Want more Internet users to view your law firm's online video? Want to keep them watching longer? If you answered "yes" to either of these questions, consider using subtitles in your online videos.
Online video is huge and growing rapidly. eMarketer recently estimated the USA audience for online video will reach 190 million, which is projected to be about 88% of the total number of Internet users.
However, according to eMarketer, it seems that B2B marketers (which includes law firms targeting business clients) face an obstacle that may prevent them from completely sharing in the growth. What is that? eMarketer explains: B2B marketers target businesspeople, and many of them don’t have audio turned on in the office. "Talking heads or voiceovers that no one hears are not very effective," notes eMarketer.
Happily, there is a simple solution: using subtitles in your videos. PLYmedia provides closed-captioning solutions and has tested the effect of displaying captions and subtitles on online videos. Their research showed that:
- "On average, subtitles increased the amount of time that users spent watching the video by almost 40%." Specifically, the videos without subtitles were viewed 66% to completion, while the same videos with subtitles were viewed 91% to completion.
- Using subtitles on videos increased viewing 20-fold among users who had the sound muted on their computers.
- Subtitles expand the range of online videos; for example, among Spanish audiences, subtitles increased the viewing time by almost 50% (a point to be considered by, say, personal injury law firms catering to immigrant communities).
While PLYmedia's research is arguably biased in favor of an application they sell, eMarketer senior analyst Paul Verna agrees with the logic of their solution:
“As more and more online video is consumed in an increasing variety of settings—from office environments to noisy bars to mobile phones—it makes sense to add closed-captioning and subtitling features to digital video files. These enhancements expand opportunities for viewers to enjoy online video, even when it’s impractical for them to have the sound turned on. The next frontier for online video subtitling will be contextual ads and interactivity that allows the end user to toggle the feature on or off, or select among a range of languages and other options."
Finally, PLYmedia's related press release explained that subtitles and closed-captioning
"[open] up additional viewing opportunities for the hearing impaired and enabling office workers to silently watch videos in the workspace. Viewing online video with subtitles in mute is indicative of the growth in popularity of watching videos at the workspace."
The bottom line appears to be that adding subtitles can help you attract more viewers for your videos and engage them better so that they will spend more time viewing your video content.
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