In terms of media, video rules the web. Video is proven to have by far the highest engagement and retention rate of any form of online media – more than images, text and even animations.
The popularity of video is beyond question. Industry leader, YouTube, is now so widely-used it has become the world’s second-biggest search engine behind Google search (both of which are, incidentally, owned by parent company, Alphabet).
However, in these media-rich days, just putting your video online is no longer enough. With an estimated 300 hours of video uploaded to the YouTube platform every minute – and five billion videos watched per day – you need to find ways to stand out from the crowd. The good news is, captioning can help.
Why you should add captions to video
While it is true that the human brain can process images (and, therefore, video) 60 times quicker than it can words, there are still many good reasons to add captions to your videos. Here are just a few:
People often cannot watch video with sound
Very often your viewers could be watching your video in an environment where they simply cannot watch with the sound on – for example, at the office, during the commute to work, at night, etc. In most cases, it will be a place where the sound would disturb others, but whatever the reason, it is quite common for people to view video with the sound down. Employing automatic captioning software to produce subtitles in your video will ensure they still receive the full message of your footage.
Auto-muted video settings
Many of the social platforms allow users to automatically set video to play without sound. If your users have this setting turned on, they will likely lose much of the message you are trying to send through your production.
Language, dialect or other problems with sound
Depending where you are filming, background noise might prove to be a problem for your viewers. Moreover, people that are not 100% fluent in your spoken tongue will normally find it much easier to marry your spoken words with captioned text. When it comes to dialect and accents, even your home audience might struggle to understand everyone in your video without captions.
Captions often increase engagement, in turn leading to increased ROI
Ask any videographer or marketing company how they measure the success of a production and, almost without exception, you will hear the same reply – engagement and Return on Investment (ROI). Including captioning and subtitles will often result in viewers spending more time watching. If you are producing video from a marketing perspective, longer engagement is the holy grail of your presentation.
Catering for hearing impaired or deaf viewers
Last – but certainly by no means least – you cannot simply assume your viewers all have perfect hearing. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates there are around 1.5 billion people globally who suffer from some degree of hearing loss – of which approximately 430 million need rehabilitation services. Adding captions means your video will automatically cater for this considerable potential audience.
