3 Reasons Why Adding Captions To Videos Is Important

Unfortunately, not every video view counts. How many people are actually hearing your message?

If you are using video for content marketing purposes, you (hopefully) have a specific goal in mind for your viewers. Whether you are optimizing your videos for viewers to subscribe to your channel, make a purchase, or follow a call to action, the more you can do to ensure viewers are fully engaged and consuming your content, the better.

Wouldn't it be awful if a large percentage of viewers weren't hearing or following what is being said in your video?

Unfortunately, this is exactly what happens when you aren't adding captions to videos.

Adding a textual transcription of what is being spoken in your video can take a few different forms but always has a positive impact on your video metrics. You probably have heard the terms subtitles or captions used interchangeably. Captions and subtitles both refer to timed translation of the spoken text while subtitles are specifically for displaying text in a specific language.

Captions come in two forms: open or closed. Closed captions provide the viewer the ability to turn the captions on or off (think of the closed captioning feature available when watching videos on Netflix). Open captions are "burned" directly into the video file and are always present to the video viewer.

If your goal is to increase retention and engagement, adding open captions to videos is the most effective. This ensures that all viewers see the words that are spoken in the video.  Why is this so important? We included the top 3 reasons why you should add captions to your videos below:

Most videos watched on social media are viewed with mute toggled on or low volume.

Think back to the last time you were in a public setting and browsing Facebook when a video auto-played in your feed. Did it start blaring loudly and distracting everyone around you? Nope. that's because most videos on social media (including Facebook) are played with mute toggled on by default.

This is so prevalent that over 80% of videos on Facebook are watched in silence. This means that for every 10 people that view your video on Facebook, 8 of them didn't hear a single word you said.

Adding captions to your social videos ensures that all viewers are able to consume your message and follow along.

Adding captions to videos increases engagement and watch time of your videos

56% of all videos posted on social media are less than 2 minutes long. That may not seem like a long time but 2 minutes is an eternity in the digital marketing world.

Studies have found that captions increase video viewing by 80%. Captions not only ensure that all viewers can follow along with what is being said, but they also help increase viewer attention and make viewers more likely to watch the video in its entirety.

Adding captions to videos helps viewers consume content regardless of the video's audio quality

Depending on the situation, your video may be at the mercy of your recording environment or audio equipment. If your video was shot at a conference, event, or in a crowded area, the spoken words may be difficult to discern from the background noise. Adding captions to videos helps viewers follow along with the spoken word regardless of the audio quality.

Ready to automatically add captions to videos? Try Zubtitle

We built Zubtitle exactly for the reasons above. We were creating loads of social video content and realized how important it was to include captions in each one.

Zubtitle is an online tool that automatically transcribes the spoken words from your video and adds the text as timed captions. Caption text can be easily reviewed and edited by simply playing the video back and editing the text directly. Watch a demo here or click here to create your free Zubtitle account and get started.

Want more info? Visit our website to learn how Zubtitle automatically adds subtitles to videos and makes them look good.

Have questions, ideas, or want to chat? Drop us an email or find us on Facebook or Twitter @zubtitles.