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• Audio Description

Does Your Video Need Extended or Standard Description?

Aj Beltis

•

March 19, 2025

If you’re trying to make your videos more accessible, you’re probably looking into perfecting their audio descriptions. 

However, creating audio descriptions is no easy feat. Audio describers often have to make difficult choices and judgment calls. They must decide what to describe, when to describe, and how to describe visual content to ensure a video is accessible. This task is especially difficult when you have a lot of content to describe, but only a second or two to voice that description. 

These considerations frequently create a dilemma for audio describers – how can I provide accurate and high-quality descriptions in an appropriate amount of time? 

Here’s where extended audio description comes in – and it’s a useful option for those who both create and consume video content with audio descriptions. 

But before we get to that, let’s dive into the necessity that is audio description.

Download the FREE Beginner’s Guide to Audio Description

What is Audio Description?

Audio description is the translation of visual images to audible language for the primary benefit of people who are blind or have low vision. It describes what’s being portrayed on-screen so people who have trouble seeing a screen can understand what actions are occurring, what facial expressions are being shown, and what the background scenery looks like – among other key visuals. 

Audio description’s main purpose is to make content accessible to a wider audience. In our Allied episode about the what, how, and why of audio description, Dr. Joel Snyder explains the considerations that go into writing successful descriptions:

“We have to limit what we describe out of necessity, and because it’s better description if we really try to understand we’re in service to the people listening and to the people who have created the art form we’re working with. So if we’re really listening, we’re really observing, we tell what’s most critical to an understanding of the image.

Sometimes a visual element that’s not even very prominent is important because it shows up later in the film, or a particular act or action is foreshadowed that way. We want to know what’s going on in the artist’s head and pick up on that.”

When Is Audio Description Necessary in a Video?

As a general guideline, audio description should be used when there is information portrayed through visual means that is required for understanding. 

For instance: on-screen text, changes in speaker, facial expressions, costumes, and scene changes all give context that helps us better understand and enjoy content. If these elements are not audio-described, a viewer who cannot see the screen will have trouble comprehending the content. 

While this guideline may sound simple, the specific needs for description vary case by case. For example, a movie trailer with little dialogue will have plenty of room for descriptions, while an advanced physics lecture with heavy dialogue may not have enough natural pauses to effectively describe what’s happening on-screen. 

Luckily, there are options when it comes to what type of audio description is best for your content. This is where standard vs. extended audio description comes into play.

Standard Audio Description

Standard audio description allows snippets of narration to be interspersed within the natural pauses in dialogue of the original content. This type of audio description works very well for videos that have lengthy pauses in dialogue, and a limited amount of visual detail that needs to be described or do not contain any speech. Standard audio description may be the only option for videos that absolutely cannot have their duration changed, including most broadcast content. 

When done well, audio descriptions enhance the original piece rather than distract from it. With standard audio description, the describer can add concise descriptions of the visual content where space allows, like the example below. You’ll notice that the original video source plays continuously, and information is described in the pauses throughout.  One thing to keep in mind for standard audio description is that the requirement to only add descriptions where there are spaces in the audible speech may lead to surprising results regarding which details are described, how concise the descriptions are, and exactly when in the video timeline they appear. For example, it is better to describe the most important details a little earlier or later than to skip those details entirely.

Extended Audio Description

Videos that lack natural pauses or contain an excess of important visual information can be tricky to describe without interrupting the original audio or exceeding the duration of the frame being described. In these cases, extended audio description is necessary. 

Unlike standard audio description, extended audio description is not constrained to the natural pauses of a video, but rather allows you to pause the original source content to make room for description as needed.

Some situations where extended audio description might be required include:

• Text-heavy videos, like recordings of slideshows or lectures.
• Dialogue-heavy videos, as audio description shouldn’t drown out what people are saying. 
• Noisy videos containing important music or sound, as audio description could detract from these elements. 
• Videos with short cuts and/or extremely detailed frames. Otherwise, by the time an audio description for that shot is complete, the video may already be on the next cut. 
• Videos adhering to WCAG 2.2 Level AAA, which requires extended audio description – when necessary – for accessibility compliance. 

The video below features extended description. When you press play, the video and description begin playing. Then, the source video pauses temporarily while the description continues. After that portion of the description is complete, the video resumes playing again. This happens several times throughout the video. 

Take a look!

If your video doesn’t have enough space to fit a standard audio description, extended is the way to go. 

3Play’s Process

Learn About 3Play Media’s Audio Description Services 

At 3Play Media, we offer white glove support at every step of the process to ensure all of your media accessibility needs are met – especially with our audio description services. These services come with plenty of flexibility in involvement from humans and AI to provide the ideal AD for your videos. 

When placing an order for audio description, you will first choose the speaker type if your account settings allow for it. You’ll be able to choose between AI-generated synthesized speech or a voice artist. 

Next, you’ll have the option to select standard or extended audio description. You’ll also notice a “choose for me” option. 

Your writing can be done either by human describers or entirely by AI – the same as with your voicework. The option for AI lets you balance the cost and timeline of your project while ensuring a quality recording every time.  

3Play’s recommendation is an automated process that evaluates the audio track of your video for natural pauses in speech. This process doesn’t take into consideration any visual aspects of your video; it’s merely a gauge of how much space is available in your audio track for description. 

If minimal audio is detected throughout the video, your file will process at the standard level. If a high volume of audio is detected, your file will be processed with extended audio description. If you’re ordering audio description from a file that has already been transcribed, the recommended audio description level will be visible directly on the file. However, if you’re ordering audio description at the same time that you order transcription, you won’t see the recommended level before the file is complete.

Regardless of the service level your video requires, adding audio description to your videos makes your content more accessible and provides many additional benefits for your audience

Learn More About Audio Description

About the author

Aj Beltis

The post Does Your Video Need Extended or Standard Description? appeared first on 3Play Media.

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• Captioning

Key Tips for Boosting Transcription Quality

3Play Media

•

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

Studies Find Captions Can Improve Focus on Video Content

3Play Media

•

May 14, 2024

Captions are well-known as an accommodation for the d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing, but the benefits go beyond accessibility – several studies have proven that captions can improve focus, engagement, and comprehension of online video content. 

Research findings from media agencies and universities alike indicate that captions help viewers to stay focused and better absorb information. Plus, captioned videos support brand awareness and recall. 

Let’s dig into the top takeaways from five industry studies to learn just how captions can create a better user experience for everyone.

Read more industry studies on the power of captions

Captions proven to improve focus in classrooms

Not only do captions affect the way an audience watches video, but it also affects the way they interact with video. In classroom settings, researchers have discovered captions have a positive impact on student engagement with video-based course materials.

The accessibility committee at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg (USFSP) conducted a report on student usage and attitudes toward captions and interactive transcripts in online courses. The results demonstrate the power of captions and their capacity to improve student performance.

Here are the highlights: 

• 42% of students use closed captions to improve focus on course material.
• 38% of students use interactive transcripts to boost information retention.
• Test scores increased by 3% for students who used closed captions.
• Test scores increased by 8% for students who used interactive transcripts.

Additionally, 29% of students reported using caption/transcript materials as a study guide. In this way, captions/transcripts can be used by students and instructors alike to efficiently create derivative materials for test prep, course review, and more.

Read the full report from USFSP

Students simply prefer to use captions

To learn more about how and why students use closed captions and transcripts, 3Play teamed up to perform a study with the Oregon State University eCampus.

This study provides insight on the use of closed captions for on-campus classes across the country. Fifteen colleges and universities participated in this study and received a total of 2,124 students responded to the survey. Demographically, there was a relatively even mixture of freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, and graduate students.

Findings revealed that because captions improve engagement for everyone, students with and without disabilities were using captions for a variety of reasons – the most common being the potential to improve focus. 

The study’s top takeaways include:

• 71% of students who use captions do not have hearing difficulties. 
• 75% of students indicated that they use captions as a learning aid.
• 52% said that captions specifically helped them with comprehension.
• 20% said that captions keep them more engaged with the material.

Read the full report from OSU eCampus

Social media views boosted by captions

Facebook conducted an internal user behavior study which uncovered that captions have the potential to boost video view time by 12% on average.

A&W Canada, a client in the study, reported a 25% increase in watch time on captioned videos. This kind of growth is no small feat, especially considering the endless supply of video content available on social media.

Another key finding revealed that 80% of Facebook users react negatively to video ads auto-playing with the sound on – but 41% of videos are incomprehensible without sound. Captions are one great way to deliver on the user experience your audience is looking for.

Discovery Digital Networks reaps the benefits

Discovery Digital Networks (DDN) includes closed captions on a segment of their YouTube videos, and wanted to quantify their return on investment before rolling out captions across their entire video catalog. Using 3Play services, DDN conducted a controlled study on the impact of adding captions to YouTube videos.

Here’s what they found:

• Views on captioned videos saw an overall increase of 7.32%.
• View count was most dramatically impacted within the first 14 days of adding captions, where DDN saw a 13.48% increase.

These findings were substantial, and proved to Discovery Digital Networks that captions have the power to improve engagement as well as view count.

Read the full Discovery Digital Networks study

Brands use captions to improve video-based KPIs

Verizon and Publicis Media conducted a study on the relationship between videos, sound, and captions. This study highlights user preferences and behavior and supports the theory that captions play a significant role in the video-viewing experience.

Turns out, the majority of consumers prefer to watch video with the sound off – in fact, 92% of mobile users and 83% of desktop users report viewing video this way. This viewing behavior causes rightful concern among brand marketers that their audience is missing out on the content they’ve worked hard to provide. 

That’s where captions come in. When captions are included, viewers can still watch, comprehend, and engage with your video content regardless of whether audio is playing. 

• Video ads with closed captions increase ad memorability. 
• Captions improve brand recall within the first 6 seconds of viewing. 

In this way, brands can use captions to deliver the soundless and unobtrusive experience their audience wants while simultaneously supporting their own video-based success metrics and KPIs.

The facts don’t lie – the benefits of captioning go beyond accessibility. Captions improve focus in classroom settings, encourage viewers to stay engaged, and boost overall video performance.

About the author

3Play Media

The post Studies Find Captions Can Improve Focus on Video Content appeared first on 3Play Media.

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• Audio Description

How to Make Your Captions and Audio Descriptions WCAG-Compliant

3Play Media

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July 27, 2023

A Practical Guide to WCAG Video Accessibility Requirements [Free eBook] 

With digital accessibility lawsuits on the rise, compliance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 is crucial for any organization with a web presence.

While there are many aspects to WCAG, captions and audio descriptions are among the easiest accessibility requirements to implement for a WCAG-compliant, inclusive, and user-friendly video experience.

But what exactly constitutes a WCAG-compliant video?

In this blog, we’ll provide an overview of the current WCAG standards for captions and audio descriptions, what makes them WCAG-compliant, the major lawsuits and settlements referencing these standards, and the direction WCAG compliance could take going forward.

The Standard: WCAG 2.0 Level AA

If you hear the term “WCAG compliant,” there’s a good chance it’s referring to WCAG 2.0 Level AA. That’s because, for years, WCAG 2.0 Level AA has been considered the primary standard for web accessibility. 

WCAG 2.0 Level AA is also the most commonly referenced standard in accessibility laws and policies around the globe and in the U.S. — including Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.

To achieve WCAG 2.0 Level AA conformance, Level A standards must also be met. Below are captioning and audio description requirements for Levels A, AA, and AAA:

• Level A: (1.2.2) Captions are provided for all prerecorded audio content in synchronized media, except when the media is a media alternative for text and is clearly labeled as such. (1.2.3) An alternative for time-based media or audio description of the prerecorded video content is provided for synchronized media, except when the media is a media alternative for text and is clearly labeled as such.
• Level AA: In addition to Level A compliance: (1.2.4) Captions are provided for all live audio content in synchronized media. (1.2.5) Audio description is provided for all prerecorded video content in synchronized media.
• Level AAA: In addition to Level A and AA compliance: (1.2.6) Sign language interpretation is provided for all prerecorded audio content in synchronized media. (1.2.7) Where pauses in foreground audio are insufficient to allow audio descriptions to convey the sense of the video, extended audio description is provided for all prerecorded video content in synchronized media.

If you are trying to meet WCAG 2.0 Level AA standards, captions must be provided for both recorded and live video or audio content. To meet Level AA audio description requirements, audio descriptions must be “provided for all prerecorded video content in synchronized media.”

Want to go above and beyond standard WCAG 2.0 compliance? In addition to all of the A and AA requirements, sign language interpretation is needed for all recorded video or audio content. Extended audio descriptions are also required for videos with insufficient space for standard audio descriptions. That being said, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) notes: “It is not recommended that Level AAA conformance be required as a general policy for entire sites because it is not possible to satisfy all Level AAA Success Criteria for some content.”

What makes captions or descriptions WCAG-compliant?

W3C, the group that authored WCAG, does not have exact compliance metrics for measuring the quality of captions and descriptions. This can make it tricky to know exactly what being WCAG-compliant means when it comes to video accessibility.

For example, an organization may be searching for particular metrics that dictate captions must be X percent accurate, or that descriptions must be X long or contain X amount of detail. But these metrics do not exist for WCAG at this time. 

Instead, WCAG takes a broader approach to accessibility by requiring all web content to obey each of the POUR principles:

• Perceivable: Information and user interface components must be presentable to users in ways they can perceive.
• Operable: User interface components and navigation must be operable.
• Understandable: Information and the operation of user interface must be understandable.
• Robust: Content must be robust enough that it can be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies.

WCAG was designed around these four principles of accessibility to ensure that web content can be used by anyone.

How to achieve WCAG-compliant captions and audio descriptions

Fortunately, organizations have a global pool of resources and quality standards to pull from to ensure high-quality, WCAG-compliant captioning and audio description services.

General industry and compliance standards have been developed over time by accessibility experts and industry leaders, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) quality standards, the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA), and the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). 

Captioning

3Play Media follows captioning best practices using information from the Described and Captioned Media Program’s (DCMP) Captioning Key, the FCC’s captioning quality standards for video programming, the expertise of tenured live and recorded captioners, and more.

Audio Description

3Play Media follows audio description best practices that draw from the DCMP Description Key, the American Council for the Blind’s (ACB) Audio Description Project (ADP), and the expertise of our tenured describers and voice actors.

Do your web videos comply with WCAG 2.1?

Legal Settlements Referencing WCAG

WCAG has been increasingly referenced in ADA-based lawsuits and settlements over the past decade. While it is not directly part of ADA legislation yet, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) often points to WCAG guidelines as an example of what standards organizations need to meet for optimal captioning and audio description compliance. 

The Biden-Harris administration has additionally signaled their alignment with WCAG guidelines, specifically calling out WCAG 2.1 Level AA compliance in the White House’s web accessibility statement.

edX

In 2015, edX, the online learning platform co-owned by Harvard and MIT, settled a complaint from the DOJ about accessibility issues on the edX website including failure to provide accurate and comprehensive captioning across video content in the platform’s courses.

edX agreed to make their website fully accessible, develop a web accessibility policy, and urge course providers to make web content accessible before publishing to edX. In this case, WCAG 2.0 Level AA was referenced as the standard for web accessibility practices including captioning.

Netflix

Netflix was sued by the ACB for not providing audio description on their streaming movies and shows. Netflix settled with ACB in 2016. This settlement agreement also adopted the WCAG 2.0 Level AA as the accessibility standard for audio description which Netflix would need to meet in remediating their video content. In the years since, Netflix has become one of the most dominant providers of streaming audio description on the web.

UC Berkeley

In December 2022, UC Berkeley and the DOJ entered into an agreement after an eight-year investigation into the accessibility of UC Berkeley’s online content. The Consent Decree requires UC Berkeley to make all online content accessible. 

While the initial investigation mainly applied to the university’s MOOC, UC BerkeleyX, the Consent Decree broadened the scope of affected online content to additionally include all publicly accessible websites on berkeley.edu and subdomains, as well as content published by UC Berkeley on third-party platforms like YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts. The settlement requires UC Berkeley to work towards making all digital media content conform to WCAG 2.0 Level AA standards.

The Future of WCAG Compliance

Further web and streaming-focused accessibility guidelines are expected in the near future, with the DOJ recently announcing its intent to strengthen web and mobile accessibility under Title II of the ADA:

Details of the proposed rule were made available on August 3, 2023. Read the full Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) or review the ADA’s Fact Sheet on the NPRM.

Based on past lawsuits and aforementioned settlements, most experts anticipated that U.S. guidelines would draw from WCAG 2.0 or 2.1 Level AA standards, and the NPRM does in fact reference WCAG 2.1 Level AA as the technical standard state and local governments would need to follow. 

It is important to remember that this proposed rule is just that… for now. The DOJ is soliciting feedback about the proposal through October 3, 2023, and encourages folks to submit their thoughts via regulations.gov or directly mailing comments to the DOJ.

This blog was originally published Patrick Loftus on April 24, 2018, as “How to Produce WCAG-Compliant Video Captions and Audio Descriptions” and has since been updated for comprehensiveness, clarity, and accuracy.

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.

About the author

3Play Media

The post How to Make Your Captions and Audio Descriptions WCAG-Compliant appeared first on 3Play Media.

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• Accessibility

Web Captions Differ from 608 and 708 Broadcast Captions: Here’s Why

3Play Media

•

December 28, 2022

The Complete Guide to Caption Encoders [Free eBook]

The continued focus on streaming video and online media platforms has big implications for media accessibility services like closed captions and subtitles when it comes to how they work with web platforms. Nielsen reported in August 2022 that video streaming surpassed both traditional broadcast and cable television viewing consumption in July 2022. This is a new milestone for video delivered via IP. And because all broadcast television closed captions should meet CEA-608 or CTA-708 standards, where does that leave web-based platforms and videos? 

Many standalone web videos align with FCC regulations and utilize traditional 608 and 708 formatting standards. However, the revolution and continuous development of web closed captioning for various conferencing platforms or social media applications has resulted in formats that provide accessibility services for all viewers, but are supported by different caption application delivery methods. This has allowed for greater versatility, but has also created some inconsistencies between platforms and web captions. Let’s take a closer look at why.

What is a web-based video platform?

Web-based video platforms and players are technologies that enable users and organizations to host and publish videos directly on the web. They deliver content through the internet, which affects how closed captions must be added to video content. Captioning and accessibility standards for web video content varies, but a few major guidelines and recommendations include:

• Federal Communication Commission (FCC) requirements for the captioning of online video
• 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA)
• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0

Streaming services and OTT platforms often straddle the line between web platforms and broadcast television captioning. These kind of platforms may utilize a bit of both elements of web and traditional broadcast, though much is turning over to content delivery via IP, even when displayed on a television.

What are 608 and 708 broadcast captioning standards?

CEA-608 and CTA-708 are the primary broadcast television standards for the encryption and decryption of closed captioning data based on FCC guidelines. 608 closed captions are the standard for analog television transmissions; 708 closed captions are the standard for digital television transmissions. Despite being developed for analog television, 608 captions are still widely used alongside 708 captions due to their compatibility with digital televisions.

Web caption delivery

A major difference between captions going to web-based platforms and captions going to broadcast television is the delivery method. Broadcast television will always be transmitting captions via Line 21 or MPEG user data, depending on whether it follows 608 or 708 standards. Web-based platforms don’t necessarily follow the same data transmission methods as traditional broadcast television has.

Some web-based platforms may require encoder transmission (which does pair videos to 608/708-compliant Line 21 captioning data). Other web-based platforms may need an encoding alternative that does not utilize Line 21 data delivery methods. Some may simply utilize sidecar caption files instead of any kind of encoding workflow. 

Virtual Encoders

Virtual encoders function similarly to physical encoders, but don’t require a physical box and connection. These encoders are instead hosted via cloud, requiring clients to connect their stream digitally. Virtual encoders add captioning data and reroute the video stream to a desired platform like YouTube, Facebook, or Vimeo.

Encoding Alternatives

As broadcast streaming has evolved and technology has developed, there is less reason to use physical encoding equipment for digital streaming. Captions can sometimes be included as a separate entity on applications that have built caption functionality directly into their players, such as Zoom and YouTube.

Sidecar Caption Files

Sidecar caption files, such as an SRT or WEBVTT, are a commonly used timed text captioning file format. In television broadcasts, a sidecar file is usually embedded into the signal and allows for viewers to toggle captions on or off. In web videos, sidecar files are uploaded alongside a video. Sidecar files can often be manually edited in a text editor and may support caption styling elements such as placement and italics, but the display of these elements is dependent upon whether or not the player can decode them.

Integrations

Not all web platforms support integrations with captioning vendors, but a growing number of them do! At 3Play Media, we work with 30+ leading web platforms, players, and lecture capture systems to simplify captioning workflows for their users.

Integrations allow for push-button simplicity, letting you automate a captioning workflow without the hassle of additional logins and uploads. Integrations and customizable APIs help save time and assist in centralizing the captioning process for web videos.

How to tell if you need a caption encoder

How web captions have impacted media accessibility

The popular use of captions and subtitles have inspired hilarious internet memes. Source: r/memes on Reddit.

There is no question that the explosion of web videos over the past decade have driven innovation and visibility for media accessibility services like closed captions. Specifically, the impact on captions has made for an interesting trajectory that continues to evolve alongside technology.

Awareness

Web platforms and video players have helped in raising the awareness of the need for captions and subtitles. They’ve also increased their popularity to the point that as many as 80% of viewers with captions or subtitles turned on are using them for reasons other than hearing loss. Captions are more popular than ever, and much of it is thanks to the widespread availability of the service on web platforms, players, social media, and streaming video.

Versatility

Captions are no longer restricted to a one-size-fits-all broadcast television format; they are much more fluid and flexible when it comes to delivery to platforms, be it virtual encoding, built-in functionality, or sidecar files along for the ride with the viewer. This has created a space for innovative, versatile video captioning solutions and allowed technology to flourish as we begin to navigate beyond the pandemic.

Inconsistency

While web platforms have done a great job of making captions more easily available to viewers across the globe, the boom in the digital development of such platforms and players has come at the cost of consistency. Web captions are not the same everywhere you view them; their display, style, capabilities, and even technical specs tend to be a little different across players/platforms due to varying degrees of limitations and developments between them.

What to consider when ordering captions for web platforms

You may not technically be meeting 608 or 708 broadcast television standards when you add captions via a web-based platform due to the differences in caption application delivery methods; don’t panic–this is fine! Television broadcasts have differing requirements from web video content; and as the line continues to blur between the two–and will probably continue to do so–you may still be looking to meet the same standards. If this is the case, make sure that your captioning vendor creates captions that align with the formatting, stylistic, and accuracy requirements as set forth by the FCC, and discuss your options with experienced accessibility professionals.

Keep in mind that even if the captions are created to these standards, there are still limitations on certain platforms when it comes to aspects such as caption placement and italics. Some sidecar files can support them, but it’s dependent on whether the platform itself can support the additional formatting codes in the sidecar files. This means that even if a captioner styles a sidecar file to match television formatting, it’s up to the player or platform to correctly display them. Some web players are simply not at the point of being able to do this yet.

Concerned about compliance issues? FCC regulations and 608/708 closed captioning generally applies to programming that is broadcast on television (or was previously broadcast on television if displayed via the web.) Learn more about whether your content falls under these parameters.

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.

About the author

3Play Media

The post Web Captions Differ from 608 and 708 Broadcast Captions: Here’s Why appeared first on 3Play Media.

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• Captioning

How to Make Captions and Subtitles Bigger on YouTube

3Play Media

•

July 12, 2022

Automate Your YouTube Captioning [Learn About the Integration]

This multi-part blog series will highlight three valuable accessibility features for YouTube captions and subtitles. In our first blog of the series, we’ll discuss how to make captions and subtitles bigger on YouTube.

How to Make Captions and Subtitles Bigger on YouTube

Did you know you can customize how captions and subtitles appear on YouTube? The ability to adjust caption size is essential to video accessibility, as not everyone prefers reading the same size text.

Making captions bigger or smaller on YouTube is easy. At the bottom right of your video player, click Settings, Subtitles/CC, and then Options. From here, you can customize:

• Font, color, opacity, and size
• Background color and opacity
• Window color and opacity
• Character edge style

Additionally, you can use keyboard shortcuts to adjust caption size. Keyboard shortcuts give access to people who can’t rely on a mouse, including people who are blind or have low vision and people with motor disabilities.

Using your C key, you can turn captions on or off.  To increase the size of the captions, use the + (plus) key. To decrease the size of the captions, use the – (minus) key.

Please note that these tools will only work when a video owner has made captions available through YouTube’s auto-captions or their own caption files.

About the author

3Play Media

The post How to Make Captions and Subtitles Bigger on YouTube appeared first on 3Play Media.

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• Accessibility

TikTok Accessibility: How to Add Captions and Other Best Practices

3Play Media

•

October 21, 2021

With over two billion lifetime downloads and 50 million daily active users in the U.S. alone, TikTok is one of the most popular apps of our time, particularly among Gen Z. However, the platform’s accessibility features leave something to be desired. While TikTok is actively working to improve accessibility (like the recent addition of auto-captions), the current features available to users offer a great starting point as something anyone can do with just a little added effort.

Creating accessible content can help you reach a new audience and provide a more interactive & engaging experience for viewers. With that being said, let’s go over some of the app’s top accessibility features – including how to add captions to your TikToks, inserting audio descriptions, and best practices for formatting and design.

What is TikTok?

TikTok describes itself as “the leading destination for short-form mobile videos.” The social media network offers a place where users can create, edit, and share short-form video content that is between 15 seconds to 3 minutes in length. Content with the app ranges substantially, and users often create lip-sync, dance, comedy, and talent videos.

TikTok’s mission is to “inspire creativity and bring joy,” but it has also proven to be a useful tool for building brand awareness. Brands like Chipotle, The Washington Post, and the NBA utilize TikTok to engage with their audience and to showcase their brand’s personality. In addition to posting, the app includes advertising and hyperlinking capabilities to help generate website traffic and potential leads.

TikTok accessibility

As far as accessibility is concerned, TikTok has a ways to go to reduce barriers for people with disabilities. According to one article, in fact, TikTok doesn’t even follow many basic rules or best practices of app design – notably, the platform’s navigation, information hierarchy, layout, and overall design are not conducive for an accessible user experience. Additionally, unfamiliar patterns & pathways within the app pose as a significant barrier to many users.

The lack of accessibility and usability is particularly stark when compared to interfaces from Google, Apple, and Microsoft – which strictly follow the recommended practices laid out by the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.

Your Quick Guide to TikTok Accessibility

In the meantime as TikTok continues to make improvements, users can advocate for accessibility on their own terms by following basic web accessibility standards with the features currently available. By making content accessible to users with disabilities, the overall viewing experience is improved for any user (like the below example, where TikTok user @_sorry_dad_ explains how they manually added captions).

How to add captions to your TikTok

Closed captions are time-synchronized text that visually depicts the audio content, and make videos accessible to people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Captions also have the potential to improve user engagement, video viewing time, and viewing flexibility.

In 2021, TikTok rolled out its auto-captioning feature in select countries. This feature automatically transcribes speech from a video to generate closed captions, and initially will only support American English and Japanese. While this brings an unprecedented level of accessibility to the platform, the accuracy rates of automatically generated captions are notoriously low and manual user editing is still often needed. Below, we’ll go over how to use TikTok’s auto captioning feature (and workarounds to use in the case that auto captions aren’t available).

Adding automatic captions:

1. Record a video in-app or upload a saved file from your device
2. Once your video is recorded or uploaded, proceed to the editing page
3. Click on the “Captions” button to the right of the screen
4. TikTok will automatically analyze speech & create captions
5. To edit auto-captions, click the pencil icon to the right of the screen
6. Once you’re done, press play to watch a preview & double check your work
7. Ready to post? Touch Done in the upper right corner of the screen

Adding DIY captions with the internal text tool:

1. Record a video in-app or upload a saved file from your device
2. Once your video is recorded or uploaded, check the box in the lower right corner
3. Click on the “Text” button at the bottom of the screen
4. Drag text to position it on the screen (preferably towards the top, to avoid confusion with the video’s description)
5. To determine when the text will appear (timestamps), select the text box and click on the clock icon in the upper right corner
6. Press the play button to see a preview and double check your work
7. Touch Done in the upper right corner of the screen

Adding captions with an external tool or service:

This option is typically the most viable for those who create TikTok content on a regular basis, and entails employing a dedicated captioning service or app.

To begin, record videos directly to your device or record the video in TikTok and download the video to your phone. Then, upload your videos to a captioning service provider (which may require the video be sent to a computer first) or a captioning application on your phone.

• If using a captioning vendor, you will be provided with a caption file that you must add to your videos using a video editing software. Once you’ve done that, your captioned videos can be uploaded to TikTok.
• If using a captioning application, you can download the captioned video back onto your phone & upload it directly to TikTok. Clipomatic and MixCaptions are two examples of mobile captioning apps that are easy to download and use.

Accessible format and design

One of the easiest aspects of social media accessibility that can be applied on TikTok is thought formatting and design. Creators often utilize text in their videos to emphasize points within their content or, as mentioned above, to create captions.

When choosing to use text in your TikTok videos, it’s essential to ensure there is appropriate color contrast, font size, font style, and text placement. In order for text to be visible to those who have low vision or color deficiencies (like color blindness), there must be sufficient contrast between the text and background colors. Using a light-colored font on a black background is typically the most accessible option, but deeper colors like blue can be incorporated (such as in the examples below, which are screenshots from TikTok user @elianaghen).

As for font size and style, users should pay close attention to the sizing of the text and the style. If the font is too small, it will be especially difficult, if not impossible, for people with low vision to read the text. Choosing a sans serif font style, such as the classic or typewriter font, can improve readability.

Once you are ready to place the text on your video, be sure to position it at the top of the screen. The video’s description will cover text frames placed at the bottom of the screen, and overlapping text is not easily readable.

Include video descriptions

TikTok is a visual app – 100% of the app’s content is videos. This can create a barrier for many people who are blind or have low vision, as they may have challenges seeing the content.

Audio description is an accessible video feature that narrates important visual information within video content and aids users with visual disabilities in watching videos. With some planning, users can incorporate audio description with their TikTok videos.

If the video requires a short and sweet visual description, it can live right in the video description box or even in the comments section. If the description is long, users may record audio description within the app to describe what is happening in the video.

Want to learn more about social media accessibility?

This post has been updated for accuracy, clarity, and freshness.

About the author

3Play Media

The post TikTok Accessibility: How to Add Captions and Other Best Practices appeared first on 3Play Media.

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• Captioning

6 YouTube Captioning and Subtitling Hacks You Need to Try

Elisa Lewis

•

September 30, 2021

Automate Your YouTube Captioning [Learn About the Integration]

If you really want to up your YouTube game, you should consider adding captions.

Over 500 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. That’s a lot of content, which, unfortunately, isn’t always captioned.

When it comes to YouTube, captions are a powerful tool. Captions can help engage your audience, boost SEO, reach wider audiences, and increase views. Discovery Digital Networks saw a 7.3% increase in views on YouTube when they added captions to their videos.

A research study from the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science even found that captions improve brand recall, verbal memory, and behavioral intent.

Most importantly, captions make your videos accessible to people who are d/Deaf and hard of hearing.

With YouTube, you can easily add captions to your videos, and there are plenty of hacks for captioning that can help take your videos to a whole new level. Let’s dive in!

YouTube Hack #1: Auto Translate Captions

Using Google Translate, YouTube will automatically translate your caption file into other languages.

To use this feature, your video will need to have an original caption file. There are many ways to create captions. You can DIY them, use YouTube’s automatic captioning feature, or submit your file to a captioning company.

Once you have your caption file uploaded to your video, you are ready to translate!

Here’s how to do it:

1. Head over to your YouTube Studio
2. From the menu on the left, click the Subtitles tab
3. Select the video you want to translate

4. If you haven’t selected the language for the video you intend to translate, you’ll be asked to choose and the language and confirm

5. Select Add Language and choose the language you’d like to translate to

6. Under “Title & description”, click Add

7. Enter the translated title and description, and select Publish!

YouTube Captioning Hack #2: Reposition captions on a video

Is the caption placement obstructing an important visual element in the YouTube video you are watching? If so, YouTube has a workaround for that.

Using your mouse, you can drag captions and place them all around the video screen.

You can do this with any video that has captions available, not just the ones that you own.

YouTube Captioning Hack #3: Use keyboard shortcuts for adjusting captions

Keyboard usability is so important.

These shortcuts give access to people who can’t rely on a mouse, including people who are blind or low vision, and people with motor disabilities.

Unfortunately, many video players fail on keyboard accessibility.

But while YouTube still has some kinks to work out, they do have some easy keyboard shortcuts for captioning.

Using your C key, you can turn captions on or off.

To increase the size of the captions, use the + (plus) key. To decrease the size of the captions, use the – (minus) key.

 Learn about 3Play’s YouTube integration  

YouTube Captioning Hack #4: Use live stenographers for YouTube Live Stream

YouTube has been slowly rolling out automatic English captions for live streams with accounts that have over 1,000 subcribers.

But since automatic captioning is far from perfect, YouTube allows you to have live stenographers.

Here’s how you can deploy this feature:

1. Under your YouTube Creator Studio, select Live Streaming, then Events.

2. Select New live event.

3. Fill out the appropriate details for your event. Under Type select Custom.

4. Next, head over to Advanced Settings and scroll to the bottom. Under Added delay, add a 30s or 60s delay to your broadcast.

5. Under Stream optimizations, make sure to select Normal latency.

6. Then click Create event.

7. Once you’ve selected your ‘stream key,’ a Closed Captions menu will appear. Select POST captions to URL.

8. A link will appear that you can share with your live captioners when you go live!

YouTube Captioning Hack #5: View videos with a transcript

YouTube also allows you to view videos with a transcript. The transcript plays along with the video; you can also select specific lines and skip to that part of the video.

Here’s how to add a transcript:

1. Under the video player, select the ellipsis “more” icon (…).

2. Select Open transcript.

A transcript will pop up on the right-hand side.

YouTube Captioning Hack #6: Manage caption settings for your device

When available, you can toggle captions on or off across different devices for YouTube videos. You can also choose to “Show automatic captions by speech recognition” when available. This feature works for your computer, Android, iPhone, and Ipad.

Here’s how it works:

This post was originally published by Sofia Leiva on Mar 29, 2018, and has since been updated for accuracy, clarity, and freshness.

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 6 YouTube Captioning and Subtitling Hacks You Need to Try appeared first on 3Play Media.

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• Accessibility

YouTube SEO Strategy: Tips to Boost Your Search Ranking

3Play Media

•

May 27, 2021

Automate Your YouTube Captioning [Learn About the Integration]

YouTube is the second-largest search engine in the world – second only to its parent company, Google. Eight out of 10 video search results are YouTube videos, and the platform is constantly growing, with over 500 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute. How do you avoid getting lost in the sea of videos? Your best bet is to optimize great videos for search using video SEO best practices. With these tips, you can create a solid YouTube SEO strategy.

What is a YouTube SEO strategy?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the ever-changing practice of designing web content to rank highly in search engine results pages (SERPs). Search is often the gatekeeper to your content, so optimizing your content for search is necessary to attract traffic and grow a following.

Unlike Google, which uses backlinks and other factors to evaluate rank, YouTube SEO involves optimizing your channel, playlists, metadata, descriptions, and videos. You can optimize your videos for search both within and outside of YouTube.

You may know the basics of SEO for YouTube videos, like including keywords in titles, meta descriptions, and tags. However, there’s more you can do for YouTube SEO through video accessibility. Since search engine bots cannot watch videos, they rely on accompanying text data to index them properly. A key component to a YouTube SEO strategy is harnessing the power of your video’s text in the form of transcripts, closed captions, and subtitles, which can positively impact user experience, engagement, watch time, viewership, and SEO.

Here are ten tips for maximizing views and boosting your YouTube SEO.

Learn about 3Play’s YouTube integration

1. Select a great keyword

Before you can boost YouTube SEO, you need to select the right keyword or phrase for your video. Keywords often land in video titles and metadata, and when spoken in the audio, keywords appear in captions and transcripts. That’s a win-win for SEO.

Keywords and keyword phrases should correspond with a) whatever describes your video accurately and b) the words and phrases that users enter in search engines to find content like yours.

To find out what phrases and keywords people use in search, you’ll have to do some keyword research. An easy strategy to find a keyword for your video is to use YouTube’s Search Suggest. Type a word or phrase relevant to your industry in the search bar and see the suggestions that YouTube offers.

You can also find keywords from your YouTube search report (in the YouTube Studio under Traffic Sources > YouTube search).

To check if you have a good keyword, search for it on YouTube and see how many “About results” it generates. Ideally, you want to find keyword variations with high search volume but less competition so you can stand out from the crowd.

Selecting the best keyword is easier said than done, but plenty of tools can help. Some tools include:

• Moz Keyword Explorer
• AdWords Keyword Planner
• UberSuggest
• VidIQ Vision

With these tools, you can explore other resources such as keyword volume, which is the number of searches the keyword gets per month on Google, and cost per click, which is the average cost per click for the term on Google Ads.

After you’ve identified a great keyword, include it in your video file’s name so YouTube knows your video’s topic. For example, your file name could be “makeup-tutorial-for-the-hulk” followed by your video file type.

Pro tip: For individual videos, try going after “long tail” keyword phrases, which are more specific. For example, “makeup tutorial for the Hulk” would be a more targeted keyword phrase than just “makeup tutorial.”

2. Include accurate closed captions

YouTube automatically transcribes your videos to provide automatic captions. However, YouTube’s auto-captions are only 70% accurate, making for incomprehensible and often embarrassing captions.

Google rewards helpful search results and penalizes spam. Part of the definition of spam is “automatically generated gibberish,” which is an apt description of most auto-captions. By using inaccurate captions, you risk being labeled as spam and losing search rank for your YouTube channel.

To combat the detrimental effects of auto-captions for YouTube SEO strategy, you’ll want to add accurate closed captions through an SRT file to your YouTube videos.

Search engines can crawl text, but they can’t watch videos. Your captions will be full of relevant keywords that indicate what your video is about so that Google can crawl your content and rank accordingly.

There are multiple options for adding captions to YouTube videos. Some YouTubers use the automated transcript as a starting point and manually clean up errors. There are other DIY transcription options, which are cheap but time-consuming and tedious.

The simplest solution is to send your videos to a professional video transcription service. Professional video transcription is high-quality with a quick turnaround time.

In addition to increasing SEO, captions also have the following benefits:

• Higher search rank: Digital Discovery Networks performed a study that proves captions on YouTube videos boost SEO. They saw an increase in views by 13.48% in the first 2 weeks using captions and 7.32% overall. To test this, they searched for a keyword phrase that was present only in their video captions, not in the title, description, tags, or metadata. Captioned videos ranked highly for the phrase because search engines could crawl the caption text.
• Better user experience and engagement: Closed captions increase viewership because they keep the viewer engaged regardless of their access to audio. This is especially important for mobile users who may not have access to audio. Since more than 70% of YouTube watch time comes from mobile devices, it’s imperative to have accurate captions. YouTube videos with closed captions are proven to increase user engagement, earning more likes, shares, and comments than videos without captions. Higher engagement, in turn, boosts video search ranking factors, which translates to more views. In addition, higher engagement leads to increased watch time, a critical metric for determining search rank on YouTube. Longer watch times correlate directly with higher SERP ranks.
• Video accessibility: In addition to increasing SEO, closed captions make your YouTube videos accessible to viewers who are deaf or hard of hearing. Captions also let hearing people watch your video on a noisy train or in a quiet library with the sound muted. In essence, captions make your video viewable, understandable, and enjoyable for a larger audience.

3. Add a transcript to your video description

The video description is the best option for displaying your transcript on YouTube. The description field fits 5,000 characters, which is usually enough to fit a transcript for a dialogue-heavy, 10-minute video. If your transcript doesn’t fit or you want to include other important information in the description, like a call-to-action, you can add a truncated version with a link to the full version on a separate web page.

Although Backlinko’s research found no correlation between descriptions optimized for a certain keyword and the rankings for that term, keyword-rich descriptions are still a recommend best practice as they can help your video rank for related terms and appear as a “suggested video.” Transcripts can also boost engagement by making content quickly scannable.

Pro tip: Make video transcripts your content marketing shortcut

Many brands are doing amazing outreach with video, but marketers often fail to realize transcripts can do so much more. Videos can be a starting point for content creation and targeted inbound marketing efforts through video transcripts and derivative content.

Consider using a video transcript to boost SEO by creating useful, shareable content. Some uses for video transcripts include:

• Blogs
• Infographics
• Whitepapers
• Fact sheets
• Website copy

4. Offer subtitles in multiple languages

Just as English captions make your videos accessible to more viewers, translations further expand your audience and increase YouTube SEO. YouTube’s global reach is massive. Only 16.4% of YouTube’s site traffic comes from the U.S., and around the world, over 2 billion logged-in users watch YouTube every month.

Foreign language subtitles let international and non-native English-speaking viewers enjoy your videos. Search engines will also index your translated caption files and include your video in search results in those languages. This can be huge for a YouTube SEO strategy since you have a better chance of ranking higher for non-English keywords due to lower competition.

Remember to always check your translations for accuracy, and consider using a vendor for guaranteed high-quality subtitles.

5. Write a keyword-optimized title, description, and tags

Once you have a great keyword, you need to ensure that the texts associated with your video are keyword-optimized.

For example, if you publish videos about makeup tutorials, make sure you optimize the title, descriptions, and tags for the phrase “makeup tutorial.”

Keep in mind: search engines have wizened up to keyword-stuffing, the practice of over-using keywords and variations of keywords to try to hack the system. Don’t bother with that. Write for humans, not robots, or else you may get penalized.

Once you’ve done keyword research and picked your keywords, incorporate them naturally into the following fields:

• Title: Fits 100 characters but truncates at 70 characters, meaning your most important information and keyword should be close to the front. Use compelling language to encourage a click: “how-to,” “advice,” “tips,” or numbered lists can help. For example: “7 Tips to Increase Video Subscription Rates.”
• Meta-Description: Fits 5,000 characters but truncates at around 120 characters depending on your device. For e-commerce sites, it is crucial to include a link to your product, considering more than half of consumers are influenced by product videos. Remember to include the http:// or it won’t be clickable.
• Tags: Fits approximately 500 characters, but don’t go overboard. Use double quotes (“) to surround phrases so your video is an exact match for a long-tail keyword phrase. For example: instead of tagging your video as “makeup” and “tutorial,” tag it as “makeup tutorial.” Think like a user and always add tags in order of importance.

YouTube Creator Academy lists the following tips for writing searchable descriptions:

• Give an overview of your video using natural language, not just a stream of keywords.
• Put the most important keywords toward the beginning of your description.
• Identify 1-2 main words that describe your video and feature them prominently in both your description and title.
• Use Google Trends and Google Ads Keyword Planner to identify popular keywords and their synonyms. Including these terms can help you maximize traffic from search.
• Avoid irrelevant words in your description, which can create a poor viewing experience and may violate YouTube policies.

If you plan to post your video on several domains in addition to YouTube, remember to vary the keyword phrases slightly. You don’t want to compete against yourself across different sites.

Lastly, use honest, relevant terms. Trying to ride trending topics irrelevant to your video content will only result in a negative score later.

Automate Your YouTube Captioning

6. Say your target keyword in your video

If you don’t say your target keyword in your video, it won’t appear in your captions or transcript, two vital components of a successful YouTube SEO strategy.

Try to incorporate your keyword thoughtfully and naturally in your video as not to overstuff your transcript. If it’s helpful, plan a script in advance and try to incorporate your keyword at the beginning of your video so it appears early on in your transcript.

7. Use a compelling thumbnail

Choosing the right video thumbnail image makes a drastic difference in click-through rate. Use high-quality, high-contrast images that have a 16:9 aspect ratio. Facial close-ups work best. YouTubers can choose which frame to display as the video thumbnail. YouTube will present 3 screenshots to choose from, but you can also select a shot of a different moment in the video or upload your own image.

If you need ideas for images, try using sites such as Canva, which has thumbnail templates just for YouTube videos.

Note that YouTube overlays the video duration in the lower corner of the thumbnail; make sure it doesn’t obstruct anything important in your thumbnail. Also, keep in mind that Google uses image recognition to automatically filter out certain imagery, such as the YouTube logo.

Ideally, you want an image that is a great visual representation of your target keyword; this will take your presence in relevant results even further.

8. Add YouTube cards and end screens

YouTube cards are preformatted notifications that encourage people to take desired actions during your video. Once set up, cards appear in the top right of your videos for users to click on and explore. Since YouTube aims to keep people on YouTube, cards are a great way to boost your ranking.

You can add up to five cards in a video. Cards can include various CTAs, such as directing viewers to another channel, donating to a nonprofit, or crowdfunding.

End screens appear after a video finishes and tell a viewer what they can do next. Both cards and end screens can optimize viewer experience and encourage them to watch another video or take further action when they’ve finished. End screens can direct viewers to these elements:

• View other YouTube videos, playlists, or channels.
• Subscribe to your channel.
• Explore your website, merchandise, or crowdfunding campaigns.

9. Focus on user engagement

Engagement metrics such as comments, likes, shares, and subscriptions strongly correlate with higher rankings, according to Blacklinko’s research. Google cares most about how viewers respond to your content because that’s what keeps people on their site. To increase engagement, try to encourage viewers to share, like, or comment on your videos, and take the time time to respond to comments and messages.

YouTube watch time

Watch time, as you might imagine, is very important. Watch time refers to the actual time spent watching a video (not the percent watched). For example, 50% completion of a 10-minute video will rank higher than 100% completion of a three-minute video. It’s important to hook your viewer in the first 15 seconds with a teaser. If your video describes how to do a DIY project, show the viewer the finished product at the beginning to spark their interest.

Session watch time

Session watch time is another important measurement of user engagement. YouTube values how a video contributes to a user’s overall viewing session. Did the viewer leave the site after the video, or did they watch three more videos? YouTube wants people to spend more time on their platform and favors videos that help them achieve that goal. Although it may seem counterintuitive, videos designed to bring users to your website will hurt your SEO because they move viewers away from YouTube.

User intent

Google can read your mind. Ok, not quite, but Google does understand what searchers mean. For example, if you were to search “how to get more views on YouTube,” you would be shown a video called “How to Get More Views on YouTube in 2021 – in 2 Minutes.” When creating a title for your videos, be sure to write something compelling and relevant. You might be tempted to title use the #1 searched phrase or term as your title, but don’t. Instead, answer the user’s question in your title, and add the search term to the description. Trust us, Google knows.

Growing subscriber base

Subscribers can generate a lot of watch time within the first week your video is published. The more you can amplify user experience and engagement in the first seven days, the better. It’s a good idea to post regularly, so your subscribers know when to expect a new video.

Use playlists

Relevant, short (four to six videos), subcategorized playlists can greatly boost user experience and engagement. It also makes it easy to share multiple videos at a time by sharing a link to the playlist instead of one video.

10. Track your analytics

The only way to know if your YouTube SEO strategy is working is to track your analytics. Metrics can help you understand where your videos are doing well and where they might need some tweaking. YouTube offers several analytics reports to help you track your performance.

There are many analytics you can track, but every YouTuber should know these metrics:

• Watch Time: Watch time is the total number of minutes viewers spent watching your videos. This metric matters because YouTube boosts videos and channels with higher watch times in their search results as watch time is a great indicator of engagement.
• Impressions Click-Through Rate: Impressions click-through rate measures the rate at which people watch your video after seeing it on their homepage, recommendation section, or trending section. Impression click-through rates will often spike after you release your video and decline later, but it’s still an important metric to track as it can help you refine your thumbnails.
• Card Click-Through-Rate: Cards are preformatted notifications that encourage people to take action while watching your video. Analyzing card click-through rates can help you optimize your card CTAs, timing, duration, and placement.
• Unique Viewers: Unique viewers is the estimated number of individuals who watch your videos over a certain period of time. This metric helps you audience your audience size and can be helping in evaluating engagement.
• Traffic Sources: The Traffic Sources report shows you how viewers found your videos and which sources contribute to the most engagement. You can use this data to better optimize your video promotion strategy by deciding where to share your content.
• Subscriber Growth: YouTube’s Subscribers Report shows you which videos, locations, and time periods gained and lost subscribers. With this data, you can learn which topics resonate with your subscribers and where to target new subscribers.

Monitoring these metrics over time will help you see which videos have the most engagement and the factors contributing to their success. Take note of what sets these videos apart from ones that don’t perform as well—you might notice patterns in the topic, type of video, length, or posting schedule.

This article was originally published on March 7, 2016, by Emily Griffin and has since been updated.

About the author

3Play Media

The post YouTube SEO Strategy: Tips to Boost Your Search Ranking appeared first on 3Play Media.

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• Live Captioning

How to Live Stream an Event in 6 Steps

PJ Taei

•

April 21, 2021

Live streaming allows you to broadcast videos online in real-time. From concerts to conferences, webinars to fitness classes, live streaming has become standard practice across the world. In fact, there was a 300% growth in live streaming events between March and August 2020. 

This blog post will provide you with the necessary information and tools for an outstanding live stream. What will you find in this post? A 6-step process for how to live stream any event. Let’s get started.

What You Need to Know About Live Automatic Captioning Quality

Step #1: Choose a Live Streaming Platform

The first step in the process is to choose a reliable live streaming solution. There are many factors to consider when researching the most suitable solution to broadcast your live content or to cover other video marketing needs you may have. Be it paid, free, private, or public, you’ve got plenty of options.  

First, you should have your audience in mind. Does your audience live on Facebook, YouTube, or LinkedIn? If the answer is “yes”, then the best decision would be to pick which one of these social media platforms has the most of your engaged audience in order to broadcast your content to the right people. 

Some brands, though, choose to reach their audience using only their own outlets. Undoubtedly, live streaming through a brand’s own website has several benefits, such as an increase in organic traffic and brand awareness. In this case, you may need to consider a live streaming platform with Over-The-Top (OTT) support, such as Uscreen.

Next, you’ll need to think about your goals. Identifying your aims and objectives can help you choose what kind of live streaming platform you want. 

If you intend to make a profit from your live streaming, you should select a service with monetization features. Most video streaming platforms provide monetization options, such as subscriptions, advertisements, and pay-per-view. 

What’s the next step after choosing a streaming platform? Preparing your broadcasting equipment. This is what we’re going to cover in the next step of our process.

Step #2: Prepare Your Broadcasting Equipment

Equipment is key when it comes to live streaming events. The essentials include a computer, tablet, or phone, as well as visual and audio equipment. Additionally, a secure and fast internet connection will be needed. 

Remember, everything here depends on your needs and budget. In this day and age, anyone can broadcast a video from their smartphone. 

There’s also the option of using a laptop or a desktop computer to transmit your live videos to your streaming platform. 

Still, when it comes to live videos, video cameras are a crucial tool for the process. Ranging from low-budget webcams to professional cameras, we’ve prepared the following options, based on Digitalcameraworld.com reviews:

1. Logitech C922: $ 139.99
2. Panasonic HC-V770: $597.99
3. Sigma fp: $1,899

If you decide to upgrade your video quality, you will most likely need camera related accessories, such as: 

• Camera stabilizers
• Lenses
• Light stands
• Tripods

Most, if not all, computer devices like smartphones and camcorders have built-in microphones which can be used for producing relatively good sound quality. According to several pieces of research, audio quality is more important than visuals for the audience. Based on that, we recommend that you invest in sound improvements. 

In order to boost your audio sources, investing in an external microphone with USB or XLR is definitely worth the extra cost. 

We’re aware of the high cost of these investments, but we can assure you that there are equipment packages for every budget. You can always do a live stream using your mobile device or laptop if needed. 

That said, we have to admit that streaming quality strongly depends on equipment quality. Starting simple and upgrading your gear as your needs grow is our best advice. 

Let’s move on to the next step where we’re going to talk about the importance of choosing an encoder and configuring your stream settings.

Step #3: Choose an Encoder and Configure Stream Settings

Another important part of live broadcasts is encoding. Encoding refers to the process of receiving video input and converting it for live streaming. An encoder is a device that modifies RAW video files to another digital video format suitable for live streaming. 

Choosing the right encoder is essential for the success of your video streaming. You have the option to pick either a hardware or a software encoder.

A software encoder is the most affordable option of the two. They’re also generally customizable; you can adjust the encoding type and the bitrate. One of the disadvantages of using a software encoder is that it heavily relies on your computer’s capacity. Most video streaming platforms like Uscreen, Brightcove, or Wowza, don’t have built-in encoding software meaning users need some kind of live streaming software to go live. 

There are several software encoders you can choose from, either free or paid, such as:

• Restream
• Switcher Studio
• Ecamm
• OBS Studio
• Streamlabs OBS.  

If you have little experience with video broadcasting and encoding, OBS Studio is a great way to start diving into the encoding world. It’s free, easy to configure, and the internet is full of explainer videos about how to make the most of it. 

A hardware encoder, on the other hand, is an extremely dependable alternative because it has its own algorithm and operates all the encoding internally. Prices for hardware encoders range from $300 to thousands of dollars. TeraDek, TriCaster, and Niagara Video are three of the most popular and high-quality hardware encoders on the market right now.

Before using either software or hardware encoders, you should configure your additional stream settings. Let’s move on to the next step of the process where we’ll explain how to embed your video to your website and owned media outlets.

Discover The Ins-and-Outs of Live Automatic Captioning Quality

Step #4: Embed Your Video to Your Website & Owned Media Outlets

The fourth step in our process involves promoting our event on different owned media outlets. How do we do that? By creating short video snippets of previous events or other promotional materials and graphs, and by trying to funnel users to our streaming service or membership platform. 

Let’s share an example to make this more clear. 

Step Conference is an online event for entrepreneurs featuring speakers from 100+ companies from all around the world in a three-day live event from March 29-31, 2021. 

Part of their promotional efforts for their upcoming 3-day event includes promoting their event on Facebook, by focusing on specific speakers who’ll be presenting live during the event.

By leading people to their website, Step manages to raise awareness of the event and prompts people to buy a ticket.

Two things are obvious here:

1. Marketing your upcoming event across your media channels is extremely important for its success 
2. Having one place where you lead your prospective attendees is also a vital element

Think about it: how can people tune in if they never hear about it in the first place? 

A great idea would be a promotional plan including video teasers on social media and social media posts like we just looked at, email marketing, and even paid social media ads. 

All in all, you should promote your upcoming event as much as you can so that you have as many people register as possible.

Also, something you need to keep in mind is that — when it comes to monetizing your event — you can offer your live event as part of your subscription service or by using a pay-per-view option. 

The options can be different for those who are already signed up for your subscription service, but monetizing your live event is essential if you think of all the costs tied to creating and promoting it. 

Just before we finish up, you need to test your stream to make sure that everything works smoothly. Let’s see how you can do that.

Step #5: Test Your Stream

At this step of the process, you need to test your stream before you go live and make sure that everything works as it should.

First, you should check your set-up with a checklist along the lines of: 

• Is everything plugged in properly? 
• Is the internet speed steady? 
• Does your website load fast enough?
• Is your bitrate well configured? 

If you answered “yes” to all these questions, you’re ready to go. 

Now, it’s time to see if everything works properly, stream-wise. A great way to be proactive is to run a private test stream before you actually go live in front of your audience. This’ll help you identify several issues that could impact your actual live stream experience. Common issues you might face include: 

• Poor visual/audio quality 
• Stream interruptions
• Encoder settings misconfiguration

Identifying technical problems ahead of time makes troubleshooting a far easier process for any broadcaster. 

After making sure that everything works smoothly, there’s just one final step left.

Step #6: Start Streaming

Ready. Set. Go. After following all the steps outlined in this guide, you’re ready to start streaming. Take a deep breath and press “Start Streaming”. 

But, before you do that, there are a couple more things you need to know.

First, you should try to stream your live event on other streaming services that are available out there. You’ll be able to reach far more people if you stream your video not only from your website but also from other media outlets like your YouTube channel or through Facebook Live. 

Reaching audiences on multiple outlets can be challenging since you have to consider features such as captioning, translation, audio description, and transcription. 3Play Media offers a wide variety of services, plugins, and features so that your video streaming is accessible to everyone. For example, if you’re going to share your live video or video presentation with your audience through Facebook Live, 3Play Media’s live captioning solution integrates directly with Facebook.

Author’s Tip: We highly recommend keeping accessibility on top of your list when preparing for your live stream.  According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 15% of the world’s population has some form of disability. By using live captions, you can ensure that your live streams remain inclusive and accessible to people who are deaf or hard of hearing, which in turn can boost your reach and engagement.

Last but not least, as far as content is concerned, we strongly advise you to encourage audience participation during your live broadcasts. Ask your audience questions, start conversations, and be willing to share engaging content.

We recommend creating an online form that’ll work as a survey and share it with your audience after your live event. You’ll receive valuable feedback that can help you improve next time. 

Let’s wrap this up and close with some final thoughts. 

Now Over to You

Live streaming is quite an extensive topic with a lot of aspects to cover. We’ve outlined the basic topics for you to get started. 

The most suitable streaming platform, along with standard or even some more advanced equipment are two critical factors for live streaming success. 

We hope you find our advice interesting and helpful. We also hope to contribute to making your live streaming events worth attending. 

We’re curious. Have you already started? What step are you on now? Let us know in the comments!

This blog post was written by PJ Taei, Founder and President of Uscreen, an all-in-one video monetization and live streaming platform that empowers video entrepreneurs and creators to monetize their content and build thriving businesses around their videos. 

About the author

PJ Taei

The post How to Live Stream an Event in 6 Steps appeared first on 3Play Media.

Blog

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• Accessibility

Beginner’s Guide to Pinterest Video Accessibility

Jaclyn Lazzari

•

September 16, 2020

Pinterest video content allows businesses to capture their audience’s attention better and engage in a fresh way. Whether you’re a fitness brand wanting to share workout clips or an eCommerce brand hoping to showcase product tutorials, Pinterest is a great place to do so.

Over the past few years, Pinterest video has increased, likely due to its proven value for brands. With video, businesses see a lift in content performance, with increases in brand metrics and video-ad memorability.

But, are businesses reaching as many people as they could?

Providing accessible Pinterest video is crucial to ensuring people with disabilities have access to the content. Not only that, but videos optimized for accessibility are also more engaging and enhance user experience.

The Value of Pinterest Video

Pinterest is primarily known as an image-sharing social media platform – a place for people to pin photos, ideas, recipes, and art. However, in 2016, Pinterest rolled out Promoted Video, allowing businesses to ramp up their Pinterest marketing game.

Many brands prioritize content on other social platforms. However, with Pinterest video, businesses can uniquely showcase branded content and product offerings.

Data shows that 55% of people on Pinterest want to find or shop for products on the platform. Pinterest users report that 75% of the content they enjoy comes from business accounts, while 67% say that promoted videos inspire them to take action.

This information shows that Pinterest users are enticed by branded video content and are willing to engage with businesses and shop directly on the platform. You can also track analytics to gain key insights and metrics and track your Pinterest video content’s performance.

Why Accessibility Matters for Pinterest Video Content

There are many reasons to prioritize accessibility for Pinterest video, including expanding your reach, boosting viewership and engagement, and improving user experience.

Expand Your Reach

Accessible video practices are a crucial component of expanding your Pinterest video reach. First and foremost, accessible elements such as captions and audio descriptions are the best way to make online videos accessible to people who are deaf or hard of hearing and to people who are blind or low vision. Accessible videos ensure that brands are reaching those who require tools for equal access.

Beyond providing accessibility for those with hearing and vision loss, captioned videos are beneficial for non-native English speakers and those with learning disabilities, like dyslexia and auditory processing disorder.

Boost UX, Engagement, and Performance Metrics

It’s worth mentioning that 80% of people who use captions are not deaf or hard of hearing, due to various personal preferences.

A study by Verizon Media and Publicis Media found that viewers expect and want captioning options for online video. Viewing preferences are evolving, and video consumers prefer a soundless and unobtrusive viewing experience.

Engagement goes up when captions are present; 80% of people in the same study said they were more likely to view the whole video if it has captions, and 37% reported that captioning enticed them to turn the sound on and become more engaged with the content.

Captions also help with marketing and yield greater ROI for video content overall. With captions, brands can see increased ad & brand recall, enhanced memory quality, and a lift across video ad and brand perceptions.

 This Free Ebook Will Help You Create Accessible Videos for Social Media  

How to Create Accessible Pinterest Video

Add Captions

Adding captions to video content is a crucial component of accessibility. Captions, also commonly referred to as subtitles, are time-synchronized text that visually depicts the audio content. They make videos more accessible to people who are deaf or hard of hearing and also improve user engagement, video viewing time, and viewing flexibility.

Captions are incredibly valuable for Pinterest video since browser settings often cause video content to autoplay on silent. Captions ensure that people can follow along with video content, even without sound.

At this time, there’s no option to add a caption sidecar file to video Pins. Therefore, businesses must embed captions into their Pinterest video content, a process that consists of burning captions into the video and presenting it as one element.

Write Video Descriptions

Because Pinterest is a highly visual app, how do you provide a better experience for people who cannot see or have low vision?

Audio description (also referred to as “description,” “video description,” or “AD”) is defined as “the verbal depiction of key visual elements in media and live productions.” AD is meant to provide information on visual content that is considered essential to comprehending the program and ensures that people who are blind or low vision have access to your videos. Providing audio descriptions to Pinterest video is a must, though currently, there’s no option to add audio description tracks to Pinterest video files. However, there is an alternative workaround that will increase the accessibility of your videos.

The video’s description box allows up to 500 words and gives ample space to describe relevant visual imagery, such as on-screen text, people, and actions within the video. This method is similar to writing alt text for images and gives people with visual disabilities the opportunity to better understand the message.

Provide Accessible Formatting

Businesses should be thoughtful of video formatting and design elements within the content. Creators often utilize text in their videos to emphasize points and to create visual interest. Captions must also provide accessible formatting. When it comes to using design elements and formatting in your Pinterest video content, it’s essential to provide accessible color contrast, font size, font style, and text placement.

For guidelines on accessible design, refer to WCAG Guideline 1.4: Distinguishable, which offers best practices for making digital content as easy to perceive as possible for people with disabilities.

The Who, What, and How for Video Pins

If you have a business account, you can utilize Promoted Video capabilities and upload video Pins directly to Pinterest. However, anyone with a Pinterest account can add a video when you try a Pin (currently only available for iOS). If you become an advertiser on Pinterest, you can also create video ads.

Video Pins have a cover image to capture your audience’s attention and play directly in users’ feeds. It’s important to keep in mind that your audience may or may not have their volume on when they see your video.

Pinterest accepts MP4, MOV, and M4V video files with a maximum length of 15 seconds and utilizes a native video player for promoted video content, so videos play right on site.

How to Upload Video Pins

1. Log into your Pinterest business account(opens in a new window)
2. Click Create at the top-left of the page and then click Create Pin
3. Click the up arrow to upload a video or drag and drop a video into the uploader
4. Move the selector left or right to select an image in your video for the cover photo
5. Give the Pin a title, description, a destination link
6. Choose a board from the dropdown menu, or select Create board to create a new one
7. Click Publish

By prioritizing video accessibility for Pinterest, brands will see video performance skyrocket. You can even go beyond making your Pinterest video content accessible by prioritizing accessible practices for all social media content. Follow our Beginner’s Guide to Accessible Social Media Video to get started.

About the author

Jaclyn Lazzari

Jaclyn is a marketing professional at 3Play Media with 7+ years in the video accessibility space. When she’s not at work, she’s exploring coastal New England, baking with seasonal ingredients, or enjoying football Sundays with her family.

The post Beginner’s Guide to Pinterest Video Accessibility appeared first on 3Play Media.

Blog

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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.