Over half of 18-34 year olds favour charities that use subtitles in adverts
Melanie May | 12 April 2021 | News
Over 50% of 18-34 year olds would be more likely to donate to a charity that used subtitles in its advertising, according to consumer research from SubText Digital.
SubText Digital‘s research looked at how people of all age groups use subtitles and highlighted a variety of reasons why people choose subtitling. While accessibility due to deafness or hearing loss is a key reason, others use subtitles to help understand accents, decipher mumbling or to prevent disturbing sleeping household members or neighbours.
Younger people are much more likely to use subtitles regularly, with 62% of 18-24 year olds using subtitles at least two times per week, compared to only 23% in the 55+ category. Nearly half of 18-24 year olds use subtitling all the time, as opposed to only one in ten 55+ year olds.
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The trend towards increased usage in younger age groups is coupled with views about how brands make themselves more accessible and attractive by subtitling their content. The research found that 64% of all age groups view a brand that uses subtitles as more socially responsible then those that don’t.
This view is echoed by Deaf comedian Steve Day, who said:
“I have a long-standing policy of favouring companies that bother to subtitle adverts. If they don’t bother, then I simply assume that they don’t want my custom. My policy means that I sometimes pay a bit more for things, but I don’t care.”
It is estimated that only around 40% of charity adverts currently include subtitles. This may be an oversight or because of the perceived cost.
Chris Parsons, Chief Executive of SubText Digital, said:
“Subtitling adverts is important to ensure that charity brands are accessible to all audience groups. It doesn’t need to be an expensive exercise, as it has often been historically, and it’s important to make sure that price isn’t a barrier for charities with tight budgets.”
Main image: by JESHOOTS.com from Pexels
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About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.