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• Captioning

Captioning and Transcription for Higher Education

Noah Pearson

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May 21, 2025

Strategizing Accessibility in Higher Education [Webinar]

There are many benefits to offering captions for online video in higher education institutions. Closed captioning in higher education makes videos more accessible to students who are deaf or hard of hearing. By prioritizing video accessibility, colleges and universities can ensure that more students have equal access to educational content and media.

Importantly, providing accessible video content is not just a best practice—it is a legal obligation. Under various legislation, colleges and universities are required to ensure effective communication with individuals with disabilities.

While captions are primarily intended to make videos accessible to people with disabilities, they can also benefit all students. One study revealed that 80% of people who use captions are not deaf or hard of hearing – they find that captions improve their engagement, focus, and comprehension.

Another study by the University of South Florida St. Petersburg (USFSP) explored the impact of captions and transcripts on student learning. The results shed light on the value of captions in the classroom and showed that accessible video could have a positive impact on students’ performance.

What’s Important for Captioning in Higher Education?

Caption Accuracy

Inaccurate captions are frustrating for anyone, but for students, it’s particularly detrimental to their learning and performance. Many students rely on captions to assist them in their studies, especially those who are:

• D/deaf or hard of hearing
• English language learners or non-native English speakers
• Individuals with learning disabilities

Accurate captions are a necessity for higher education institutions because students must have access to accurate learning materials, including educational videos.

Note that in 2019, the court acknowledged that caption accuracy is critical to accessibility as seen in its decision for the NAD v. Harvard and NAD v. MIT accessibility suits.

Timeliness

Captions must be made available simultaneously with the video content to ensure that all students have equal access to instructional materials. This is especially critical in educational environments where videos are used as part of core instruction, assignments, or assessments.

When captions are delayed, students who are deaf or hard of hearing, or who rely on captions for comprehension, may fall behind or miss essential information. This creates a situation of unequal access, which can not only disadvantage the student academically but may also place the institution at risk of noncompliance with federal accessibility laws.

Billing Flexibility

Universities often have many different departments and may even have additional campuses aside from the main campus. Higher education institutions require flexible billing options to bill each department or campus separately and to provide specific administrators access to billing information. A smooth billing process helps to make the entire captioning process painless, efficient, and sustainable.

Legal Compliance and Accessibility Standards

Higher education institutions are legally obligated to ensure that all students, including those with disabilities, have equal access to academic content and services. This includes captioning and transcription for video and audio materials, which are considered essential components of accessible communication.

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

The ADA is a foundational civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. Two key sections apply to colleges and universities:

• Title II applies to public institutions (such as state colleges and universities), requiring them to provide equal access to all programs, services, and activities. This includes ensuring that digital content is accessible through accurate captioning and transcription.
• Title III applies to private institutions, mandating that they remove barriers to access and provide auxiliary aids and services, including captioning, to ensure effective communication with students with disabilities.

Click here for information on the rapidly approaching ADA compliance deadlines.

The Rehabilitation Act

Two key provisions of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 are especially relevant to higher education institutions:

• Section 504: Requires institutions receiving federal funding to provide equal access to students with disabilities through academic adjustments and auxiliary aids, such as captions and transcripts.
• Section 508: Mandates that electronic and information technology used by federally funded institutions be accessible, following standards like the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

Common Challenges in Captioning for Higher Education

Restricted Budgets

State schools have set funding for academic programs and departments, whether it be from private donations or state and federal funding. This requires state schools to operate within a limited budget, which is one of their most significant barriers to captioning. They will look for a captioning solution that allows them to stay within budget while still maintaining a 99% accuracy rate of their content.

Workflow and Compatibility

While the process for captioning in higher education varies from college to college, there are often several steps a professor must go through to get a video captioned on time. Sending a captioning request may take a lot of back and forth. Having a solution that helps a college streamline the captioning process will ensure that videos are captioned when students need them.

There are many options for lecture capture systems and video platforms, and schools will use whichever platform fits their unique needs. To ensure their transcription and captioning processes are seamless and efficient, schools will look for captions that are compatible with their lecture capture systems and video platforms.

Complex Content

Higher education institutions offer multiple areas of study and hundreds of degrees and certificates with different focuses. For reference, the University of Wisconsin-Madison offers over 600 undergraduate majors and certificates. With large amounts of high-level content in varying subjects, it’s a challenge for schools to ensure their content is transcribed accurately.

How Captions & Transcripts Impact Students’ Performance

What Vendor Features Are Important for Higher Education?

Guaranteed Accuracy

3Play Media’s closed captions and transcripts comply with federal accessibility laws. Our captions provide a measured accuracy rate of 99.6%, and we guarantee at least 99% accuracy, even in cases of poor audio quality, multiple speakers, difficult content, and accents.

Competitive Pricing

Our advanced technology is what enables our competitive prices, but our quality assurance measures ensure that our caption quality is top-notch. We also offer flexible billing, allowing customers to have project-level billing for higher education organizations that require that multiple departments and campuses are billed separately or have access to separate billing information.

Skilled Transcript Editors

3Play Media always provides accurate transcripts for a broad range of complex content. We have a staff of thousands of skilled transcript editors who can edit content from topics in which they are knowledgeable. We also allow customers to upload wordlists with correct spellings, punctuation, and capitalization for difficult words and subject-specific terms.

Video Platform Integrations

Integrations with lecture capture systems and online video management platforms allow for a more streamlined captioning process. 3Play offers integrations with all major video players, including Kaltura, Panopto, Mediasite, Echo360, and YouTube. Our integrations will automatically post your captions back to your video, giving you more time to focus on other projects.

User-friendly Account System

Our Account System is easy for customers to use, and you can rest assured that captioning won’t be a complicated endeavor. Each account can support multiple users, departments, and permissions. Account admins can control user access to any of the core account functions like invoices & billing, uploading, editing, publishing control, and user management. On top of that, we have a fabulous support team to help you along the way.

Higher Education Institutions that Use 3Play Media

This blog post is written for educational and general information purposes only, and does not constitute specific legal advice. This blog should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a licensed professional attorney in your state.

This blog was originally published on April 27, 2020 by Jaclyn Leduc and has since been updated by Abby Alepa and Noah Pearson for accuracy, clarity, and freshness.

About the author

Noah Pearson

As a marketing specialist with 3Play Media, Noah specializes in accessibility and localization content creation, leveraging his technology expertise to help organizations expand their global reach and create a more inclusive digital experience.

The post Captioning and Transcription for Higher Education appeared first on 3Play Media.

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• Captioning

Key Tips for Boosting Transcription Quality

3Play Media

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May 30, 2024

[Free Report] Read the 2024 State of Captioning

Transcripts are proven to enhance accessibility, comprehension, translation and creation of derivative content, user experience, and search engine optimization (SEO). However, if you regularly provide transcripts for your audiovisual content, you may have noticed that not all transcripts are created equal in terms of quality and accuracy.

So how do you achieve high-quality transcription of your content consistently? It comes down to having the right tools, the right audio setup, and the right workflow.

In this blog, you will learn helpful tips for leveraging high-quality audio, proper equipment, and professional transcriptionists to boost the quality of your transcripts and achieve optimal accessibility and accuracy.

Take Time to Prepare and Plan for Your Media’s Transcription

Preparation and planning before recording your media goes a long way for transcription quality. 

If you are recording content such as a presentation, speech, or talking head-type of video, prepare a script or detailed outline ahead of time to ensure that you are using clear and understandable language. When possible, do a practice run with the speaker to work out any potential issues with pronunciation, word choice, jargon, or specialized terminology.

Using a script or outline to plan out your recording ahead of time also provides the bonus of functioning as useful prep material for your transcription vendor. Scripts, outlines, lists of specialized terms, name spellings, and more gives the transcriptionist a better idea of what to expect and have a useful reference to ensure accuracy.

High-Quality Transcription Calls for High-Quality Audio

Transcription quality can only be as good as its source audio, and the best way to improve transcription quality is to consider audio quality from the start of the process.

Be sure to record audio in an environment with minimal background noise, echoes, or other ambient sounds when possible. Noise from trains, airplanes, dogs barking, lawnmowers, neighbors, etc. can be picked up by a microphone and significantly impact the quality of a video’s audio track. 

In addition to avoiding the wrong noises, pay close attention to audio levels. The sound and volume of the audio should remain clear and consistent throughout the duration of the recording. 

The Right Audio Equipment Makes a Difference for Transcription Quality

Now that you’ve got a great audio setup–there’s no background noise or sounds, and the levels seem consistent–how do you take it further?

With some high-quality equipment.

Microphone 

Different microphones are ideal for varying environments and types of recording. For instance, you might consider different microphones depending on whether you want to capture just one speaker talking, or capture all the sound in a room. The three main types of microphones are dynamic, condenser, and ribbon. Each of these specializes in a different type of sound. Additionally, there are microphones that can be mounted to a camera, hung from above, attached to clothing, and more. 

With so many options, it’s important to consider: 

• What you are recording
• How many speakers you have
• Where you will be recording
• What the background noise level will be
• What direction the audio is coming from

Studio setup 

In addition to using the right microphone, having the appropriate setting to record audio is essential for getting high-quality transcription. 

A large room with high ceilings, soundproof walls, and concrete floors is an ideal environment to record in. However, many people do not have access to a perfect recording space. That’s where improvisation and DIY methods can come in.

Find a quiet space without echoing. This can be as simple as a home office or a small classroom. To make the space more optimal for recording, you can hang blankets or place a makeshift sound booth around your microphone to dampen the sound and minimize echos or other noises.

Software

The final step in ensuring high-quality audio comes down to editing and mixing. 

There are many professional softwares available to purchase, but free programs and applications have come a long way over the last several years. Free audio mixing softwares like Audacity and Garage Band enable almost anyone to mix and polish their audio without professional tools or training.

Whichever audio mixing software works best for you, experiment with enhancing your audio to get maximum consistency and clarity for the highest quality transcription possible.

Use a Professional Transcriber During the Transcription Process

For high-quality and accurate transcription, it’s important to use a professional human transcriber during the process. While purely AI transcription solutions have improved significantly over the years, studies show that human input is still crucial to achieve accessible transcription and captioning. 

Because of their extensive training, professional transcriptionists are best positioned to provide a high-quality transcript consistent with grammar, non-speech elements, speaker IDs, spellings, and abbreviations. 

Professional transcriptionists often have knowledge and experience transcribing specific topics, which can help them to better understand the audio and avoid mistranscription. A professional transcriber will additionally proofread the transcript and provide a final spell check to eliminate errors and ensure maximum accuracy during a final pass.

This post was originally published on September 25, 2018, by Elisa Lewis as “5 Tips for Improving Transcription Quality” and has since been updated for comprehensiveness, clarity, and accuracy.

About the author

3Play Media

The post Key Tips for Boosting Transcription Quality appeared first on 3Play Media.

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• Captioning

8 Podcasts with Transcripts to Check Out

3Play Media

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May 6, 2022

Tips for Creating an Accessible Podcast [Free Guide]

Podcasts are becoming increasingly popular every year. With over 424 million people tuning in worldwide, podcast listeners account for about 20% of all internet users. 

That growth doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. According to Insider Intelligence, the number of monthly U.S. podcast listeners will increase by 6% year-over-year. 

With the growing prevalence of podcasts, only 1% of them are accessible to the 430 million people globally with hearing loss.  

You may be wondering – what makes a podcast accessible anyway? 

Podcasts are made accessible with transcripts. A transcript is a written document of speech or audio that is converted into text. Unlike closed captions, transcripts aren’t time-coded. Therefore, they’re especially useful for audio-only content, like podcasts. 

If you’re looking for accessible podcasts, we’ve got you covered. The following podcasts are paving the way for accessibility in the podcasting industry. Here are 8 podcasts with transcripts to check out! 

1. This American Life

This American Life is a weekly public radio and podcast built around storytelling. Each week, the producers choose a theme to explore such as politics, health, and a slew of other topics. 

Hosted by award-winning radio personality, Ira Glass, each episode takes you along a different journey – some funny and entertaining, while others can be surprising and mind-boggling.

The show started in 1995 on the radio and eventually branched into a podcast series. Since then, the show has even created popular spin-offs like Serial and S-Town. 

This American Life is committed to making its podcast accessible to its 2 million weekly listeners. Each episode that lives on its website is accompanied by a transcript. 

Fun fact: This American Life has been using 3Play Media as a podcast solution since 2011. Check out this case study on how adding transcripts helped boost a podcast’s SEO! 

If you want to listen to This American Life, you can stream episodes on all major podcast apps or listen with a written transcript on their website. 

2. Pod Save the People

Pod Save the People is a weekly show that chronicles politics, culture, and social justice. It’s hosted by author and activist, DeRay Mckesson, as well as Kaya Henderson, De’Ara Balenger, and Myles E. Johnson. 

Each week the hosts take on the news in a unique approach and even shed light on stories that are often overlooked in mainstream media. 

There’s also an interview segment on the podcast. DeRay interviews many special guests like singer/songwriter, John Legend, and Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. 

If you’re looking to stay abreast of the latest in politics and social justice, this is the podcast for you. 

You can listen to episodes on all major podcast apps or feel free to check out their website with full episodes and transcripts. 

3. Invisibilia 

Next up on the list of podcasts with transcripts is Invisibilia – a show produced by NPR. 

The show title translates from Latin as “the invisible things”, which seems very fitting because every week the hosts, Yowei Shaw and Kia Miakka Natisse, explore the “invisible forces” that inform human behavior, like ideas and beliefs. 

Using a combination of psychological and brain science with human stories, listeners discover new possibilities on how we live. 

An example of topics that are explored are trust, memories, and empathy. 

This podcast is a crowd favorite. Check out new episodes on your preferred streaming app or listen to the show with full transcripts on their website! 

4. Criminal

If you’re like the millions of true crime junkies out there, hooked on the suspense of the latest thriller, then this podcast is just for you. 

The award-winning podcast, Criminal, launched in January of 2014, is all about true crime stories.

The host, Phoebe Judge, shares “stories of people who’ve done wrong, been wronged, or gotten caught somewhere in the middle.” 

People can’t seem to get enough of true crime podcasts. According to a survey conducted by ABC, 44% of podcast consumers have listened to a true-crime podcast in the past month. 

No matter your sentiments about the latest unsolved mystery, you can catch episodes on all podcast streaming services or the accessible version on their website!

Learn how to make your podcast accessible [Free Guide]

5. Still Processing

Next on the list of podcasts with transcripts is Still Processing, a show that dissects all things society and culture. From dating and relationships to work and the arts, there’s something for everybody. 

This weekly show is hosted by two New York Times writers, Wesley Morris and Jenna Wortham. They’ve got a lot to say about the latest in pop culture so if you’re looking for a new podcast to listen to, this may be the one for you. 

What’s unique about this particular podcast is that it’s produced by the major American newspaper, The New York Times. When new episodes premiere, the news giant also publishes an article to accompany the episode. Not only does this attract podcast listeners, but it also introduces their news subscribers to check out the show too. What a great way to repurpose content! 

You can listen to new episodes on major streaming apps or with transcripts on their website!  

6. Where Should We Begin?

Where Should We Begin is a podcast about relationships and intimacy. It’s hosted by Esther Perel, a world-renowned therapist. 

Each week, Perel counsels real-life couples on the personal, and oftentimes complicated, details on their intimate relationships. 

This Spotify original show looks at dating, marriage, friendships, and the many intricacies of relationships.  

Not only does the host offer great advice, but the show is also committed to ensuring that all listeners, regardless of ability, have access to its invaluable content. 

You can listen to the show only on Spotify or on Esther Perel’s website with transcripts for free!  

7. Freakonomics

Freakonomics is a unique podcast because it started out as a book. The book has now been turned into one of the most popular podcasts in the world and it’s even hosted by the original co-author, Stephen J. Dubner. 

This show explores topics you always thought you knew about and topics you never thought you wanted to know about, like the gender pay gap, work unions, or the economics of sports gambling. 

There’s a reason why Freakonomics is as successful as it is today. It truly offers something for all types of listeners.   

To follow new episodes, you can listen wherever you get your podcasts or on their website with full transcripts for each episode. 

8. Allied

Last but not least, the final show on our list of podcasts with transcripts is Allied, an accessibility-focused podcast hosted by 3Play Media. 

Since 3Play’s inception, it’s been a priority to provide thought-leadership on the landscape of accessibility. From the long-standing and robust blog to the series of webinars executed every month, accessibility education has remained at the core of what 3Play does. The podcast is merely an extension of this work. 

Every month, host and 3Play’s Senior Inbound Marketing Manager, Elisa Lewis, sits down with accessibility experts across different industries to discuss the importance of a more accessible world. 

Topics covered include accessibility in gaming, the performing arts, and the workplace. 

Now, Allied couldn’t be a podcast on accessibility without ensuring that each episode is made accessible to its listeners. Since its launch in April 2021, Allied has been committed to transcribing every single episode. 

You can listen to all new episodes every month on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts, or you can listen to episodes with transcripts on 3Play Media’s website! 

The Growing Importance of Podcasts with Transcripts 

As the number of podcast listeners continues to increase, it’s becoming more important than ever before to ensure that they are made accessible with transcripts. 

Gimlet Media, a podcasting company under Spotify, received a class-action lawsuit for failing to make their podcasts accessible to people who are d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing. This lawsuit was the first of many ADA lawsuits, over the years, that focused on podcast accessibility. As more people become interested in podcasts, the prevalence of accessibility features, like transcripts, will become more in demand. 

The benefits of providing transcripts for listeners go beyond accessibility for people with hearing loss. In addition to accessibility, there are many other benefits to podcast transcription such as: 

• Improves SEO
• Increases traffic to websites 
• Avoids litigation and legal action 
• Repurpose content more easily 
• Get quoted in other blogs, articles, or publications
• Enhances listener experience 

3Play Media has extended its transcription services to the podcasting industry. No other solution on the market produces high-quality, accurate transcripts at an affordable rate. 

3Play focuses on streamlining the transcription workflow with custom APIs and a variety of file formats so that podcast producers can focus on what they do best – creating engaging and insatiable shows! 

Thanks for reading our list of podcasts with transcripts to listen to. Did we miss any? Let us know in the comment section below about your favorite podcasts with transcripts!

About the author

3Play Media

The post 8 Podcasts with Transcripts to Check Out appeared first on 3Play Media.

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• Captioning

Why Captioning Non-Speech Elements Matters for Accuracy

3Play Media

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April 15, 2022

Captioning Best Practices for Media and Entertainment [Free Ebook]

When we talk about the quality of closed captions and podcast transcripts, we often reference the 99% industry standard for accuracy.

Captioning accuracy measures punctuation, spelling, and grammar and is made up of two different elements: Formatted Error Rate (FER) and Word Error Rate (WER). 

WER, which considers word substitutions, deletions, and insertions, is commonly used to judge the quality of automatic speech recognition (ASR) captions.

FER is the percentage of word errors when considering formatting elements such as punctuation, grammar, speaker identification, non-speech elements, capitalization, and other notations. WER alone is insufficient to determine accuracy, and closed captions and transcripts must meet formatting requirements to be 99% accurate.

While meeting all formatting conditions is essential for accuracy, one of the most commonly misunderstood requirements is captioning non-speech elements. 

There are many commonly asked questions: What is a non-speech element? How do non-speech elements differ in closed captions for videos and transcripts for podcasts? Which non-speech elements are necessary for accuracy and comprehension, and how should they be effectively included in a transcript?

This blog will answer these questions and more, focusing on the importance of captioning non-speech elements for both video and podcast content.

What are non-speech elements?

While the text in a caption file often contains mainly speech, captions also include non-speech elements, such as speaker identification and sound effects, that are critical to understanding the plot.

Non-speech elements can include:

• Sound effects (e.g., a bee buzzing, keys jangling, or a doorbell ringing)
• Music, either in the background or as part of a scene
• Audience reactions (e.g., laughing, groaning, or booing)
• Manner of speaking (e.g., whispering, shouting, emphasizing a word, or talking with an accent)
• Speaker identification for an off-screen narrator or speaker, or for multiple speakers
• Other sonic information that might be necessary to follow the plot or dialogue

Non-speech elements in closed captions

Think about the last film or television show you watched. The dialogue was critical, but so were the non-speech elements throughout the program. Perhaps there was lyrical, symphonic music important to the scene or sounds of a clock ticking during a tense moment. Whatever non-speech elements you heard, they were included carefully and deliberately to create a specific viewing experience.

Accurate closed captions for videos are meant to give deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers and those watching without sound an equivalent viewing experience. For captions to recreate the intended audience experience without audio, they must include non-speech elements and relevant aural cues. Otherwise, viewers may be left confused, uninterested, and frustrated.

To learn more about closed captioning requirements for film and television, we recommend reviewing the Described and Captioned Media Program’s Captioning Key.

Create closed captions for media and entertainment

Non-speech elements in podcast transcription

If you’re one of the approximately 162 million Americans who has ever listened to a podcast, you know that a podcast episode is more than just words and dialogue. Depending on the complexity of a particular show, a podcast can contain music, soundbites, and more. 

Here are a few of the many non-speech elements a podcast might include:

• Multiple speakers, making speaker identification critical for comprehension
• Music
• Manners of speaking
• Sound bites from different recordings
• Sound design
• Natural and ambient sounds that add nuance to a scene

Additionally, speech-based content isn’t always straightforward. Storytelling is complex, and transcripts need to differentiate between narration, the main conversation, external interviews, different recordings pieced together, and more to ensure accuracy and comprehension.

Some podcasters also question which non-speech elements to include in a transcript. If you’re creating a transcript after finishing a podcast episode, listening for non-speech elements that are important for comprehension can be challenging. To address this issue, we recommend considering the careful choices made during production.

A transcript should recreate a listener’s experience. While reading a transcript will not be the exact same as listening to the audio, transcripts deserve the same careful attention to detail and nuance. If you deliberately included sound design to achieve a desired aural effect, then you should probably include a description in your transcript.

Why ASR isn’t sufficient for accuracy and comprehension

While there are many benefits to accurate podcast transcription and closed captioning, a common issue we see is a reliance on ASR transcription without editing.

ASR transcription typically won’t provide adequate comprehension compliant with WCAG 2.0 Level A for video or audio-only content. While ASR technology can be impressively accurate for WER, FER issues are often abundant.

WCAG-compliant transcripts and captions require both speech and non-speech audio information needed to understand the content; however, ASR transcripts and captions often fail to identify key non-speech elements, such as sound effects, speaker identification, and differentiation of layered recordings.

Unless you can devote significant time to making edits and including necessary information for comprehension, professional, human-edited transcriptions and captions are the way to go for accessibility and legal compliance.

About the author

3Play Media

The post Why Captioning Non-Speech Elements Matters for Accuracy appeared first on 3Play Media.

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• Accessibility

6 Tips for Improving Podcast Accessibility

Aj Beltis

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September 29, 2021

Podcasting continues to surge in popularity, making podcast accessibility even more important. 

With more than two million active podcast shows in 2021 – and more than 800,000 having launched in 2020 – podcasts have become a dominant source of entertainment, news, conversation starters, and welcomed time-wasters for more than two-fifths of Americans. 

Due to a low barrier to entry, minimal equipment needs, and growing interest in the medium, it’s no wonder why both businesses and individuals have started producing their own podcasts. For businesses in particular, podcasting breaks down the barriers between the voices of the company and those in their intended markets, effectively helping to build trust, credibility, and brand loyalty among listeners. 

That said, podcasting in its simplest form is exclusionary to the more than 10 million Americans who are deaf or hard of hearing. Audio-only content cannot always be consumed or enjoyed by those in this group, and the problem is only exacerbated when there’s poor audio quality or when hosts mumble or speak over each other. 

Tapping into the increasing interest for podcasts can be a smart move – but to fully capitalize on demand, podcast accessibility should be top of mind. 

Here are six simple yet effective ways to make your podcast more accessible. 

1. Ensure you have an accessible website

Your website is one of the best places to promote your podcast – whether it’s through calls-to-action on a blog post or a callout in your header nav. Unfortunately, website visitors may not be able to get to your podcast if your website has accessibility issues.

Fortunately, there are quick fixes to make a website more accessible. These steps include:

• Making forms accessible. If you’re starting an email list to alert subscribers about new episodes, sign-up forms need to be labeled for screen readers to pick up on them and fields must be navigable with a keyboard. 

• Organizing content with headers. Screen readers rely on headers to better understand and navigate a page. If you’re promoting a podcast on a blog post – or even on a dedicated podcast landing page – headers make finding and accessing audio content much simpler.
• Using descriptive link anchor text. Another benefit to those using screen readers, descriptive link text is a direct way to prompt action. Be specific and use clear prompts such as “click here to listen on Apple Podcasts.”

2. Publish with an accessible media player

For a podcast to be enjoyed by all, the program should be available on an accessible media player.

Accessible players assist those who may have difficulty navigating media player controls. A player that meets basic accessibility requirements might include the following features:

• Clear labels for any buttons or controls on the player (play, pause, skip ahead 30 seconds, etc.).
• The ability to navigate to (and activate) controls via keyboard. 
• Ensuring media does not autoplay.

An accessible media player is also a key component of an aforementioned accessible podcast website. Wistia and QCast are good options to explore here. 

 Check Out 3Play Media’s Allied Podcast  

3. Include a transcript

Transcripts are readable, text-based versions of your podcasts. These transcripts can be linked on your podcast website or in the description for each episode’s upload to your show’s RSS feed.

Rather than type out the back-and-forth of podcast participants word-for-word, you can use podcast transcription software to transcribe the contents of an episode automatically. These text-based versions of your show also offer SEO benefits and boost a podcast’s discoverability on search engines like Google.

And don’t forget – these perks are in addition to the clear accessibility benefits of transcribing podcasts. For some examples of real podcasts using transcriptions in inventive and awareness-driving ways, check out this blog post. 

4. Offer alternative methods for consuming podcast content

The beauty of podcast content is in how effortlessly it can be repurposed for other types of marketing material. 

For example, if you have the ability to record in a professional studio, you might be able to get a video counterpart for your podcast, which can be uploaded in its entirety onto YouTube or clipped for promotional posts on social media accounts. The same can be said if you want to record a Zoom call when hosting podcasts remotely, or even uploading the audio to YouTube alongside a logo for the show as the “video” content. Notice how YouTube channel CinemaSins does this for its Sincast Podcast – and how the video has the option to enable captions. 

Regardless of what video you capture and repurpose, remember to always add captions to your podcast videos. Aside from those deaf or hard of hearing, captions also benefit those who may be in an area where listening to audio content is difficult, speak English as a second language, or need captions to maintain focus. 

Finally, you can also turn transcripts into blog posts and use quotes from the show for custom graphics in social media posts. This ability to utilize podcast content for multiple purposes – and across multiple mediums – helps to extract even more value from your podcast program. 

5. Provide a clear audio recording

Poor audio quality can be an instant turnoff for podcast listeners. A static-filled recording or fluctuating volume between participants is jarring for those who want a crystal-clear and coherent listening experience. 

Fortunately, you don’t need an expensive, professional, soundproof studio to record episodes. Some quick tips for optimizing audio quality include:

• Using dependable microphones, like the Yeti Blue – which only costs around $130.
• Adding pop filters to your microphones to mitigate audio peaks. They’re less than $10 on Amazon. 
• Asking all participants to speak clearly and not speak over each other. 
• Leveling out your audio after recording so sound is normalized. 
• Ensuring guests who call in to your show follow the above steps as closely as possible for optimal podcast guest recording quality.

6. Employ accessible marketing

Once a podcast is made accessible, you can promote it to its now-wider potential audience. 

That said, it’s important to follow through and ensure any marketing for an accessible podcast is also accessible. This means promotional images should be designed with the proper color contrast and include alt-text when posted online. You can use a color contrast tool like WebAIM to determine if the image’s contract adheres to WCAG. 

About the author

Aj Beltis

The post 6 Tips for Improving Podcast Accessibility appeared first on 3Play Media.

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• Captioning

Transcribing Audio Content: Resources and How-To

3Play Media

•

August 11, 2021

Free Ebook: Discover the Benefits of Transcribing Online Video

If you want to transcribe audio content, then you’ve come to the right place. Whether you choose to use a third-party transcription service or DIY (do it yourself), it’s important to weigh the pros and cons and choose which option works best for you.

There are many benefits of transcribing audio to text:

Additionally, many businesses and organizations are legally required to create transcripts for their content based on the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 and 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. WCAG 2.0 is a set of guidelines put in place by the World Wide Web Consortium to make digital content more accessible for users, including those with disabilities. WCAG 2.0 has three levels of compliance: Level A, AA, and AAA. Section 508 was revised to comply with WCAG 2.0 Level A and AA. According to the lowest level, Level A, transcripts are recommended for audio-only content.

We’ll provide the different resources you’ll need to transcribe from an audio file and help you determine the most viable choice based on your budget, time, and particular needs. Good luck, and happy transcribing!

DIY Transcription

Manually transcribing audio can be a daunting task, especially when you have longer forms of content. It usually takes 5-6 times the actual time of the content. Luckily, there are many free and low-cost tools available to simplify the process. Before you begin transcribing, make sure you capture clear and loud audio. This will help to reduce red flags and inaudible sounds in your transcript.

YouTube

If you host your audio content on YouTube, you can utilize the free automatic video transcript tool. This tool automatically transcribes audio into text, but keep in mind that it comes with a lot of errors. Transcripts produced by YouTube’s tool are too inaccurate to be used on their own. Therefore, it’s highly recommended to clean them up since they can hurt your video accessibility and ranking on search engine results pages (SERP).

Here’s how to leverage YouTube’s automatic video transcript:

1. From the video manager, select your video and click Edit > Subtitles and CC. Select Add Subtitles or CC and choose your language.
2. Select Transcribe and Set Timings, and type the transcript in the space provided. YouTube will automatically pause the video as you type so you can transcribe more quickly and accurately.
3. Once you are satisfied, select Set Timings. This will sync your transcript with the video.

Similarly, you can create a transcript beforehand and upload it to YouTube:

1. First, create a transcript with YouTube’s recommendations for formatting.
2. Go to the Video Manager in YouTube and click Edit > Subtitles and CC. Select Add Subtitles or CC and choose your language.
3. Choose Upload a File, select Transcript, and choose your .txt file for upload.
4. Once your transcript has uploaded, click Set Timings to sync your transcript with the video and create closed captions.

You can also download the transcript file later with timings as a caption file:

1. Go to the video from which you would like to download the transcript. Click on the More Actions button (3 horizontal dots). Hint: it’s located next to the share button.
2. Select the Transcript option.
3. A transcript of the closed captions with the time codes will automatically generate.

 Learn about the benefits of transcribing and captioning online video  

ASR Software

Automatic Speech Recognition, otherwise known as ASR, is a technology that picks up human speech and converts it into text. You can upload your media to ASR software, and it will automatically transcribe audio into text. This method still comes with many errors, but it’s much easier and faster to clean up an inaccurate transcript than to start from scratch.

There are many options for transcription software that are free or available for a small cost, such as Express Scribe, EureScribe, and Dragon NaturallySpeaking.

Google Docs

Google offers an awesome feature that allows you to turn Docs into free transcription software. If you don’t have a Gmail account, you can sign up for one free of charge. If you have an existing account, you already have access to a feature called Google Docs; Google Docs is a word processing tool that allows you to create text documents in your web browser. Using voice typing, Google voice transcription can create text transcripts from audio. Like many of the other manual transcription tools, there will be errors, so make sure to clean it up before using it.

Follow these steps to create your transcript:

1. Using any browser of your choice, go to the Google Docs website and Start a New Document.
2. Click on Tools and select Voice Typing. It will enable voice recognition.
3. Click the Microphone icon on the left to activate Voice Typing. Google will transcribe anything being said to the word document.

iOS/Android

Another way to transcribe audio content is by using your smartphone. Similar to Google Docs, the microphone will pick up on audio and transcribe it into text. Transcribing on your smartphone tends to work a little better than Google Docs since the microphone on your phone picks up less background noise; however, it still doesn’t compare to a high-quality microphone. Recording on your smartphone won’t ensure a high accuracy rate, so you will have to clean up the final transcript.

Here are step-by-step instructions for how to transcribe audio into text with your smartphone:

1. Open up a word-processing app on your smartphone.
2. On the keyboard of your smartphone, select the Microphone button, and it will start recording.
3. Hold your phone near your computer or other device and Playback the Video. Your phone will automatically turn the audio into text.

Transcription Services

Another option to transcribe audio content to text is to use a third-party transcription service. If you’re looking for high-quality, accurate transcripts, this is definitely the way to go!

3Play Media offers a 3-step transcription process that uses both technology and human transcriptionists, ensuring a 99.6% accuracy rate. When the audio file consists of difficult content, has background noise, or contains accents, the accuracy rate decreases. ASR typically provides 60-70% accuracy, so the use of human transcriptionists distinguishes 3Play from other transcription options.

Our patented technology uses ASR to automatically produce a rough transcript, which is useful for creating accurate timings even if the words and grammar are incorrect. Using proprietary software, our transcriptionists go through and edit the transcript. All of our transcriptionists undergo a rigorous certification process and have a strong grasp of English grammar, which is important for understanding all the nuances of your content. After the editing process, your file goes through a final review called quality assurance. Your file is reviewed by our top editors, who ensure your transcript is virtually flawless.

One feature we also offer is the 3Play Interactive Transcript. This feature allows users to interact with your video by searching the video, navigating by clicking any word, and reading along with the audio. Interactive transcripts make your content more accessible and improve the user experience.

 Boost your online video with transcripts and captions  

Transcription Best Practices

Now that you have a better understanding of manual transcription versus a transcription service, you can make an informed decision. No matter which option you choose, it’s important to know how to make the most out of your transcripts.

• Grammar and Punctuation: Ensure there are no errors in your transcript so that it is easy to read.
• Speaker Identification:  Use speaker labels to identify who is speaking, especially when there are multiple speakers.
• Non-Speech Sounds:  Communicate non-speech sounds in transcripts. These are typically denoted with [square brackets].
• Verbatim:  Transcribe content as close to verbatim as possible. Leave out filler words such as “um” or “like” unless they’re intentionally included in the audio.

Want to learn more?

This post was originally published by Samantha Sauld on August 30, 2018, and has since been updated.

About the author

3Play Media

The post Transcribing Audio Content: Resources and How-To appeared first on 3Play Media.

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• Accessibility

3 Reasons Why You Need Video Transcription

3Play Media

•

June 18, 2021

Video transcription is the process of translating your video’s audio into text using automatic speech recognition technology, human transcriptionists, or a combination of the two. Without video transcription, your videos rely solely on audiovisual material to convey information.

What motivates a video publisher to transcribe their content? There are plenty of reasons. In this article, we’ll go over the top three reasons why you can’t afford to not add transcription services to your videos.

8 Benefits of Captioning & Transcription

1. Video Transcription Improves SEO

Providing a transcript is proven to boost your video search engine optimization (SEO).

A 3-week SEO study by SafeNet compared the search rank for web pages with video transcripts. In less than a month, the pages with video transcripts climbed the ranks in Yahoo and Bing for a targeted keyword phrase, moving from no listing, up to 14th, then to 9th and 11th place, respectively.

By adding video transcription to their web pages, This American Life saw a significant increase in inbound traffic and user engagement. In fact, 6.26% of all unique visitors who came from search traffic landed on a transcript page.

Since search engines can’t crawl video, transcripts provide valuable text that can be indexed and ranked. A transcript makes your video more searchable across the web and within your website or archive.

Transcripts also help your SEO keyword strategy. Use your transcript to find prominent keywords mentioned in your video, then adjust your on-page video SEO elements to match the phrasing of the keyword.

 Boost your video SEO with captions and transcripts   

2. Video Transcription Creates Better UX

Once a viewer has access to your video transcript, there is great potential for a better user experience.

Everyone learns differently, so adding a transcript gives viewers another option for digesting your video’s content.

Transcripts also make it easier to search the video for keywords or topics.

Here are two other transcript features that can improve the user experience:

Playlist Search

Transcripts make your videos searchable by search engines, but you can also implement onsite search capabilities. With a tool like a playlist search plugin, you can scan an entire video library for mentions of specific words and hop to the moment(s) in a video where that word is spoken. Searchable transcripts are hugely useful for researchers, but they’re also beneficial for average users, too.

Interactive Transcript

You can also make your video transcript interactive. An interactive transcript highlights words as they are spoken in time with the video. The timed text keeps the viewer engaged and reinforces the content since it can be read and heard at the same time. The user can click on the text to jump to that point of the video, which is a much smoother UX than having to mark timecodes when navigating a video.

 Learn how to create captions yourself using the DIY method  

3. Video Transcription Increases Accessibility

The more people who are able to watch your videos, the more views you will get. So, who else joins your audience when you add video transcripts?

Deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers

People with limited or no hearing cannot consume your videos without accompanying text. A video transcript relays more than just speech; it should also include speaker IDs and essential non-speech sounds like [LAUGHTER] or [SILENCE].

To create an equivalent viewing experience for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers, use your video transcript to create closed captions.

Making your online video accessible isn’t just a nice-to-have—for many organizations, it’s required by law. Accessibility laws vary by state, but federal law requires that videos be transcribed and captioned for all federal agencies. Video accessibility is mandated for broadcast media and for “places of public accommodation” like museums, libraries, and universities.

Viewers in sound-prohibitive environments

A 2021 Pew Research study found that 31% of U.S. adults report being “almost constantly” online. A 2018 Nielson poll found that we spend almost half of our life on the internet, watching TV, or on our phones.

Now, consider all the people who discover your videos on their smartphones while commuting to work on the train, waiting in line at the post office, or eating lunch in a noisy cafeteria. Not every environment is conducive to playing audio. A transcript gives your viewers an alternative to consuming your content, keeping them from bouncing off your site.

Non-native English speakers

Video transcripts help ESOL viewers fully comprehend your content. The transcript provides a reference for vocabulary, and spelling and can be used as a study guide. Considering that there are an estimated 4.9 million ESOL students in American public schools, why not make your content more accessible for the millions of people who could benefit from video transcription?

Learn more about the benefits of captioning and transcription—check out our white paper

This post was originally published by Emily Griffin on February 3, 2015, and has since been updated.

About the author

3Play Media

The post 3 Reasons Why You Need Video Transcription appeared first on 3Play Media.

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• Captioning

Perks of Being a 3Play Transcriptionist

3Play Media

•

October 8, 2020

3Play transcriptionists are the best transcribers in the world (just ask our customers!).

Working as a 3Play transcriptionist has many perks. Many of our editors tell us they love working with 3Play because they love working from home, learning from the videos they edit, and having the freedom of setting their own hours.

There are many perks to working as a 3Play transcriptionist. Read on to uncover the benefits.

Apply to be a 3Play Transcriptionist

Work from Home as a Transcriptionist

One of the best perks of working as a 3Play transcriptionist is you get to work right from the comfort of your home. Whether you choose to work from your couch, bed, or cozy home office, all you really need is a strong WiFi connection and a computer.

Many of our transcriptionists are stay-at-home parents, caretakers, or entrepreneurs and working at 3Play gives them the flexibility to earn extra cash while focusing on what matters most to them.

Working as a transcriptionist also accommodates a nomadic lifestyle. As one of our contractors Jeremy notes, “I am very thankful that no matter where I go, I always have work as long as there is internet access.”

If you are looking for a work from home side hustle, then 3Play may be the perfect gig for you.

Set Your Own Schedule

Unlike a regular 9-5 job, the 3Play marketplace is open 24/7, which gives you the liberty to decide when you want to work (and for how long).

3Play transcriptionists have full control of their schedule. There are no minimums to meet – instead, you set your own flexible schedule. As Daniel a 3Play transcriber notes, “3Play is perfect because I am able to work when I can, and cut back when I can’t.”

Many of our transcriptionists have irregular schedules, so being able to work weekends or nights fits well with their lifestyles.

Get a Weekly Paycheck

As a 3Play transcriptionist, you receive a paycheck on a weekly basis. Every paycheck will reflect your work for the week, which means you can keep track of your earning goals.

A weekly paycheck also gives you more flexibility in your budgeting. If you work other jobs that pay on a biweekly or monthly basis, you can always count on your transcription paycheck to help meet urgent financial needs.

Or, if you need extra income for impromptu purchases, your weekly paycheck can help contribute. Bridget, a 3Play transcriptionist, notes, “I am really excited that I will have more money for Christmas presents this year.”

Furthermore, we are committed to providing our transcribers with fair wages. Humans are a necessity for creating high quality captioning, so we believe strongly that we should treat those humans ethically and pay them fairly.

Always Be Learning

The 3Play marketplace is full of videos and audio content from a wide range of topics. We serve over 10,000 customers across multiple industries, which means you’ll find videos from prominent universities to big media networks to large enterprises.

Many of our transcriptionists note that one of their favorite parts of the job is the wide variety of topics they get to transcribe. The marketplace is constantly changing, which means you can learn something new every day. Magan notes, “If I had the ability to do anything in the world, it would just be to go to school for the rest of my life and learn new things and never work. This is as close as I can get to that.”

As a 3Play transcriptionist, you get to choose which files you want to work on. You can decide to stay within your area of expertise or branch out to new and unfamiliar territories.

At 3Play, you choose your next adventure.

Help Make the World a Little More Accessible

3Play’s mission is to make web video widely accessible. We believe that accessibility matters and that the impact of accessibility is universal. As a transcriptionist, you are directly contributing to the accessibility of millions of videos for the deaf and hard of hearing communities across the world.

How to Apply to be a 3Play Transcriptionist

If you love the sound of getting to work from home, having a flexible schedule, and contributing to making the internet a more accessible place, then we encourage you to apply to transcribe for 3Play!

You don’t need to have experience transcribing, but you do need to be willing to learn.

Strong candidates will be able to work independently, invest time in learning captioning standards, and refresh their knowledge of English grammar and punctuation.

If you are ready to apply, you can get started with the first step of the application right away. If you have any questions about the job, please contact us.

About the author

3Play Media

The post Perks of Being a 3Play Transcriptionist appeared first on 3Play Media.

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• Captioning

How 3Play Media Utilizes AI Technology for Captioning

3Play Media

•

July 30, 2020

Artificial intelligence (AI technology) makes it possible for machines to learn from experience, adjust to new inputs, and perform human-like tasks.

At 3Play, AI technology plays an integral part in improving the efficiency and accuracy of the captioning process. Our 3-step process combines artificial intelligence and human editing to maximize efficiency and optimize our process.

Regardless of audio difficulty or file size, we guarantee a 99% accuracy rate on all files.

Download the State of Automatic Speech Recognition Report

3Play Media & AI Technology

Since the beginning, 3Play has been utilizing AI technology through the use of Automated Speech Recognition (ASR). ASR is the first step in our patent-pending 3-step captioning process. ASR converts the spoken words in a video or audio into computerized text.

As you upload more content into our account system for captioning, the ASR improves through machine learning. Machine learning is a system that allows machines to learn from outputs from previous experience.

Through AI technology we are able to speed up the editing process to offer faster turnaround options, decrease costs for high-quality captioning, and precisely synchronize timestamps to spoken audio.

3Play Media’s Highly Accurate ASR Solution

In a comprehensive analysis between ASR technologies in the industry, 3Play Media’s engine performed significantly higher than ASR engines like IBM Watson, Rev’s Temi, Google, and Trint.

Despite audio that was filled with low volume, accents, and complicated terminology, 3Play’s engine averaged an accuracy rate of 90.91% for ASR only. In contrast, engines like Watson, Google, and Temi averaged between 80% – 89% accuracy in ASR only.

Utilizing ASR and Humans for Higher Accuracy

When it comes to ASR in captioning, there are limitations to the quality of the output of spoken text due to the long-form nature of the content. Therefore, humans are an essential part of a highly-accurate, efficient, and cost-effective captioning process.

Artificial intelligence can generate a transcript with an accuracy rate between 80%-90%. An accuracy rate of 99% is imperative to the comprehension of the closed captions. ASR often misses speaker ids, punctuation and grammar, non-speech elements, [INAUDIBLE] tags, and many more critical components of accurate captions.

At 3Play Media, we guarantee at least a 99% accuracy rate on all your files. Our process directly impacts the accuracy of your files. After ASR, every file is put through two rounds of human editing and review.

  Read the blog: Artificial Intelligence Is Good, but Is It Good Enough for Captions? 

How is 3Play Different from the Competition?

At 3Play, we are constantly innovating our features and services. Technology has allowed us to remain the best video accessibility service on the market.

1. Best in-class AI technology: Our ASR engine outperforms other engines on the market, even in cases of low quality audio.
2. Customer-specific learning: Our ASR engine learns from the files you upload and continuously improves.
3. Our three step process: Our three-step process was created to ensure maximum efficiency and quality. We use a mix of automatic speech recognition (ASR) and human editing to speed up the process and ensure our editors focus on the quality of the transcript.
4. Word-for-Word Synchronization: To ensure maximum accuracy and completeness, we timecode you files based on each spoken word. No other vendor offers this.
5. Ability to upload wordlists: For our live automatic captioning solution, you can upload wordlist to rapidly improve the quality of the ASR.
6. Consistent Accuracy with Every File: Regardless of how long your file is, or even how many files you upload, we always guarantee a 99% accuracy. With other captioning vendors, accuracy rates tend to crumble the longer the file.

About the author

3Play Media

The post How 3Play Media Utilizes AI Technology for Captioning appeared first on 3Play Media.

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• Captioning

How Captions & Transcripts Increase Engagement with Videos

Elisa Lewis

•

July 16, 2020

There’s no denying the power of online video. The first video to be streamed on the internet was in 1995, and since its inception, online video has quickly become a force to be reckoned with. 

Today, everyone is watching online videos and we can’t get enough. 85% of all internet users in the U.S. watched video content monthly on any of their devices, according to data collected by Statista. 

The popularity of online video doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon either. More than half of consumers want to see video content from a brand or business they support. That means if you’re already creating online video, you’re right where you need to be. But once viewers are watching your content, how do you keep them engaged? With captions and transcripts, of course! 

Captions assume the viewer can’t hear. They are time-synchronized text that represents the audio within a media file and includes relevant sound effects. Transcripts, on the other hand, are a plain text version of the audio and are not time coded. 

To some, captions and transcripts are merely video accessibility tools. But did you know that captions and transcripts have the power to attract and keep viewers on your content for longer? 

Let’s explore how captions and transcripts can improve engagement for your video content. 

 8 Benefits of Video Transcription and Captioning  

The Better the Video SEO…

When content creators focus on optimizing video content for search engines, it increases the likelihood of getting more eyes on their content, ultimately increasing engagement. 

The job of search engines is to create the best user experience possible by helping users find the most pertinent information in a short amount of time. Although search engines use a number of complex algorithms to scour the internet for useful content, they need content creators to help fine-tune the search process. 

Search engines have a preference for video in search results, and online video accounts for half of all traffic on mobile devices alone. That’s because video is a very digestible and engaging way to receive information. Images have a way of saying far more than just text alone. About 59% of senior executives prefer to watch videos when given the option between video or text. 

Although video is a preferred medium among internet surfers, search engines can’t watch or listen to truly understand the value of it. However, they understand text.  

That’s where you come in. As content creators, you need to include relevant metadata with your video so that search engine bots can efficiently crawl the text and index your content on search engine result pages. The video metadata to include are titles, tags, descriptions, and even captions and transcripts. 

When you include captions and transcripts with your videos, search engines can crawl the text to find relevant keywords that match their users’ search queries. This is called Video SEO, or Search Engine Optimization.  

Captioned videos receive far more views than non-captioned videos. A study by Facebook uncovered that captions increase video views by 12% compared to videos without captions. 

Captioning or transcribing your videos isn’t only helpful for search engines, but it’s also helpful for viewers looking to find captivating content like yours. The better optimized your content is, the more people will see and engage with your video.

Additionally, it’s imperative to keep in mind that you shouldn’t only be optimizing your content for robots; it’s equally as important to optimize for humans, too. Viewers want to watch and engage with valuable and authentic video content. 

Keeping Viewers Hooked

It’s common knowledge that humans have short attention spans. In the age of digital distraction, we tend to juggle multiple tasks all at once. Typically, we split our attention across several devices, and it seems like we can never really focus on one thing at a time. Multiple stimuli compete to not only grab our attention but to keep it. 

The challenge many content creators face is attracting viewers to their content and keeping them engaged once they’re there. With more and more content published daily to the internet, engaging viewers can seem like a daunting and unattainable task. 

Luckily, there are ways to make technology work for you instead of against you. Despite all of the digital noise, there are two things that can keep your viewers’ attention: captions and transcripts. 

Captions have been proven to aid in focus and memory. A study by the University of Iowa found that people recalled information better after seeing and hearing it. When viewers can follow the captions and the audio, more pathways in the brain are stimulated, making it easier to process information. 

Captions also help with reading comprehension, spelling, and pronunciation for different learning styles. Whether there’s difficult language, poor audio quality, or complicated information, captions and transcripts help with clarification.  

In addition to an increase in focus and comprehension for viewers, studies show that captions and transcripts lead to more positive brand associations. According to the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, captions improve brand recall, verbal memory, and behavioral intent.  

The proof is in the pudding. If you want to increase engagement, research shows that adding captions and transcripts to your videos will help do the job. 

Discover The Benefits of Captions & Transcripts

Better Bend Than Break 

Captions and transcripts allow for flexibility in sound-sensitive environments where access to sound or headphones may not be available.  

Thanks to our personal devices, like smartphones and tablets, we have mini-computers in the palm of our hands – which make watching videos anywhere a breeze. However, sometimes the places we choose to view our favorite videos aren’t the ideal viewing environments. For example, many people watch videos on public transportation on their commute or at the office. 

Whether we’re in a noisy or quiet environment, captions and transcripts allow viewers to watch without relying on sound. 

A study by Verizon Media and Publicis Media found that more people are watching online videos without sound. The study revealed that 95% of consumers are watching video on mobile and 83% are watching on desktops with the sound off. 

50% of people agreed that captions are essential for watching videos without audio, and 80% of people also said that they’re more likely to watch an entire video with captions. 

There’s a rising trend in various viewing preferences, and the need for captioned and transcribed videos is one that is here to stay. 

In order to ensure that viewers can watch your content no matter the environment, your videos must be captioned and transcribed. Not only does it add convenience and flexibility for viewers, but it eventually leads to more engagement. 

Accessibility for One, Accessibility for All 

Finally, captions and transcripts open your content to wider audiences, including viewers with disabilities and viewers with unique viewing preferences. 

There are around 466 million people worldwide with some form of hearing loss. When videos are made accessible to the millions of people who identify as d/Deaf or hard of hearing with captions and transcripts, it gives this community the opportunity to engage with video content.  

Like most of us, deaf and hard of hearing viewers want to watch the latest, trending videos, however, when they’re inaccessible, they’re left feeling excluded and unable to engage. 

Beyond accessibility, many people who use captions aren’t deaf or hard of hearing. A study by Ofcom found that 80% of people who use captions don’t have hearing loss. Captions and transcripts are indeed beneficial accommodations, but the use of them goes beyond just people with disabilities. There are many viewers who enjoy captions including non-native speakers, multitaskers, and even Gen Zers. 

When you caption and transcribe your video content, it expands your reach to diverse audiences. This leads to an increase in the chances of more people engaging with your videos!

See for yourself how captioning and transcription can take your video content to the next level

About the author

Elisa Lewis

Elisa Lewis is a Senior Marketing Manager at 3Play Media, where she leads content and brand strategy. She is passionate about accessibility, storytelling, and building connections through communication.

The post How Captions & Transcripts Increase Engagement with Videos appeared first on 3Play Media.