Have you noticed how most of the videos you watch on social media have subtitles? There’s a reason for that. 85% of Facebook videos are watched with no sound. It makes sense. People are on Facebook at work, riding the bus or at school.
Because Facebook and content creators want you to be engaged with their videos —the longer your eyes are on the screen, the more ads you see— subtitles and captions are an obvious solution to the problem of sound. Youtube and Vimeo are also promoting the use of subtitles in their videos.
TED Talk videos have been adding subtitles in many languages for years. Take a look at one of their most popular videos. Make sure you click on the CC icon to turn on subtitles and then the gear icon to choose any of the 46 subtitle languages available.
These subtitles are not generated automatically. TED took the time to transcribe it in different languages.
Youtube, Facebook —and now content creators— understand that you don’t need sound to engage people. Most of the content online is read anyway. That’s why videos have had to evolve to cater to the silence revolution.
Think of the how this affects you. Maybe you are producing videos but you were relying on your videos to be heard. Now you know most people won’t listen to it.
What Does That Have to Do with Translations?
A lot. It has to do with the way people consume content. 70% of people prefer to look at content in their own language. That applies to websites, articles, and videos. If a Spanish-speaking person looks at a video that is subtitled in English, there’s a 70% chance they won’t watch it.
We can get your videos transcribed and translated. Just send us a message here, and if it’s your first time working with us, we’ll give you a 20% discount on your first project.
Your videos should have subtitles in the languages your brand is trying to reach. Facebook makes it very easy for you to upload subtitles in different languages. All you have to do is upload the right subtitles file for each language and you’re good to go.
Adding subtitles to your videos will increase your engagement and return on investment. Like Discovery Digital Networks did. As a test, they added captions to half of their videos on their Youtube channels. Over 16 months they measured the success of their approach, comparing captioned videos to non-captioned videos. In 14 days the view rate of captioned videos increased by 13%. Also, captions improved their SEO ranking, getting 6.68% of an increase in overall search traffic.
Why shouldn’t you have this improvement too?
Does Translating Subtitles Work on All Platforms?
Multilingual captions or subtitles work on Facebook, Youtube and Vimeo. The process is slightly different for each, but once we give you the transcription and translations, it’s only a matter of uploading the right files in the right places.
Take the Next Step
Do you need a strategy for transcription and translation for your content? Get a free quote and a 20% discount on your first project here.
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