How adding video subtitles helps to increase viewership and expand reach

For those who want to achieve international business success, there are many ways to address potential customers and/or partners in a foreign language; websites, blogs or social media posts for example, and also instruction manuals. It is essential that your customers know precisely what to expect from a product, what to do with it and how to use it. Have you invested in video content for your company, employees and/or products? If so, it’s a good idea to have this content transcribed as well as translated, as this will allow you to address potential customers and/or partners around the world in one go.

Video content plays an increasingly prominent role on social media, in advertising campaigns and in successfully positioning your brand. By adding subtitles to your video content, it provides further clarity for the viewer. It’s safe to say that subtitles are more important on social media channels than on television.

Greater reach, lower costs

Reach people all over the world: it can be achieved by adding a foreign language subtitle to a video. Subtitles enable you to create intelligibility for customers who do not speak or understand the original language of your video content. Foreign language subtitles are also a cost saving measure, as the cost of a professional voice-over is many times higher than the translation and integration of subtitles.

Recording a video in five different languages is extremely time-consuming. But recording a video with subtitles in five different languages is a much quicker and cheaper process. It’s much more cost-effective that think...

Videos become much more accessible to a wider audience

People with hearing impairments rely on high quality subtitles because they are unable, or barely able, to hear the spoken text. To emphasise this point, there are approximately 1.5 million people who are either deaf or hard of hearing in the Netherlands alone. Hearing-impaired people are no longer disadvantaged if information accessibility is guaranteed.

Subtitles are also a valuable tool for non-native Dutch speakers, as they ensure that what is being said can be understood. Moreover, there are times when people in videos speak quickly, unclearly, or in a dialect that makes them difficult to understand. As a result, using subtitles in your videos allows you to capitalise on all your marketing efforts while ensuring inclusivity.

Video content isn’t always an easy listen

Subtitles can still prove really useful, even if you speak the language of the video and don’t have a hearing impairment. If you travel by public transport, videos viewed on smartphones or tablets are often difficult to hear properly. And the sound coming from a smartphone or tablet can be perceived to be annoying by fellow passengers; this also applies to patients in waiting rooms, or guests in a café or restaurant etc. Subtitles make it easy to watch videos wherever you are, whether travelling by public transport, sitting in the doctor’s waiting room or dining in a restaurant.

Video content is increasingly important on social media channels

According to recent scientific research, video content now accounts for more than 80% of all social media content. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat are increasingly tailoring their content towards videos, just as YouTube and TikTok originally did. The content on these channels can be wide ranging: informational, emotional or funny. By incorporating video content, users automatically spend more time on the platform.

When the content is product or brand related and the target audience/consumer feels a personal connection, engagement increases; that is, the content is commented on or shared with friends.

In the face of competition, companies want to stand out from the crowd without overwhelming users with long winded texts. If a consumer does not have headphones or earbuds to hand, the sound is usually omitted from the experience. The result: your video content fails to reach the target audience. By adding supporting subtitles to your video(s), you immediately remove this risk and can positively influence your target audience.

Search results

Subtitles are a simple way to ensure visual content can be found via search engines too. Do you want to rank higher in search results on Google or Bing? Then make sure your videos include accurate subtitles. By doing so, visitors are more likely to find your website and ‘stick around’ for longer. Google and Bing will reward this with higher positions in their search results.

Search engines are unable to find videos without subtitles; not only do they help viewers understand the videos, they also help the algorithm index the video correctly. They work to your advantage.

AgroLingua, the agricultural translation specialist for your content translations

If you want to ensure that your video content is subtitled correctly, you’ll require the help of a professional translation agency like AgroLingua. We will ensure that your subtitles match the spoken content, are the right length and if required, are culturally adapted to suit the target audience. As a ISO 17100 certified translation agency, we take the translation process of your texts extremely seriously, whether the topic focuses on agriculture, horticulture, agricultural technology, animal husbandry or food. At our translation agency, you can rely on professional translations that convey the right message to your customers, wherever they are in the world.

Are you curious about our translation services and what we can do for you? Please contact us for more information.