enable you to reuse content in a fresh and effective format that gets results. According to research by Digital Brew, 80.5% of marketers say video has increased sales, while over 93% say it provides good ROI.
Why should you use a text-to-video editor?
The big question is, why would you want to convert text to video? Text is easy to produce, distribute, and for audiences to consume. But 69% of consumers stated they would want to watch a brief video when asked how they would prefer to learn about a product or service, compared to 18% who would prefer to read an article or blog post.
Video has also been proven more effective than text or in-person lectures as a learning tool, raising the level of information retention to an astounding 95%. With people watching videos an average of nearly 19 hours per week, short-form video has become the leading media format for all content strategies for the third year in a row.
Text-to-video editors offer organizations several valuable benefits. These include:
- Content Repurposing – Reusing valuable content, such as a well-performing blog post, in video format expands its reach to a broader audience while enhancing its impact. Since the content was previously created, this also increases ROI.
- Increased Reach – Video is twelve times more likely to be shared on social media than text content, drastically increasing the reach of your message.
- Scale Your Video Marketing Strategy – Since text-to-video editors allow you to repurpose content and create videos quickly at scale, they dramatically enhance your video marketing strategy with more videos at a lower cost.
- Upskilling Employees – Rather than receiving a boring training manual from HR or in-person lectures from Learning and Development, text-to-video editors allow you to create compelling training videos that level up your employees’ skills and onboarding while enhancing your brand.
- Better Internal Communications – If your CEO’s holiday message or the latest quarterly report is converted from a text email to an engaging video, more employees will consume, remember, and learn from it—making a text-to-video editor an invaluable part of your corporate communications strategy.
If you’re ready to create videos from text documents that grab attention, engage viewers, drive traffic, increase buying intent, and grow your business, here are the top six text-to-video editors available today.
Top 6 Text-to-Video Editors
GliaStudio is a text-to-video editor designed for news and marketing video use. It offers a full suite of video production features, including a cloud-based editing platform. GliaStudio’s AI, which it calls “patented Chinese sentimental analytics technology,” will convert text into video in minutes from the text source’s URL.
Pros:
- A wide variety of video editing transitions
- Hundreds of royalty-free music soundtracks
- Provides data analytics services to publishers
Cons:
- No virtual presenter avatars
- Entry-level plans are said to be expensive ($300+/month)
- Narrator’s voice is only in five languages (Chinese, English, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese)
Pricing: A 14-day free trial is offered, along with three plans (Pro, Business, and Enterprise) with pricing by inquiry.
Reviewer says: “If GliaCloud can assist journalists in converting text into a film format, it will boost public reading willingness and generate a more diverse communication style.”
Hour One is a best-in-class AI video generator and text-to-video editor that’s an end-to-end video creation solution. It only takes three steps to operate:
- Choose a video temple from the expansive library.
- Select a virtual AI presenter.
- Enter the source text.
Hour One also allows you to create your own virtual presenter, and editing is just as easy as video creation. It’s perfect for producing and scaling videos across multiple use cases, including online news.
Pros:
- Collaboration tools to get multiple team members involved
- 100+ virtual presenters that can narrate in 60+ languages
- 24/7 live customer support
Cons:
- Free plan has only 3 minutes of video monthly
- Free plan offers limited resources
- Personal plan has 720p video quality max
Pricing: There are four tiers: a free starter plan, a Personal plan at $24/month, a Business plan at $183.20/month, and a customized Enterprise plan.
Reviewer says: “As a 24-hour global broadcast news company, we opted to use virtual anchors…With Hour One’s AI avatar technology we’re able to generate premium video from text, automatically and affordably, allowing us to keep pace with our audience’s need for rapid reporting.”
InVideo’s video creation platform promises to help produce promo videos, ads, and social media videos. It has a library of over 5000 templates, a full-featured online video editor, and many visual effects. InVideo’s text-to-video editor allows users to paste in script text or a source URL which is then converted to video.
Pros:
- Easily post converted videos to popular social media platforms
- Automated text-to-speech capability
- Free plan offers generous features
Cons:
- Software has a learning curve
- Exporting videos is time-consuming
- Users report software lagging
Pricing: InVideo has a Free tier with 40 min. of video/month, a Business tier at $15/month, and an Unlimited tier at $30/month.
Reviewer says: “I’m a big proponent of their article to video feature, but I do wish it would allow you to convert longer articles.”
Pictory uses an AI-powered text-to-video editor to easily create customized videos from text sources, including blog posts and scripts. One unique quality of the platform is that it offers white labeling to establish brand identity, allowing users to personalize videos with customized colors, fonts, and logos. You can also edit videos using text, which lowers the learning curve for video editing.
Pros:
- Creates highlight reels from webinars
- Suitable for short social media videos
- Text-to-video speed is fast
Cons:
- Updates released too frequently and without proper testing
- Subtitle editing in Script-to-Video can be challenging
- AI voiceovers are not the best
Pricing: A free trial allows users to create three videos up to 10 minutes long. There’s a Standard tier at $19/month, a Premium tier at $39/month, and an Enterprise tier with custom pricing.
Reviewer says: “Just paste the text from your story or blog, etc. Pictory creates the video from there.”
If you’re looking to make an animated video, Renderforest is just what you need. Their text-to-video editor will create one from a script you provide, using AI and a wide selection of templates that correspond to different uses, such as explainer videos, educational videos, and business character promotions. Certain video templates can be created in 4K, and editing has an easy-to-use, drag-and-drop interface.
Pros:
- Videos are customizable videos with animation, logos, text, and transitions
- Extensive asset library, including music
- A low learning curve makes it easy to create projects
Cons:
- Text-to-video functionality is limited to scripts
- Templates are not totally editable, and some are very limited
- Rendering is limited to one project at a time
Pricing: Four pricing tiers: a Free plan offering HD720 videos, Lite at $9.99/month, Pro at $15.99/month, and Business at $15.99/month/per seat.
Reviewer says: “Easy to create videos from templates. Especially explanatory videos.”
Elai is yet another text-to-video editor powered by an AI engine. Users must paste a link or HTML text from a blog or article into the video creator, then Elai generates a video with a virtual avatar that narrates in your choice of 65+ languages. Once Elai approves the video, a link is emailed to the user, so it can take more time than other platforms. A user-friendly interface for video editing and 25+ video avatars allow customization options.
Pros:
- Customer service is rated well by users
- You can add your own music, video, and speech
- Pre-made templates for different video types
Cons:
- Longer videos take more time to render
- Videos cannot be created in 4K
- Avatars could be larger
Pricing: There’s a 14-day free trial that includes eight free minutes of video, a Basic plan at $29/month, an Advanced plan at $99/month, and a Corporate plan with custom pricing.
Reviewer says: “It’s a great way to create presentations and marketing videos with TTS {text-to-speech}.”
Leverage Your Text Content Into Video
Text-to-video editors help businesses get the best of both worlds. They create an opportunity to extend the reach of good text content to a video audience ready to consume more content. Powered by AI and designed for ease of use, these platforms create high ROI through content repurposing, saving time on video production, and saving money on content creation. A text-to-video editor leverages your existing text content to create more engagement, traffic, sales, and growth.
When choosing a text-to-video editor, consider that Hour One contains the entire package for content creators. You can use text in a wide variety of formats, the platform is easy-to-use, and it offers the unique ability to place yourself or another company representative as the virtual presenter—adding an engaging human touch that’s memorable. Affordable, fast, and scalable, Hour One has what your business needs to grow its video portfolio. Try making your first video for free today.
Video production has become essential in almost every industry and across an organization’s teams. To reduce costs and meet the demand for video content, using a text-to-video editor to reuse text content offers significant advantages. Text-to-video editors are robust, end-to-end video creation software that converts text documents to completed videos, which can be edited. Check out the top 6 platforms in this blog, and try Hour One to convert your text to video. It’s affordable, fast, and scalable.
