Video subtitling services help viewers understand the dialogue or narration on the screen even though they have no idea about the language of the speakers. If it is done appropriately in a natural way, viewers will rarely notice they are reading while watching a subtitled video.
In contrast, if done incorrectly, the entire viewing experience would be a disaster. Subtitling services, therefore, have a great influence on the viewer experience.
It is forecast that the global entertainment and media market is predicted to reach a value of $2.6 trillion by 2023. It makes sense why global media companies are placing a high value on video subtitling services.
Why Should You Subtitle Your Movies?
Let’s dive deeply to see why subtitling services are vital for your business to grow to its full potential.
1- The Target Audience
You’ll always be local if you think locally. Let’s take Youtube as an example.
Approximately 60% of YouTube video views are from non-English speakers. Given this fact, global-minded media companies who desire to grow viewership are eager to add subtitles to their video so they may easily reach foreign audiences in overseas territories and markets.
2- Silent Watching on Social
- More than 100 million hours of video are being watched by Facebook users every single day.
- Approximately 80% of social media users watch advertising videos with the sound turned off.
That’s when the power of video subtitling services is shined out. Your social media video added with subtitles and captions could be made to auto-play via Facebook, Twitter, or Google; and your viewers need not miss the point.
3- The Deaf and Hearing-Impaired Audience
More than 5% of the world’s population — 466 million people – suffers from hearing loss, with the number expected to rise to more than 900 million by 2050, the World Health Organization says. Needless to say, this potential audience is far too big to overlook. You’ll be able to engage with this massive market if you add subtitles to your video content.
4- Optimize for Global Audience with Subtitling Services
Your motion pictures can’t be “viewed” by Google, Bing, Yahoo, or other search engines! All they need is some text to sift through. As a result, adding subtitles to your video will provide search engines with extra content to index. You’ll also get more organic traffic as well as higher rankings thanks to more diverse keywords. The two benefits will undoubtedly combine to increase your media’s overall viewership.
5- Increase Viewing Time with Subtitling Services
Videos with captions have been shown to improve viewing duration, according to research undertaken by social media platforms. Simply said, video subtitling services make the information more engaging for viewers, hence increasing the likelihood that they will watch the entire video.
6 Practical Tips for Video Subtitling Services
For a global-minded media business, the reason behind partnering with a professional subtitling services provider is to ultimately give viewers a great viewing experience. Let’s look at the following tips to turn your video into a box office success.
1- Timing is Vital
Subtitling videos should not be given in a messy manner. Caption synchronization with spoken words is critical to guarantee that captions show and disappear in sync with the audio and images. Fast-moving scenes should be accompanied by subtitles with fewer characters so that viewers have enough time to follow along.
2- Less is More
A competent subtitling services provider should be well-versed in the art of summarizing, as each subtitle should contain no more than 40 characters. The fewer words you use, the better it will be.
3- Caption Your Source Material
Although most video sites, including Facebook and YouTube, offer the popular option of displaying speech-to-text auto-captioning, there are always some errors, particularly in brand names. However, you can fix this imperfection by supplementing your audiovisual upload with video-closed captions provided by a professional translation.
4- Sound Effects
When it comes to special effects like “lady screaming” and “cat meowing,” the common rule is to use lowercase italics in parentheses for sound effect captions.
5- Never Congest the Screen
In general, the amount of text on the screen should not exceed two lines. You’re destroying the beauty and enjoyment of the viewing experience if you fill the screen with words!
6- Localize when using
Keep in mind that excellent subtitling services require a high level of localization. You have to consider factors such as the register, nationality, era, and so on. For example, you should not use “mum” when “mother” is more appropriate, or “pants” when “trousers” is better. Cultural differences are important! Above all, be careful when translating wordplay, proverbs, and jokes!
Why GTE Media?
Have you found a companion that would be a good fit for your next projects?
GTE Media is an ISO 9001:2015 certified language solutions company that provides first-class video subtitling services for leading media businesses – professionally assisting them in expanding their global footprint.
Our top-tier media clients frequently mention a number of reasons why we continually outperform the competition. Our reputation for customer focus, cost-effectiveness, quick turnaround time, exceptional customer service, and the rigorous quality assurance system we’re putting in place are just a few of them.
If you’re ready to start expanding your business, driving engagement, giving flexible viewing options, and having the highest opportunity of sharing your video with other audiences, contact us now!
For more information on high-quality translation and localization services, you may see here.
Tags: Subtitling, Subtitling Services
