Why You Should Caption your Video

Why Caption?

Deaf and Hard of Hearing Audience

The estimated demographic figure has ranged from 22 million deaf and hard of hearing to as high as 36 million deaf and hard of hearing.

Deafness.About.com

English as Second Language

Millions of ESL residents in the USA - [Cite needed, as US Census Bureau link changed]

Search Engines Like It

computer screen with the pointer pointing to a hyperlink address

Many videos on the net simply aren’t seen because they cant get discovered. This can be due to lack of promotion, search engine optimization or effort on the part of the creator. But adding closed captions to a video may be one way in which to get some additional traffic to it as well as make the video accessible to those without sound-capable PCs (e.g. many office workers) or those with hearing impairments. Using translation techniques to provide multiple language captions can also drive additional traffic to your content from non-English speakers.

In addition, there can be benefit for video search optimization when adding external captioning and or external media transcripts.

The Law Requires It

~~may become~~ is law. HR3101:

To ensure that individuals with disabilities have access to emerging Internet Protocol-based communication and video programming technologies in the 21st century.

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-3101