Did you know 80% of people are more likely to watch an entire video that is captioned, as opposed to videos that are not? From automated YouTube captioning to professional captioning, there is a way for everyone to access the videos we all enjoy. There are many benefits and reasons to consider adding captions to your videos. For example, captions catch the viewer's attention and make them more likely to watch the full video. Viewers are also more likely to remember a video and retain keyword recognition from seeing words on the screen.
YouTube Captions make videos accessible to a larger audience.
Adding captions to your videos allows those that are Deaf or hard of hearing to view and enjoy your content. According to World Health Organization, more than 430 million people have hearing disabilities, and by 2050, that number is estimated to grow to 2.5 billion. Adding captions to your videos helps expand your content to those with a hearing disability, allowing you to attract more viewers.
See our article about Accessibility.
You can also expand your audience by adding captions in multiple languages. This benefits viewers who are not fluent in English and those learning another language. Anyone learning a new language would greatly benefit from watching content creators use captions with the option08-18-22 of translation easily accessible. As content is becoming easier to create and share globally, translation is necessary for today's society. So, having the ability to translate benefits you and your subscribers.
Types of YouTube Closed Captioning
1. Automated captioning:
YouTube provides users with auto-generated captions using speech recognition technology. That said, it is often not reliable, averaging around 60% to 70% accuracy. For example, Rikki Poynter, a deaf accessibility advocate, has built her following by creating videos telling viewers to ditch YouTube's automated captions. Another example of a "caption fail" is a video from Jimmy Kimmel Live, where Guillermo Rodriguez said, "O' Canada," but the auto-generated captioning transcribed it as "Old Anna!"
While not the most accurate, providing automatically generated captions increases the viewer's watch time and retention of what they have watched. Adding captions to videos attracts 7% more people than videos without captions. Content creators can see a 12% increase in video viewing time. If you use YouTube's auto-generated captions, go back and edit the captions to improve the accuracy.
2. Community captioning
When YouTube first began expanding video accessibility, there was an option for subscribers and viewers to add and edit captions for a creator's video. While this sounds like a good option, YouTube has recently taken this feature away due to misuse by contributors. Creators can still create their captions by uploading a transcript file, manually typing out the captions, or editing an automatically generated caption transcript.
According to this Atlantic article, some say YouTube should hire a third-party company to caption everyone's videos. During a meeting, a Google spokesperson stated that they had nothing further to add regarding hiring a third-party company. This leaves the final option: hiring a professional company to caption your videos.
3. Professional captioning
Hiring a professional service, such as Link Electronics, is another option that's growing in popularity. With a pro service, your content is captioned and edited worry-free. You no longer have to stress about the hours spent editing when you use a third-party option, saving you time to create more content viewers will love while having the accessibility of captioning available.
Benefits and Best Practices
Whether you are a social influencer, marketer, educator, or just someone who loves to create content, a common goal is to get more views and viewers. By adding captions, you are opening up your content to be seen and engaged with more than those that don't use captioning.
YouTube Captions let viewers watch videos in more places
Whether you are in the comfort of your home or a noisy crowd, captions allow viewers to watch anywhere and still focus on and understand the purpose of the video. In some areas, it is pointless to use audio because you can not hear what is happening in the video. Adding captions breaks down the barrier for those unable to watch videos because of the lack of audio or captions to comprehend what's happening.
How content with captions can boost SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Now that you understand what captions are and the methods behind creating them, we can dive into how captions can help grow your SEO. SEO is what determines how content is found on search websites such as Google or YouTube. Adding captions to your YouTube videos boosts your SEO by providing keywords to assist the search. Boosting your SEO allows your content to rank higher and often leads to more views because search engine algorithms can use your transcriptions to find keywords and search terms. A higher ranking allows your video to be found more easily and can increase overall views. A study found that captioned videos saw a 13.48% increase in views in the first two weeks of publication on Youtube. By providing captions for viewers, you also help them retain the information and make your content easier to remember. For more information on caption use in social media, check out our other blog, Social Media Captioning.
How Link Can Help
After years of hard work, Link Electronics has created a system that provides accessibility for the deaf and hard of hearing, the ACE series. The ACE series allows you to turn audio from any source into text for captions, subtitles, or transcripts. Turn your YouTube videos into content that anyone can enjoy! Visit our website and give us a call today to see how our products can help you grow your YouTube audience!