We are seeing an increasing number of live webinars or webcasts being subtitled afterwards. Subtitling these types of broadcasts has many advantages and also ensures that the broadcast becomes accessible to anyone with a hearing impairment (1 in 10 people have a hearing problem!).
Although most participants to a webcast or webinar watch the broadcast live, we see an increase in on-demand usage every year. Around 33% -50% of the total visitors to a webcast or webinar are participants who view the webinar on-demand. Due to this increased importance, it is advisable to also subtitle the broadcast afterwards.
Subtitles in their own language or another language
Our subtitling solution can be used to subtitle in the broadcast language or in another language. The objectives of both still differ. The advantages of subtitling in the broadcast language are explained below. The advantages of subtitling in a language other than the broadcast language is that viewers, who cannot properly follow the broadcast, can still follow the broadcast through subtitling. We see this reflected in many companies that, for example, broadcast in Dutch or French and subtitle in English. Or broadcast in English and even subtitle in Chinese!
Advantages of subtitling a webcast or webinar
In addition to making the broadcasts accessible to people with a hearing impairment, there are other benefits that can increase the reach of the broadcast:
Subtitles ensure that people can watch without sound
More and more people watch videos without sound. For example: 85% of the videos on Facebook are viewed without sound! By subtitling videos you involve these viewers directly in the broadcast.
Subtitles make broadcasts easier to understand
Subtitles make it easier to follow and understand broadcasts. Subtitling reduces the effort of anyone to follow and understand the content of a video. 33% of the population turn on subtitles for viewing news on television without being deaf or hard of hearing.
Subtitles ensure a longer viewing time
An international study shows that videos with subtitles are generally viewed longer than videos without subtitles. People watch an average of 66% of a video without subtitles, compared with an average of 91% for videos with subtitles. The research showed that subtitling ensures that 80% more people watch a video completely.
Examples of subtitling a webcast or webinar
Below 2 examples of webinars that are subtitled. To display the subtitles you must first click on the [CC] button in the webinar player.
The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research has broadcasted its webinar on the Dutch National Research Agenda in English and also subtitles in English. See the example below.
NN Investment Partners has organised an English-language webinar and subtitles it in Italian, see the example below:
Do you want more information about subtitling your webcasts or webinars? Call us or contact us by filling in the contact form.