The audience nowadays is increasingly distracted and impatient given how flooded it is with information. We often open a video just to close it a few seconds later if we don’t like how it started or what we saw while skimming through it. Below, we argue that doubling the information contained in the video by means of transcripts/ captions comes with multiple benefits.

Why Use Transcripts?

1. Including full transcripts along the video enables the audience to locate the desired information instantly

Suppose your viewers are hoping to locate a very specific bit of information from your video. Extracting and pasting the full transcripts somewhere underneath the video under a structured outline could be an incredible time-saver. Additionally, your audience could simply use the search function to locate specific words or word combinations they are looking for and then, either read the transcript fragment or jump to the respective video timing.

2. Videos with captions are easier to adapt for multilingual audiences

Transcription files can be used directly to generate translations in dozens of languages without messing with the original audio. Translating captions can be performed with minimal effort – one just needs to translate the sentences in the original transcription file without altering the timings. In fact, video transcription is nowadays one of the standard services offered by professional translation services online and the latter already feel very comfortable approaching such tasks, having acquired the necessary expertise. Alternatively, if no translation is intended, making the full transcripts accessible can enable the audience to perform the translations themselves using tools like Google Translate.

3. Transcripts make it easier to disseminate the information embedded in the video

Accessing the transcripts alone would only consume a fraction of the traffic necessary to watch the video, which would make the latter easier to disseminate under certain circumstances. Text excerpts could be also embedded in emails or sent through other channels with limited attachment size, can be included in posts on social media, RSS feeds, printed media, etc.

Video Content

4. Videos with transcripts are better at attracting attention

Text is just another channel of information that can be exploited in an extremely competitive setting, such as when advertising. On many social media platforms, videos on the timeline start muted, therefore, videos with captions have a greater chance to attract the attention of the timeline scrolling audience. Just ensure that the video starts with a punchline, ideally, an explanatory one.

5. Captions make videos viewable by people with hearing impairment and by those who struggle with the language

As opposed to signing language, which takes training to learn, everyone can create captions and hence, could make videos viewable by people with hearing impairment. Besides, captions make it easier to discern speech for everyone else, including for those learning the language. This can be even useful for representatives of the same nation when dialects or strong accents are involved.

6. Captions enable watching videos discreetly

There are times when we only need to pretend to pay attention or times when we don’t want to disturb the surrounding people and also don’t have the earbuds anywhere nearby. Captions enable us to retrieve all the important information from the video without turning on the audio, be it at a boring unproductive meeting, in public transport, and so on.

Video Captions

Final Thoughts

To conclude, transcribing videos comes with multiple benefits. Fortunately, it is not too time-consuming and can be entirely delegated to third parties that deliver this as a service. Alternatively, you could do it yourself given the simplicity of the process.

For instance, if you need to transcribe a YouTube video, this article lists several ways to achieve it. Note that you could greatly accelerate your work by employing intelligent tools using artificial intelligence – while some errors are guaranteed, they might save you a lot of time.

Bio:

Merissa worked as a content writer for academic assistance and content marketing platforms. She wrote lots of creative essays, produced carefully researched and documented academic papers, and created inspiring promotional messages. Now, she gladly shares the experience acquired throughout this time.

Positive Words Research – 6 Key Benefits to Use Transcription for Your Business