{"id":13196,"date":"2017-11-09T17:37:28","date_gmt":"2017-11-09T22:37:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.3playmedia.com\/case-studies\/discovery-digital-networks\/"},"modified":"2025-08-15T00:28:56","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T00:28:56","slug":"discovery-digital-networks","status":"publish","type":"case_studies","link":"https:\/\/www.3playmedia.com\/case-studies\/discovery-digital-networks\/","title":{"rendered":"Discovery Digital Networks: Captions for Increased Viewership"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Discovery Digital Networks: Captions for Increased Viewership<\/h1>\n\n\n

The Power of Captions for YouTube Video Viewership<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Using 3Play Media\u2019s captioning and transcription services, Discovery Digital Networks* conducted a controlled study on the effects of adding closed captions to YouTube videos. In doing so, they were able to quantify the value of captioning video content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What did they find? Let\u2019s dive in.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Spoiler Alert<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Based on the results of this study<\/strong>, Discovery Digital Networks rolled out captioning for the rest of their video content. They were pleased with the demonstrated increase in views, and believed that the projected gains would be profitable for their channels.

Discovery Digital Networks\u2019 study shows that adding closed captions to YouTube videos can have a dramatic immediate impact on views, and by extension, ad revenue.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Discovering the Value of Captions for YouTube Videos<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Captioned Videos Increase Overall Views<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Discovery Digital Networks found an overall increase of 7.32% in views for captioned videos, a statistic that they were very pleased with. This finding suggests that videos with captions help to improve overall viewership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Captions Boosts Viewership Early On<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Discovery Digital Networks found that the greatest gains in views were seen during the first 14 days after adding captions, with a 13.48% increase. They established no significant impact on shares and other engagement metrics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Captions Help Your Videos Appear More In Search Rank<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Discovery Digital Networks wanted to be certain that the closed caption files were being indexed by YouTube\u2019s search engine. To test this, they searched for a phrase that appeared in the transcript of the video, but not in the video title, description, or tags.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The captioned video ranked 4th on YouTube for the query, showing that YouTube does in fact index closed captions and factors them into search rank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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[Blog] Tips to Boost Your YouTube Search Rank<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The Business Case for Captioning YouTube Video<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

How many views does it take to make back what you spend on captioning your YouTube videos? Let\u2019s break it down:<\/p>\n\n\n\n