Diverting from the world of transcription for a minute, anyone who lives in a house with teenagers will probably relate to this: turning on the subtitles on Netflix. Why?!
Now of course I’m not talking about the necessity for those who are hearing impaired. In fact, this is exactly who I would assume is the target market for subtitles! But if you’re a parent of teens who are fortunate enough to hear fully (albeit very selectively – but that’s a whole other subject!), but still have subtitles switched on for their favourite Netflix shows, it’s a very confusing phenomenon!
It seems that it’s become the new normal…
Crunching the numbers with subtitles on Netflix
Apparently 85% of subscribers to the streaming service regularly use subtitles when viewing. It’s interesting when you break this down even further: 80% of the 18-24 age demographic use them most of the time, compared to just 25% of those aged 56-75.
There also seems to be a difference when it comes to other streaming services available – Amazon Prime say that only 54% of their viewers use subtitles regularly, and this drops to 37% on Disney+ – although a simple explanation for the latter is most likely down to the reading ability of their audience.
The reasons may surprise you
As we age and our hearing deteriorates we either turn the sound level up, or we may turn to subtitles to be able to follow our TV favourites. But surprisingly this isn’t the reason people are citing behind the trend.
Some of the reasons are:
- Distraction: we spend much of our time stacking – this is when we are watching or using multiple devices at the same time. Having subtitles may enable us to catch what’s been said so that we can keep up with the plot.
- Accents: when an accent is particularly strong and more difficult to decipher, subtitles ensure you don’t miss the meaning when someone speaks with an accent
- Language: Netflix has become a great source of being able to access foreign content – think of the success of Korean phenomenon Squid Game.
- Boosting the experience for the hard of hearing: this one is about maxing the subtitles experience to make it more immersive. The team at Stranger Things went viral for this very reason, using really descriptive captions to create a more detailed idea of what sounds were involved – “Tentacles undulating mostly” is a great example!
What do you think… have you embraced the subtitles on Netflix phenomenon yourself?!