Do you have a video that you want to share with the world but don’t know how to add subtitles or closed captions? Or maybe you’re not sure if captioning is worth the extra time and effort. In this article, we will discuss seven benefits of video captioning that will make your life easier!
What Is Video Captioning?
Video captioning is the process of adding text to a video in order to provide a transcript or translation of the spoken dialogue. This can be helpful for viewers who are deaf or hard of hearing, as well as those who speak a different language from the one being used in the video.
In addition, captions can be used to provide contextual information, such as sound effects or song lyrics. Captioning can be done manually by transcribing the audio track of a video, or it can be generated automatically using video captioning software.
There are several benefits to captioning videos, on which we will immediately elaborate, however, it should be noted that captioning can be time-consuming and expensive, particularly if multiple languages are involved. As such, it is important to weigh the costs and benefits of captioning before deciding whether or not to add captions to a video.
7 Benefits of Video Captioning
Benefit #1: Audience Engagement
Did you know that over 85% of Facebook users watch videos without sound? Adding captions to your videos ensures that your audience will be able to understand and engage with your content, regardless of whether they are watching with the sound on or off.
Benefit #2: Making Your Content More Accessible
For businesses, video captioning is a great way to make your content more accessible to a wider audience. By captioning your videos, you can ensure that everyone, including people with hearing impairments or those who speak English as a second language, can understand and enjoy your content.
Benefit #3 It’s SEO Friendly
Video captioning is also great for SEO! Search engines are able to index the text in your video captions, which means that your videos are more likely to show up in search results.
Benefit #4: Improving Retention Rates
Adding captions to your videos can also help you to improve engagement and retention rates. Studies have shown that people are more likely to watch a video if it has captions and that they are more likely to remember the information in a video if it is captioned.
Benefit #5: Great for Reference
Did you know that you can use video captions to create transcripts of your videos? Transcripts can be really useful for people who want to reference or share specific parts of your video, and they can also be repurposed into blog posts or social media posts.
Benefit #6: Improving User Experience
Websites that offer video content can greatly improve user experience by captioning their videos. Not only will this provide transcripts for viewers who want to read along, but it can also help search engines to index the website’s content, making it easier for users to find what they’re looking for. Video captioning is a great way to make your website more user-friendly and accessible.
Benefit #7: It Is Just Good Manners
Finally, captioning your videos is just good manners! By making your video content accessible to as many people as possible, you’re showing that you care about your audience and that you want everyone to be able to enjoy your content.
What Is the Difference Between Video Transcription and Captioning?
Video transcription is the written record of the audio track of a video. Video captioning is the written record of the dialog and sound effects in a video along with time codes to indicate when they occur. Transcription can be used for closed captioning, but it is not required to be verbatim.
Video captioning must be verbatim. Transcription can be done without time codes, but captioning must include them. Transcription can be done without identifying who is speaking, but captioning must identify characters and speakers.
Finally, transcription can be used for other purposes such as creating subtitles or dubbing a video into another language, but captioning is primarily used to provide accessibility for viewers who are deaf or hard of hearing.
Conclusion
Video captioning is a great way to improve audience engagement, make your content more accessible, and boost your SEO. Adding captions to your videos can also help you to improve retention rates and create transcripts of your videos. So, what are you waiting for? Start captioning your videos today!
