Facebook is a social media juggernaut. There’s over 1.59 billion (yes, BILLION) monthly active users, who accumulate 8 billion (again, BILLION) video views on a daily basis. If you’re not closed captioning your Facebook videos, we’ve got 8 billion reasons why you should be! But here’s the six biggest ones.
1. Moving to mobile
Social media usage on mobile devices is absolutely dominating usage on desktop computers. 75% of video views on Facebook occur on mobile devices! I’m not sure if you’ve lifted your gaze from your mobile on your morning commute, but if you do, you’ll notice that everyone is on their phones. Which leads me to my next point…
2. Silence is golden
A recent study by Facebook found that 80% of viewers react negatively when a video plays loudly unexpectedly. I mean, who wants to be interrupted by a Facebook video while scrolling the News Feed and jamming to Hotline Bling? If your video is closed captioned, viewers can watch the video silently and discreetly on their morning commute (or from the bathroom stall) without drawing any attention to themselves. We checked our video insights to see how many of our Facebook fans viewed one of our recent videos with the sound off. These results speak for themselves…
3. “Boring, boring, boring, ooh a video!”
“GIVE ME YOUR ATTENTION!” screams every post on Facebook. There is just so much to see, watch and read! In this overcrowded space, video posts have proven to be the most engaging post type on Facebook, with 135% greater organic reach on average when compared to photo posts.
4. Finishing what they started
The average video completion rate on Facebook is approximately 10%. On the other end of the spectrum, almost 50% of viewers on average watch less than a quarter of each video they watch! According to Facebook, adding captions leads people to spend an average of 12% more time watching your videos. In a world where time is our most precious commodity, that’s more time being spent watching your content.
5. Hit ‘em fast, hit ‘em hard!
If you want to make an impact, you have to do it quickly! Since videos automatically play in the News Feed with the sound off, closed captions are an easy method to get your message across, without the need for the viewer to click the video to turn the sound on.
6. Accessing a larger audience
Last, but most certainly not least, closed captions will make your videos accessible to viewers who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have English as an additional language. With 1 in 6 people having some form of hearing loss, that’s a lot of viewers that you could be appealing to by closed captioning your videos!
