Streaming Trends
These days more than half of all television viewers watch shows with subtitles, but these numbers skew much higher for younger viewers. Preply recently surveyed 1,200 Americans to gain insight into why and how it relates to the way we consume content.
Here’s the breakdown for who’s using subtitles most of the time:
- 70%—Gen Z
- 53%—Millennial
- 38%—Gen X
- 35%—Baby Boomer
The most common reasons cited for using subtitles were because the “audio is muddled,” or the “accent is hard to understand.” But people are also choosing subtitles to help them enjoy their entertainment “quietly at home”, “to stay focused on screen” or even “to learn a new language”.
Why This Matters
Subtitles are becoming an increasingly popular accessibility tool for everyday life, not just entertainment. Both Apple and Google have released Live Captions features for their mobile devices, and there are software tools offering live transcription for video calls and meetings. Organizations using video platforms should take this preference into consideration when planning communication strategies.
Next Step
Ensure that captions are a part of any video content that your organization is currently creating and if you haven’t historically included it, now is the time to consider how it can be a part of your ongoing creative strategy. Click here to learn more about this survey, and review the results in a deeper way.