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The Importance of Subtitles: 5 Key Reasons Why Subtitles Improve Videos

Online video content has become a crucial part of any company’s advertising efforts, as it can reach an audience that spans a wide range of demographics. But have you ever considered why you do not see the results you hoped for?

While great videos are always the first step, there are also other steps that you can take to improve their success. One of these is adding subtitles to video.

So, if you are a regular video content producer, you may have considered adding subtitles to your videos to reach an international audience. However, this idea might be a bit daunting for you. Besides translating footage, there are other reasons why you should consider utilizing such services.

Why Subtitle Improves Videos?

In 2017, around 80% of the viewers who watched movies online were from other countries. They also spend a lot of time listening to music and watching YouTube videos. The study showed that subtitles are very important in any medium used by the film industry.

Nowadays, people spend a great deal of time on platforms such as Instagram Reels and TikTok, which emphasize how important it is to have subtitles in order to reach a wider audience.

Why You Need Subtitles for Your Videos: 5 Main Reasons

1. Most Viewers Understand the Video With Subtitles

A subtitle can improve a person’s attention, memory, and comprehension of a video. A quick study has revealed that most people turn on captions whenever they watch TV shows or movies, even if they are fluent in the language of origin.

On the other hand, one of the most important reasons why video content should be subtitled is to make it easier for hard-of-hearing and deaf people to access. However, the difference between closed captions and subtitles is important to understand.

In addition to providing text for spoken dialogue, translated subtitles also provide visible text. On the other hand, closed captions provide contextual descriptions of audio, such as music or sound effects.

While subtitles are commonly used to translate the dialogue, closed captions can be helpful for people with hard of hearing or deaf ears. They can also be used in situations where the sound is turned off.

2. It’s Best for Non-Native Speakers Who Do Not Want to Listen to Videos

If you have videos that you want to distribute to international audiences, subtitle translation can help you reach your goals and expand your global reach. It is imperative that you take into account the target audience’s language.

Sometimes, people prefer not to hear the audio when watching videos online. This is mainly due to how people are more likely to scroll through content on their phones as they navigate through social media platforms. 

Others may not be comfortable with the volume turned up while watching videos in public places.

So, to make your content more accessible, you can subtitle it. This will allow people who want to watch it in silence, such as those who catch the bus home after work or have just gotten the baby to sleep at home, to enjoy it.

3. Improves the Viewer’s Comprehension

Studies have shown that using video captions can improve a person’s ability to understand videos. 

A study conducted by researchers stated that watching videos with subtitles can benefit everyone, including:

  • Children
  • Adolescents
  • Adults
  • College students

It also shows that subtitles can improve people’s attention, memory, and comprehension when watching videos. They are especially beneficial for people who are deaf or hard of hearing, as well as those who are learning to read.

On the other hand, it has been widely reported that around 80% of all Facebook videos are not accompanied by sound. Adding subtitles can help boost engagement and decrease the risk of losing viewers.

4. Videos With Subtitles Attract More Viewers

According to a study, videos with subtitles are more likely to be watched than those without subtitles. Also, higher engagement video content can be seen online and can be considered a good SEO asset. 

More users will continue browsing your site after clicking on a link, which increases your site’s search engine ranking.

Meanwhile, the benefits of using subtitles are supported by viewing habits. 

According to  Netflix, in 2019, over 80% of its members utilized closed captions or subtitles regularly. It is also revealed that 80% of viewers are currently using them all or some of the time.

5. Subtitled Videos Have a Huge Impact Globally

By adding subtitles and/or translations to online videos, search engines can pick up on both foreign and English subtitles, and they can use your keywords for global search engine optimization and international audiences. 

This can boost your website’s rankings and improve its position on the search engine results page.

Moreover, subtitling is a commonly used technique to translate video content into other languages. It is very cost-effective to use and is one of the most frequently used methods when it comes to translating videos for multiple audiences.

How About Translation

Translation is a process that involves adding subtitles to a video, which can be used to target multiple audiences. It preserves the dialogue and audio of the original footage while maintaining the actors’ performance. 

This is a common choice for film translation, as it allows the audience to retain the elements of their local culture.

How Does Subtitle Benefits the Video?

One of the biggest advantages of including subtitles is making sure that people who can’t access the audio component of a media file can still enjoy the content. This is very important for businesses as it allows them to reach new audiences.

Although there are different metrics that are used to measure video performance in today’s digital age, including:

  • Reach
  • Shares
  • Engagement
  • And more

In most cases, a video with a subtitled version is more effective than one without.

The study found that people are more engaged when they see a video with subtitles. They are also more likely to watch it in full.  

According to the software provider, videos with subtitles are able to reach 16% more people on Facebook than those without.

Despite Google’s efforts to improve the search algorithm’s understanding of video dialogue, it still relies on metadata and text to find content.

Videos that feature subtitles perform better on digital platforms than those without captions. So, in order to keep up with the latest trends and maximize reach, you should always add subtitles or captions to your videos. 

How Important are Subtitles to Videos

Accessibility

Around 466 million people, or 5% of the global population, suffer from hearing loss. So, without the availability of captions or other aids, many individuals will not be able to understand videos properly. 

Making films more accessible and inclusive is a good thing, but it also requires the implementation of laws.

For Better Understanding

According to video experts, people prefer to watch videos that have subtitles because they are able to understand them better. 

This is because varying people need different ways of hearing and seeing things. So, having subtitles ensures that everybody will get the message.

Give Freedom to Viewers to Choose their Native Language

It’s important to speak to customers in their native language. 

In 2014, a study conducted by Dr. Catherine Harris of the University of Boston revealed that there are differences in how people feel when they are exposed to different types of language.

She also noted that advertising slogans tend to be more emotional when they are delivered in a person’s native language.

On the other hand, over 7000 languages can be spoken globally. this is why having translated subtitles can help you reach out to more people. So, before you start working on a project, make sure that you know the language of your customers. 

Also, make sure that you can offer a variety of subtitles in different languages. The world’s most frequently spoken language is English, with over 16.5% of the population.

Improves the SEO of the Video

It is important that you provide high-quality and engaging content that your customers will find valuable and can help them learn something from. Aside from that, you also need to make sure that it is optimized for search engines so that it can rank high.

Google indexes subtitles, which helps improve its search engine ranking. On the other hand, it doesn’t automatically generate closed captions for videos. 

This means that it can have a big impact on the number of people watching your videos, searching for your website, and engaging with your brand.

Conclusion

When creating and editing videos, it is important to include subtitles to ensure that your content caters to global audiences. 

Moreover, having the proper subtitles can help boost the success of your videos, which can be seen on various platforms such as TV shows, films, social networking posts, and course materials.

Above are the various advantages of including subtitles in videos. We hope that it will teach you how to use subtitles effectively.