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• Captioning

Studies Find Captions Can Improve Focus on Video Content

3Play Media

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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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• Captioning

Using Subtitles to Learn a Language: Captions for ESL Students

3Play Media

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August 24, 2023

Discover the Benefits of Captioning and Transcription [Free Ebook]

What are the benefits of captions for ESL learners (English as a second or foreign language) and English language learners (ELLs)?

More than one in 10 of the nation’s approximately 50 million public school students speak a native language other than English, according to federal data.

These numbers grow steadily every year, meaning there are vast opportunities to help English language learners and ESL students succeed.

Traditional ESL classes provide a great foundation for basic vocabulary, grammar, syntax, and other linguistic features of a language. However, watching videos with captions or subtitles over the audio of native speakers is a great way for ESL students to improve vocabulary, pronunciation, and inflection and pick up on more nuanced features of English, such as slang terms, phrases, and colloquialisms.

Terminology 101 of Captions for ESL Learners and ELLs

First, let’s quickly clarify some key terminology:

• Subtitles: time-synchronized text on a video that translates the spoken audio to another language
• Dubbing: a voice-over or time-synchronized spoken audio translated into another language from that of the video, replacing the original speaker’s voice
• Captions: time-synchronized text on a video in the same language as the spoken audio. Captions provide a textual transcript of a video’s dialogue, sound effects, and music.
• Closed captions: captions that can be turned on and off
• Open captions: captions that are “burned” into the video and cannot be turned off

English Captions Improve Language Retention

New ELLs listening to a native English speaker talk often find it difficult to identify which words are being spoken, how they are spelled, and in what order they are arranged (syntax). That’s why, for anyone learning a new language, it is extremely helpful to read the words one is hearing at the same time.

Even if the viewer cannot fully understand what they are reading on screen, captions can provide some helpful context, encouraging the viewer to stay engaged with the video. Time-synchronized captions focus the ELL’s attention on the words being spoken in real-time, which helps with the retention of vocabulary, spelling, pronunciation, grammar, and other valuable linguistic qualities one must understand to speak a language properly.

In 2009, a study conducted with Dutch ELLs concluded that watching English-language video content with English captions led to high scores after testing for aural word recognition, while watching English videos with Dutch subtitles led to lower scores on those tests. This suggests that reinforcing English speech with English text helps ELLs memorize spoken and written words in the language, leading to stronger vocabulary skills.

In 2016, a study conducted with a group of intermediate Spanish students of English as a foreign language watched an episode of a television show in its original English version with English, Spanish, or no subtitles overlaid. Before and after the viewing, participants took a listening and vocabulary test to evaluate their speech perception and vocabulary acquisition in English, plus a final plot comprehension test. The results of the listening skills tests revealed that after watching the English subtitled version, participants improved these skills significantly more than after watching the Spanish subtitled or no-subtitle versions.

 Learn more about the benefits of captioning and transcription  

English Captions Help Students Decipher Accents and Dialects

Accents and dialects are another reason why captions for ESL students and ELLs can be beneficial.

Many Americans have difficulty understanding certain accents and dialects from places like the UK, Ireland, Australia, and other places where English is spoken. So, imagine what ESL learners have to go through in the same scenario.

Accents tend to go hand in hand with dialects—regionally-exclusive ways of speaking. Captions can help ELLs learn words and phrases from different dialects by helping them process the audio in the videos they watch.

In the previously mentioned study with Dutch ESL students, it was found that adding closed captions to videos with Scottish and Australian actors speaking in native accents and dialects helped the students identify the words spoken. Interestingly, it was also found that watching those same videos with Dutch subtitles diminished students’ success in word recognition:

In 2008, an academic study involving 20 Chinese ESL students found that video content with captions helped students learn new words and expressions better than students who watched the same content without captions. Specifically, the study revealed that “the use of video plus captions can help students learn colloquial language [including] how and when native speakers use it.”

This means that by adding captions to their videos, English-speaking online video providers on YouTube and elsewhere can attract viewers anywhere in the world who want to improve their language skills and understand as much regionally-varied English as a native speaker.

‘Subbing’ vs. ‘Dubbing’

If you’ve ever seen a foreign film in which the actors talk in a different language, it is either ‘dubbed’ or ‘subbed’ (subtitled) so that viewers can understand what is being said. Everyone has their preference, but for students of a second language, subbing tends to be much more helpful.

Subbing is better for ELLs because the translated text reinforces the speech, helping the viewer learn by encouraging them to match the foreign speech with words from their own language.

Hearing English speakers talk normally on video helps the viewer tune their ear to the unique sounds of spoken English, which is critical for learning a new language.

Other Benefits of Captions for ESL Learners and ELLs

• Control: You can pause and rewind whenever necessary, so you can go to “ESL class” whenever you want!
• Subject-specific vocabulary: Captions broaden vocabulary about specific subjects (e.g., YouTube videos about science, cooking, politics, business, pop culture, etc.)
• Mouth movement: In most cases, you can watch the mouths of the person speaking, which helps with lip-reading and pronunciation of difficult sounds unique to a language
• Situational context: Watching foreign films and TV shows with subtitles is great for understanding when to use formal or casual language and knowing when and when not to use certain words

This blog was originally published by Patrick Loftus in 2016 and has since been updated for accuracy, clarity, and comprehensiveness.

About the author

3Play Media

The post Using Subtitles to Learn a Language: Captions for ESL Students appeared first on 3Play Media.

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• Captioning

Open Captions vs. Closed Captions: What’s the Difference?

3Play Media

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February 22, 2023

[FREE Webinar] Quick Start to Captioning

We live in an age where much of our communication, entertainment, and news happen digitally. Because we spend an average of 6 hours and 48 minutes per week watching online videos, you’ve likely heard of closed captioning. 

Closed captioning is everywhere you look: on streaming platforms, on educational videos, and on the TV at your local gym or bar. Open captioning, on the other hand, isn’t as familiar to many people.

Read on to learn what open captions are, how they work, and when they’re used.

Open Captions vs. Closed Captions

How are open captions different from closed captions? The short answer is that closed captions can be turned off while open captions cannot.

Closed captions are created on a separate track from the video, which means they can be toggled on or off. Open captions are burned into a video track, so they’re permanently on screen and cannot be turned off.

How Do Open Captions Work?

The process for creating closed and open captions is the same – the difference lies in how the captions are associated with your video. 

For both closed and open captions, you must first transcribe an audio file into a text transcript. At 3Play Media, we do this with a unique process that combines automatic speech recognition software and multiple rounds of human editing to ensure the highest accuracy rate.

Then, the text and media need to be synchronized so that the text appears with its corresponding audio track. Captions reflect all forms of audio information, including dialogue, sound effects, music, and more.

Closed captions are published by uploading a separate caption file to your video platform or player. The platform associates your caption file and video file and plays them together, allowing users to turn captions on or off with the CC toggle button.

To publish open captions, you need to burn the captions into the video file itself. Once you have captions for your video, you can add open captioning. When ordering open captioning from 3Play Media, we output a video file containing the original video with the captions burned into the file so they will always appear. When the open captioning is complete, we send an email to notify you that the files are available for download. Our standard output is an M4V video file, but our team will work with you to provide almost any output you need.

Learn the Basics of Captioning [FREE webinar]

Why Use Open Captions?

Now that you know the difference between open captions and closed captions, you might be wondering why you should use open captions.

Since open captions are part of the video itself, they provide the advantage of being supported by all video players and devices. Open captions also eliminate inconsistencies across different video players and allow publishers to control the exact size and style of the captions. Another advantage of open captions is that they make it easier to create DVDs and other physical media.

Let’s discuss some examples of where you might encounter open captions.

Social Media

Autoplaying videos on silent is a common practice on social media platforms. A study by Verizon Media found that 69% of users watch video with the sound off in public places, and 25% of users watch video without sound in private places. 

Without captions, many viewers will not be able to understand your content. Many social media content creators use open captions for consistency across platforms, ensuring their videos are understandable and accessible.

Film Screenings

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, movie theaters are required to provide and maintain closed captioning and audio description equipment for digital films that are produced with accessibility features. However, many people who use captions have difficulty with movie theater captioning devices.

To improve viewer experience and ensure permanent accessibility, advocates from the d/Deaf and hard of hearing communities have called for screenings at movie theaters and film festivals to include open captions. 

Videos in Public Spaces

Open captions help make videos that are publicly displayed more accessible.

For example, The National Park Service provides open captions for all audiovisual programs that “enable viewers with hearing loss to participate fully when viewing video or multimedia productions without self-identifying.”

Benefits of Open Captions

Organizations in the corporate, education, and social media industries may benefit from publishing videos with open captions, finding that ensuring equal access to their content has the added perk of improved brand perception and user experience.

When videos have open captions, viewers can watch them in places where audio is unavailable. If someone’s on a noisy train or on a crowded street, captions will convey the speech when the sound is obscured. Captions also let viewers enjoy videos on mute in quiet environments like a library, office, or train.

Open captions provide a permanently inclusive viewing experience for those with hearing loss without the need to upload a separate track for captions. They help to ensure that all viewers, regardless of their hearing abilities, can fully understand and engage with your videos.

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This blog was originally published on September 9, 2016 by Elisa Lewis and has since been updated for accuracy, clarity, and freshness.

About the author

3Play Media

The post Open Captions vs. Closed Captions: What’s the Difference? appeared first on 3Play Media.

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• Accessibility

3 Reasons Why You Need Video Transcription

3Play Media

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June 18, 2021

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

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

8 Benefits of Captioning & Transcription

1. Video Transcription Improves SEO

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

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

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

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

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

 Boost your video SEO with captions and transcripts   

2. Video Transcription Creates Better UX

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

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

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

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

Playlist Search

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

Interactive Transcript

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

 Learn how to create captions yourself using the DIY method  

3. Video Transcription Increases Accessibility

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

Deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers

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

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

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

Viewers in sound-prohibitive environments

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

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

Non-native English speakers

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

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

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

About the author

3Play Media

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

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• Accessibility

Beginner’s Guide to Pinterest Video Accessibility

Jaclyn Lazzari

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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.

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• Live Captioning

Captions for Live Sporting Events

3Play Media

•

June 23, 2020

Many people love watching sports, which is why captions for sports events are critical to making sports content accessible to all.

Sports shape our conversations, cultures, and even friend groups. Everywhere you go, you are bound to see a fan sporting a team jersey or hat. In fact, 63% of Americans are avid sports fans.

Getting together to watch the Superbowl or the World Cup wouldn’t be possible without sports videos on the television and online. Sports networks must caption and transcribe their content to ensure that all fans have equal access to every moment in sports history.

What Is Important for Captions for Sports Events?

• Legal Compliance: Federal laws in the United States, like the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA), and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), require sports broadcasters to make their videos accessible. Sports videos must be live captioned when broadcasted on television and captioned when published online. In addition, any clips and montages, must also be captioned.
  
• Turnaround: In sports, you can’t miss a single shot. Turnaround is critical to ensure that everyone catches each memorable moment. A captioning vendor that offers multiple turnaround times will help with the efficiency and structure of the production process.
• Views & Engagement: Captions are helpful when watching sports either with the sound off or in a noisy place – like a bar. Furthermore, multiple studies have demonstrated that they help engage viewers and reach a wider audience.
• Ease of Workflow: Captioning isn’t the only part of a broadcasters day-to-day duties. In fact, it shouldn’t be. An easy workflow is critical for ensuring that the whole production runs smoothly.

Common Challenges for Sports Networks

• Deadline Compliance & Scalability: Sports broadcasters are always publishing clips, montages, and streaming full games. A lot of video is being actively produced which means it needs to be captioned in a timely manner. Finding a captioning vendor that meets deadlines – especially when working with a large quantity of video – is pivotal.
• Accuracy: Correct sports terminology is critical for the comprehension and enjoyment of watching a game. Finding a captioning vendor that guarantees accuracy is invaluable for a sports network.

What Captioning and Transcription Features are Important for Sports Video?

• • Caption Quality: Legally, sports networks are expected to meet the guidelines outlines by the FCC for caption quality. This means that captions must be accurate, properly synchronized to the audio, complete, and placed where they don’t obstruct important visual content. At 3Play, we guarantee compliance with the FCC standards and have a measured accuracy rate of 996.%.
  • Competitive Pricing: Sports broadcasters want to find a captioning solution that promises high quality captions at a competitive price point. At 3Play Media, we guarantee high quality captions – regardless of file size or quantity submitted – at a competitive pricepoint.
  • Integrations/APIs: Integrations and APIs help streamline the captioning workflow. A good captioning vendor will work with the network to help automate the captioning workflow. At 3Play, we offer over 20+ integrations with major video platforms and can create custom APIs for custom workflows.

• Support: When using 3rd party vendors, a good support system is critical to ensuring you are not alone against unexpected hurdles. At 3Play, you have direct access to an account manager, our robust knowledge base, and our support team.
• Custom Specifications: A good vendor will give sports networks the ability to customize their caption’s appearance. For example, a network may have a specific requirement for speaker IDs or music. At 3Play, you can customize your captions and provide cheat sheets describing how you want your captions to appear.
• Vertical Placement: Vertical placement is important to ensure that the captions don’t obstruct important visual information on the screen, like the score tally. At 3Play, we offer both automatic and manual vertical caption placement.
• Audio Description: Audio description is valuable for blind or low vision sports fans who also want to enjoy the riveting game. A vendor that offers both captioning and audio description is both attractive and more efficient for a sports network. At 3Play, we have professional describers who help capture every facial expression and play in the game.

Every fan deserves to have access to the game! Get started with captions for sports events and make your content accessible for all.

This post was originally published on October 25, 2017 and has since been updated.

About the author

3Play Media

The post Captions for Live Sporting Events appeared first on 3Play Media.

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• Captioning

Does Closed Captioning Improve Reading and Literacy in Children?

Elisa Lewis

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August 28, 2017

Literacy development is a keystone to a child’s overall development. Finding tools that help improve literacy can be significantly helpful for children developing their reading skills. So, does closed captioning improve reading skills, and can it be used as a tool to support literacy in children?

Literacy is critical as it is the foundation that will set students up for success in school, and in the future. Literacy helps with socializing, achieving goals, and eventually participating fully in society. According to some studies, captions help improve reading speed and fluency, vocabulary, and word recognition, all of which are crucial aspects of literacy.

What Is Literacy?

Commonly, literacy is simply thought of as the ability to read and write. While this is certainly an aspect of literacy, literacy encompasses much more than this. Literacy includes the ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, and communicate using printed and written materials, as well as the ability to express thoughts, feelings and ideas.

Does Closed Captioning Improve Reading and Literacy?

Several research studies have found that closed captioning does improve reading and literacy. The largest study about same language subtitling (commonly known as captioning) comes from India’s Bollywood films. The purpose of the study was to see if captions had any impact on India’s large illiterate population. Through the study it was then discovered that children were learning to read from following the subtitles.

Another study that focused on secondary students in Hawaii was cited by the U.S. Department of Education’s What Works Clearinghouse. This study tested to see if karaoke-style subtitling improved reading comprehension using Broadway’s “Les Misérables” and “Cats”.

The test subjects answered questions while viewing and listening to videos. Students who had the same-language-subtitling scored significantly higher on follow-up tests of reading comprehension than students in the control group.

Where and How Can We Implement the Use of Captions for Improving Literacy?

As literacy is such an integral part of learning and development, improving literacy shouldn’t be limited to the classroom or school hours. Literacy can be learned, practiced, and developed in many ways at home and during play. One simple way to improve literacy is by utilizing closed captions. Captions have considerable benefits for boosting the literacy skills of all students, especially those with print disabilities or who are English Language Learners (ELLs). Several studies report that captioning and subtitles help strengthen the following reading skills:

• Reading speed and fluency
• Word knowledge
• Decoding
• Vocabulary acquisition
• Word recognition
• Reading comprehension
• Oral reading rates

Likewise, a wonderful and simple tool such as captioning can and should be used both in and out of the classroom. Video is such a popular mode of entertainment, as well as widely used in education. Choosing to turn captions on is a very simple – yet effective – way to help your child learn.

Students can increase vocabulary, comprehension, and reading skills by watching even entertainment programs with the captions turned on. Closed captions help children learn sight words and reinforce reading skills. Although captions are in no way an alternative to traditional reading, captions can be a fun and engaging way to present reading in an alternative form. This is especially useful for students who may become either bored or discouraged from reading books.

How Captions Affect Our Media Experience

Some people might assume captions will be distracting, or on the contrary, simply ignored. Captions are actually intuitive, however. This means that they will not be ignored, and additionally there is no training or instruction needed to get students to use them. Even beginning or struggling readers tend to try to read the text on captioned media. This is another reason captioning is important – in other reading situations lower-level readers avoid reading activities. Avoiding reading and decreasing exposure to print only makes students’ development continue to fall further behind their peers.

In addition to the technical aspect of literacy, captioning can also help with the emotional and psychological component of literacy. The multimedia component that captions provide help foreign language learners to feel motivated, and alleviate some of the anxiety for children who are learning a new language, or having trouble with understanding a language.

It’s also important to know that captions are shown to increase engagement and enjoyment relative to uncaptioned or print content. So not only does captioning increase literacy, but they also make content more enjoyable – that sounds like a win-win!

Watch the webinar, Do Captions and Transcripts Improve Student Learning?

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.

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