# Over half of 18-34 year olds favour charities that use subtitles in adverts

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2021/04/12/over-half-of-18-34-year-olds-favour-charities-that-use-subtitles-in-adverts/
- Published: 2021-04-12T09:00:35+01:00
- Author: Melanie May

**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](https://subtext.tv/)‘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.

## Advertisement

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.”

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