Commentary
Captions Habit Bleeds From Mobile Video Into TV, Laptops
- by Karlene Lukovitz @KLmarketdaily, July 1, 2021
Now that sites tend to be designed as feeds, many consumers are keeping their phones muted even when videos are playing — causing a growing number to expect captions on videos.
Further, many now say that they’re more likely to watch videos on TVs and computers if they offer captions. …
Karlene Lukovitz is editor of MediaPost's "Digital News Daily" and writes the weekly "Video Insider" and "Advanced TV Insider" columns. You can reach her at karlene@mediapost.com.
The data looks somewhat high
57% said they’re more likely to watch videos on their TV if there are captions. Further, nearly half say that they now watch TV in general with captions on.
So, if more than half were 'more likely to' and nearly half 'already are' watching TV with captions on, I wonder how many people reading this post could walk into their family TV room and if the TV is on and report that the captions were already on. Also, think about the last time you watched TV with the captioning on (and I don't mean sub-titles). Does that accord with your experience?
Captioning is very important so as not to disadvantage the hearing impaired, but in my 30+ years of media and TV research I've never seen data in which captioning was the predominant TV viewing mode. I wonder what impact that it is a small mobile 'phone poll across two countries could be affecting the results.