What stops you from making killer social media content in today’s landscape? How can you make your content marketing strategies more effective? These are some of the questions we often ask ourselves as creators and apply various trends and techniques to our creation process.

Cisco predicted in 2022 that; 82% of the Internet traffic will be accounted for by videos more than five years ago. Since videos are becoming the go-to format for communications, the real question that should come to mind is; how can we make videos more accessible to people? 

A 2019 study by Verizon Media and Publicis Media found that the growing trend of consumers watching videos on the go or in public settings directly correlates with an increased demand for captions. That’s right, captions are, in fact, a huge game changer in the way consumers are getting exposed to your content. 

Such trends and strategies must always be backed up with facts and data. Hence, we are sharing some interesting statistics about subtitles and video marketing so you can take the correct approach. 

Peek into how your consumer might sometimes behave…

Thirty seconds is all it takes for a person to decide whether they will watch your video or not. Therefore, adding an accessibility feature like captions to your videos might make a difference in its performance because it helps people get a larger picture of what is coming so that they make a quick decision.

1. 37% of the people turn up the volume to watch a video with subtitles.

This occurs because people think that subtitles make it more exciting and worthwhile. 

2. 92% of people watch video content on platforms like Facebook and Instagram with their sound off on mobile devices. 

This behavior is linked to 80% of people who are most likely to watch the full video only because it has subtitles, which provide context to the viewer. If the statistics have started confusing you, think about all the time you were randomly scrolling through your Instagram feed or tapping your social media stories. Notice how often you scroll past dynamic content just because you cannot figure out what is in the video due to a lack of subtitles.

3. 80% of viewers respond negatively to video ads that play automatically with sound.
4. 80% of viewers are most likely to watch a video till the end if it has subtitles in it. This means creators who add subtitles to their videos can increase the watch-time immensely by adding subtitles.

5. Around 80% of viewers prefer to watch Facebook videos without sound. Adding captions, therefore, enables these viewers to watch all kinds of videos.
6. 37% of viewers are encouraged to turn the sound on because of subtitles.

How Many People Use Subtitles?

A study was conducted by Verizon Media and Publics Media in 2019 on the effects of captions on video viewing. The results provide deep and insightful findings about consumers who watch videos in public or on the go and their need for captions. 

7. 69% of viewers watch videos with the sound off in public, while only 25% of the people will turn the sound off while watching videos in a private setting. 

This study involved 5616 Americans between the ages of 18-54. Amid the revelation of where consumers preferred watching their content, it was also found that as many as 80% of consumers said they were more likely to watch a video if the subtitles were available. This emphasizes that people prefer playing videos without sound only when they have subtitles for contextual reference. 

8. A generational drive-in audience has been noticed, which says that GenZ, roughly 74%, are more comfortable playing video content in public spaces.

9. Older respondents of this study suggest that the relatively more aging population, such as GenX and Baby Boomers, were those groups that are less likely to be frequent subtitle users. 

10. 80% of people who use captions do not have a hearing impairment. 

This is a testament that captions are for everyone, not just a specific set of people. Yes, it is essential for people with hearing impairment and other disabilities. But the revelation from the research by Verizon and Publics Media tells us that as more and more people are connected to the Internet today, the desire for captions is increasing. At the same time, the urge to watch the video with the sound on is significantly less desirable.

11. 41% of videos are deemed meaningless or difficult to understand by viewers, and Facebook recommends adding subtitles to fix this problem. 

12. An original study published by Meta found that video views increased by 12% on average due to subtitles. 

After this study, many small companies began running their experiments with subtitles and tracked them with Key performance indicators. A company called Discovery Digital Network, which has 100 million videos on its YouTube channel, ran a similar test to see how subtitles affect video views and found out that there was a 7.32% increase in their views after they added subtitles to the videos.

Why Do People Use Subtitles?

There has to be a reason why some Americans think that subtitles should be a default option on video platforms. Among this, 32% think subtitles should be available by default on streaming and cable TV services, while 36% think they should be available in movie theaters.

Now let us figure out why people keep making subtitles such a huge thing.

13. 75% of viewers feel that they use subtitles mainly due to the poor sound quality of the videos. Nearly 3 in 4 respondents from the study claimed muddled audio from their content.

14. 29% of viewers think about using subtitles so that they do not disturb the people around them

15. Focus is also a significant factor in the increased use of captions. 27% of viewers believe that subtitles help them focus while watching videos.

16. 61% of people use subtitles because accents are difficult to understand. 1 in 5 users watch videos with subtitles to learn a new language. For TV shows like Squid Game or Money Heist, it will pose significant difficulties for people if they try to interpret the show without subtitles, and only 26% of people prefer dubbed content over subtitles, mainly because even they feel like it takes away the essence of the video.

Content accessibility plays a huge role in generating traffic for your channel. While it is equally important to integrate subtitles to make your content available to people with certain disadvantages, captions are now moving away from their original purpose. Viewers primarily prefer them for a broader range of reasons. 

How Will Adding Captions Benefit You?

17. Facebook has propelled user engagement by 18%, and viewership on videos can increase up to 40%, ensuring 80% of viewers watch the entire video when captions are augmented in the content. This proves crucial for monetized video ads. 
18. Videos featuring calls to actions or branding messages gain visibility when viewed till the end. A study on captioning solutions revealed a watch duration increase of 38% for subtitled videos.

19. 5% of the population has a hearing impairment as per WHO; this equals 466 million people. Hence, the use of subtitles can be directed to this specific group of audience.
20. Adding closed captions or subtitles to your YouTube videos significantly benefits Video SEO. It enhances your video’s search ranking on both YouTube and Google. Video content is 50 times more likely to appear on the first pages of Google results than text content, leading to higher click rates.

21. According to a brief study conducted by Instapage, videos featuring captions enjoyed a 16% higher reach than videos without captions. This translated to 15% more shares, 17% more reactions, and a remarkable 26% increase in clickthrough rates. Adding captions to videos significantly boosts social reach.
22. Captions enhance understanding. Many individuals opt for captioned videos, even when not required. For those acquiring a second language, captions are vital in comprehending content, as spoken language is more challenging to grasp than written text.

What Can We Conclude About This Data?

The evidence is clear: subtitles are far from dead, and their importance in content creation and distribution must be considered. As the online media landscape continues to evolve, it’s crucial to recognize subtitles’ various benefits.

As technological advancement makes pace in the content creation market and AI tools like Dubverse make generating and uploading subtitles simpler, there is simply no reason for you to wait on integrating the same for your videos.

If you are buckled up to experiment with subtitles, read our blog section and get a head start, or log in to Dubverse.ai and start creating!