82% of Internet traffic consists of video content, according to a study by Cisco.  We are becoming more and more accustomed to watching videos and listening to podcasts, and that’s why multimedia content is growing as an essential part of many marketing campaigns.

YouTube is THE platform the whole world uses to listen to music, and it’s estimated that 80% of visits come from outside the United States.

It goes without saying that using videos as part of your company’s communication strategy helps reach customers.

But what happens if, after having made an impacting and original video, shared it on social media, and optimized the title and description, the outcome is not as expected? Maybe you’ve overlooked an important consideration. Subtitles.

There are many reasons why adding subtitles to your videos is a great idea. Let us start by listing 6 to prove the benefits of subtitles.

1. Accessibility for deaf or hard of hearing viewers

Did you know that more than 5% of the world’s population (466 million people) experience disabling hearing loss? They are the primary reason close captions were originally developed for, enabling content accessibility, arguably the most important benefit of subtitling.

In simple terms, closed captions and subtitles allow these viewers to consume your video content, granting them access and simultaneously increasing your audience.

2. Increased ROI

According to research, videos that were subtitled increased view-through rate by 80%.

Translating subtitles into other languages is just one form of video localization, as well as dubbing and voiceover. It’s a way to make your video culturally and linguistically relevant to new audiences and break down barriers.

3. Flexible viewing in sound-sensitive environments

With subtitles on, viewers can watch your videos in places where audio is unavailable. If someone’s on a noisy train or on a crowded street, subtitles will convey the speech when the sound is obscured. Subtitles also let viewers enjoy videos on mute in quiet environments like a library, office, or on the train.

Autoplaying videos on silent is a common practice amongst social media platforms these days. According to Digiday, 85% of Facebook videos are played without sound. However, without sound – or subtitles – viewers will not be able to understand your content.

4. Increased SEO and video views

Adding subtitles boosts SEO. Search engines can’t watch videos, but adding subtitles allows search engines to crawl the full text of your audio or video content so that is can be properly indexed. Google indexes subtitles on videos (although it doesn’t index closed captions that are added automatically, like those you can add to YouTube videos).

All of this can make a big difference to the number of people who find your website, look at your video and connect with your brand.

5. Providing clarity

Adding subtitles in target languages to your video can add clarity to content involving technical language, industry jargon or company’s/individual’s names. For listeners, abbreviations, jargon or certain names may be harder to decipher, especially if the viewer isn’t experienced within your industry. Subtitles can help a viewer retain information more easily by providing not only an audio but also a visual stimulus.

6. Consumer Preference

69% of consumers prefer to watch videos without sound when in public, and 25% prefer to do so in private, according to a study by Verizon Media. At the same time, 80% of these consumers prefer videos with subtitles.

Apart from the most obvious, feature films and shows, here are just a few of the types of videos that you may have available for subtitling.

The possibilities are (almost) endless!

• • • • • • Marketing videos
          • Tutorials
          • Training course videos
          • Webinars
          • Product demos
          • Support videos
          • Explainer videos
          • Guest interviews
          • Speeches

For all your subtitling needs, contact us and we will offer prompt and quality solutions.