The “What Is” Series: What is a voiceover donut?

I love doughnuts.

Sometimes in the VO world, things kinda don't make any sense. Enter the VO Donut. You do kinda need to understand the term and what it means.

What is a vo donut? - 2:05

Hey guys, it’s Gabby! Welcome to another edition of The Gift of Gab. Today we’re diving into another “What Is” video topic—something a lot of people like.

Donuts. Mmm… donuts.

Okay, okay—not those donuts.

So, What Is a “Donut” in Voiceover?

First off, yes—it’s a silly term. And yes, it’s spelled just like the pastry: donut (not “doughnut”). But in the voiceover world, it means something very different.

A donut is a hole or blank section inside a piece of copy—typically in commercial scripts. That empty space is deliberately left open so the client can rotate in a different message later.

How Donuts Work in Commercials

Let’s say you have a 30-second commercial.

Inside that spot, you might see something like:

• A 7-second blank section

• A notation that reads “DONUT: ___”

• Or simply an empty middle portion with instructions

That “hole” is reserved for:

• Location-specific information

• Promotional details

• Sale announcements

• Special offers

• Any message that needs to change frequently

This setup lets a client create one main commercial, then reuse it over and over as a template, swapping out the center message without rerecording the entire ad.

Donuts vs. Tags: What’s the Difference?

Donuts are often confused with tags, and for good reason—they’re very similar concepts.

Here’s the key difference:

• Tag: Appears at the end of a commercial

• Donut: Appears in the middle

Tags are more familiar to most people (“That’s the power of X Brand!”), while donuts tend to throw beginners off because they show up unexpectedly inside the script.

If you’ve never seen one before, it’s totally normal to think:“What the heck is that?”

Now you know!

Keep Learning With the “What Is” Series

Donuts are just one of the many quirky terms you’ll run into in the voiceover industry. Check out my other videos, and stay tuned for more entries from my book VO 101.

Catch you next time!

704-674-8294 / GabrielleNistico.com / gabby@voiceovervixen.com

Gabrielle Nistico, Gabby Nistico, The Voiceover Vixen, The Business First VO Coach, #VoiceoverVixen #VoiceOnFire #BusinessFirstVOCoach Voiceover, Charlotte, North Carolina, commercial voiceover, tags, commercial voiceover tags, donut, doughnut, voiceover donuts