What does close captioning do for your brand?
Closed Captioning on television commercials is more than just a benefit for the hearing impaired, it is also a brand-enhancing and valuable sales vehicle for the advertiser.
Commercials are designed to attract attention and sell a product or service. There are over 3 million people in Australia and approx 400,000 in NZ who are either deaf or have some degree of hearing impairment. Without appropriate captioning, many cannot understand your commercial. Captions are regularly relied upon to make informed buying decisions and obtain important information.
All Government commercials broadcast on Australian and New Zealand terrestrial television must be captioned. All major free-to-air broadcasters offer captions during prime time and news and current affairs programming, with more and more Pay TV suppliers following suit. Captioning is a fantastic opportunity to connect with viewers who your commercials may otherwise have not been able to appeal to.
So what are the real benefits of captioning? Statistics show that:
66% of caption viewers are more likely to buy products advertised with captions
53% make a special effort to look for products advertised with captions
35% will change brands and buy products advertised with captions over those that are not.