Creating great quality video content involves techniques and methods that are evolving all the time. Currently, any video for online content really needs to includes captions or subtitles. But why? And what are the benefits of this? Well, here at Oh Video, we are Manchester’s leading video production and video marketing specialists. And we have the tools and skills to help your business succeed with video marketing. In fact, we work with companies around the region, from Leeds and Sheffield, to Stockport and Manchester, to deliver effective, high quality video marketing solutions. As a result, we have produced this guide to everything you should know about the advantages of captions for commercial video content.
What are captions in video content?
Captions for commercial video content are usually pieces of text overlaid on top of the visual video. This may be at an important part of the video, to help reinforce an instruction, or to explain what is going on. Or they might be used throughout the video running along the bottom of the screen while a person is talking. This helps make your video content make sense, even when there is no sound used. To make sure your captions are effective you should consider:
- The pace the captions move- too slow and your users will get bored, too fast and they will struggle to keep up.
- The size of the captions- too small and it will be hard to read, especially on mobile devices. But too large and the content will take up too much visual space.
- The positioning of the captions- captions need to be positioned effectively on all screen sized and devices for the best possible outcome
What are the advantages of captions for commercial video content?
Using captions has a huge range of advantages, especially for commercial video content. These advantages include:
- making your video content inclusive
- supporting a new industry standard
Captions make your video content more inclusive
Producing visual video content is a great way to attract attention and engage with your potential customers. But for people who are hard of hearing, some videos, like testimonials or talking head videos, are just not worth watching because it is difficult to know what is being said. Using captions on these type of videos to provide a commentary of the key points discussed means that your video can be enjoyed by all of your potential customers, without excluding anyone. Accessibility is often overlooked when it comes to the video production process, but it really shouldn’t be.
Captions are the new industry standard for online video content
As an increasing number of consumers watch video content WITHOUT sound, more an more companies and businesses are producing video content that can be viewed without sound. And still make sense. This means that captions and text needs to appear on the screen, to highlight the important messages and, draw attention to key pieces of the video. And as this is becoming an industry standard, your commercial video should also keep up with the times.
This also has the added benefit of making your video message more memorable. So your viewers will find the combination of text and image more beneficial than image only.
For more information, or advice, or for professional video marketing and video production support, get in touch with the experts today, here at Oh Video.