When viewing videos on the Internet or films on streaming services, there’s a high chance that you’ll be viewing their content with closed captions. After all, with captions, viewers can digest the content they’re watching at an easier rate. This allows them to comprehend and enjoy what they’re watching even more. However, captions aren’t just tools that assist viewers in watching and digesting content; there’s more to them than that.
In this helpful eGuide, we assist you in uncovering everything you need to know about captions on video content, such as their history, why they’re essential nowadays, and how AI affects them.
I. What are the Origins and History of Closed Captions?
When asking yourselves “What is closed captioning?”, you should first delve into the origins and history of captions. According to CBS News, as of 2024, 34% of Americans keep subtitles and captions on all the time as they watch videos and TV shows. Nowadays, it’s hard to think about watching videos or shows without having the option to turn on captions or subtitles. Still, the reality is that was how things were in the past.
The idea of using captions in television shows to make viewing more accessible began in 1972 when WGBH founded the Caption Center. As their first major project, they started to add captions to the rebroadcasts of Julia Child’s show, The French Chef. From then on, they started to caption rebroadcasts of ABC News programs to increase accessibility.
By 1982, real-time captioning of live local news, press conferences, and other events was launched, allowing viewers with hearing difficulties to enjoy what they were watching as it happened. As the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed, by the 21st century, closed captioning had become a legal mandate in television shows, streaming services, and even online videos.
II. Why It’s Essential to Have Closed Captions on Your Videos?
Closed Captioning Can Increase Accessibility
Accessibility is one of the main reasons why closed captions are such a valuable tool today. According to the WHO’s 2025 report on deafness and hearing loss, over 5% of the world’s population, or 430 million people, require rehabilitation because of disabling hearing loss. Because of this, many people can’t consume video content the same way most people can.
This is why adding captions to videos is a crucial step nowadays. With captions, even those who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can enjoy online videos and popular shows on streaming services. As such, if you ever find yourself creating videos online, especially educational ones, be sure to add captions so all your viewers can enjoy your content.
They Help Increase Watch Time
It may not seem like it but captions can also help increase your videos’ watch times. According to a Facebook study, 80% of viewers tend to react negatively when a video on social media automatically plays with audio. This results in the viewer moving away from the video before they finish watching it, which hampersg watch times.
With captions, a video can attract audiences even without the use of audio, resulting in viewers watching it in its entirety. Because of this, watch times are further increased, allowing you to make an impression on your viewers.
Closed Captions Keep You Compliant With Regulations
Today, governments and entities are doing their best to be as inclusive as possible to people with disabilities. Because of these efforts, laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) were passed. This made it mandatory to add captioning to rebroadcasts of many television programs on a variety of American networks. Failure to comply with such policies could result in hefty fines or even the removal of the content.
By adding captions to your videos, you’re complying with the regulations set by the government. As a result, you’ll be able to avoid any legal problems that come with not adhering to these regulations. Thankfully, while adding captions may seem like a difficult task, some audio transcription services also offer captioning services. Because of this, creators can add captions to their content without any problems.
They Help Repurpose Your Content
If you’re creating videos online, it’s always possible to repurpose the content into different forms of media, such as blogs, eGuides, or case studies. This is especially true for those who are creating videos that are aimed at educating viewers.
By adding captions to your videos, either on your own or with the aid of a captioning service, you can get a transcript of your video. As a result of having such transcriptions on hand, repurposing your video’s content into a blog or eGuide is made easier. This is because the transcriptions can help you extract the vital information from your video without having to go through minutes or even hours of footage.
Closed Captions Expand Your Audience
Finally, closed captioning on your videos is essential because it helps you expand and even diversify your audience. Remember, even those with hearing disabilities can be your audience. With captions, you’re giving them the ability to access and enjoy your videos, allowing their content to reach them as well.
In addition to the deaf and hard-of-hearing, translated captions can also help you diversify your audience. With translated captioning, you can easily reach audiences around the world whose first language isn’t English. This is because the translated captions will help them better understand your video’s contents despite the language barrier. This results in your viewership expanding even further.
III. What’s the Difference Between Closed Captions and Subtitles?
Closed Captions
The main differences between subtitles and closed captions lie in their purpose. Compared to subtitles, closed captions are used for videos whose audiences are deaf or hard of hearing. This means that they can understand the video’s language but cannot hear its audio. Therefore, they tend to include not just the dialogue but also sound effects, music, and even speaker identification.
In addition, captions are added after the video or show that requires it has been released. They also come in two forms: open captions and closed captions. But what exactly are the differences between open caption vs. closed caption?
- Open Captions - Compared to closed captions, open captions, also known as “burned-in captions,” are always in the viewer’s sight. This is because it cannot be switched off, making it the better option for viewers with accessibility and comprehension troubles.
- Closed Captions - Closed captions are the exact opposite of their open counterparts. While open captions cannot be turned off, closed captioning can be turned on and off at will. As a result, they’re seen as the more flexible option for captioning.
Subtitles
As stated before, closed captions are used to assist a deaf or hearing-impaired audience in better comprehending the videos or shows that they are viewing. Subtitles, on the other hand, are used when it’s expected that audiences can hear the audio but cannot understand the language it’s spoken in. As such, subtitles are translated captions for videos or shows whose dialogues are spoken in a foreign language.
Additionally, since they’re targeted at an audience that can hear a video or show’s audio, subtitles are composed of pure dialogue and do not include other audio cues like sound effects and music. Unlike closed captioning, they are usually developed before the pre-recorded show or video in question is even released.
IV. What are the Factors to Look for When Choosing a Closed Captioning Service?
- Accuracy Rates - Your audience, especially people with disabilities, will rely on captions to help them better understand your video’s contents. As such, the service should always be able to provide captions that are 99% accurate. Otherwise, not only will your video’s SEO visibility be negatively impacted, but audiences will not be able to rely on the captions to help them understand your content better.
- Turnaround Times - Turnaround times are another factor that you need to consider when picking your captioning service. This is especially important if you’re working on a deadline or you suddenly need a rush job. When looking at turnaround times, it’s always best to pick a service that offers multiple options without sacrificing quality and accuracy.
- Costs - Similar to transcribing services, captioning companies can also offer flexible rates for their services. Remember, hiring a captioning service can consume part of your budget, so you’ll want a company that is upfront with their costs. When vetting a service and their rates, ask about other fees and whether or not they offer bulk discounts. In doing so, you can ensure that you’re still staying within your budget. Similar to turnaround times, however, ensure that a reasonable cost does not sacrifice accuracy or quality of your video’s captions as well.
- Expertise and Experience - When hiring a captioning service, ensure that you’re only hiring a company that has a proven track record for providing accurate captions. By doing so, you can rest assured that you’re hiring the right people for your captioning needs.
- Human or AI - Despite AI’s increasing popularity, human-based captioning services are still the better option to ensure that your captions will have a high degree of accuracy. With that in mind, always check if the closed captioning service you’re vetting completes requests with human workers or AI programs before hiring them for the job.
V. Why Is Accuracy Important in Captioning?
Accuracy Prevents Misinformation
Accuracy is essential when you’re creating content, no matter what the topic of discussion is. This is especially true if your videos deal in educational content, where it’s even more essential that the content is as accurate as possible.
When the captions of your video are accurate, you’re essentially saving your viewers from misinformation and solidifying your content’s credibility. Additionally, accurate captions also ensure that your viewers can better comprehend the information you’re presenting. With that in mind, don’t hesitate to turn to reputable captioning and transcription services for assistance in adding accurate captions to your videos.
Accuracy in Captions Ensures Compliance to Legal Requirements
When adding captions, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) have put forth legal requirements and standards that creators must always adhere to. One of these requirements is that captions must be as accurate as possible. Otherwise, creators risk facing significant financial and legal repercussions from the government itself.
By ensuring that your content’s captions are as accurate as possible, you can comply with the legal requirements to the fullest extent that you’re required. As a result, you can avoid any legal consequences that could result from having inaccurate captions in your video.
Accuracy Can Boost SEO
It may seem not easy o believe, but accurate closed captions can boost your video’s SEO. Remember, similar to blogs, search engines can examine a video’s captions and assist it in ranking. This means that videos with accurate captions will be more likely to rank in search engines than videos without accurate captions. Therefore, accurate captions become an essential asset if you plan to reach the broadest possible audience.
Accuracy Improves Overall Viewer Experience
Finally, accurate captions are essential because, simply put, they improve your viewer’s overall experience. Remember, there are times when viewers want to watch videos without sound, or they’re in a sound-sensitive environment that prevents them from watching with sound. Accurate captions will enable them to enjoy your content even under these circumstances, resulting in increased watch times and user engagement.
VI. How Can AI Affect Closed Captions?
- Potential Inaccuracies - AI has been rising in popularity in recent years. However, it cannot be denied that AI, in its current state, is an imperfect tool. And when used in tasks such as adding closed captions to videos, inaccurate captions are one of the less desirable outcomes of AI. Depending on the topic at hand, specific terms, especially difficult ones, may be misspelled, making it even more challenging to understand. As such, it’s still best to have human transcriptionists add captions to your videos instead of relying on AI.
- Possible Misinterpretations - One of the main concerns about AI is that it sometimes lacks the contextual understanding that humans are inherently capable of. As speaker expressions, tone of voice, and body language can easily change a speaker’s intent, AI's inability to contextualize could result in misinterpretations that could negatively impact the quality of your closed captions.
- Difficulties in Evolving Languages - As time goes by, languages continue to evolve; new slang could emerge, and cultural shifts could occur. AI tools meant to automatically create captions, especially translated text, could easily face difficulties in these evolving languages. This could pave the way for inaccuracies in your captions in the long run.
Nowadays, closed captioning is a highly recommended step in creating video content. However, creating captions on your own can be a time-consuming process. With that in mind, it’s always best to turn to services that can get the job done for you. Thankfully, audio transcription services like TranscriptionWing also offer closed captioning services.
With 25 years of experience, TranscriptionWing offers not only precise and accurate transcriptions but also high-quality closed captions for videos at reasonable rates and turnaround times. Learn more about TranscriptionWing’s closed captioning service here!
