Illustration: Tiffany Herring/Axios
It's a controversial moment for anyone watching a show or movie together: Subtitles or no subtitles? For most young people, it's an easy choice.
Why it matters: TikTok helped normalize captions for young media consumers, who are turning regularly to subtitles as part of their streaming habits.
- More than half of Gen Z and millennial media consumers prefer subtitles, according to new survey results from YPulse.
- While subtitles haven't always been seen as a first choice, they've grown in ubiquity — especially with the rise of online videos that include automatic captioning.
By the numbers: 59% of Gen Z survey respondents and 52% of millennials said they use subtitles.
- Gen Z males, especially, are watching with subtitles — 61% said they like to use them.
- Millennials are using subtitles while watching with their children, per YPulse.
Between the lines: Captions help watchers keep up with murmuring dialogue, distinguish thick accents and get a head start on a scene, the survey found.
- "Watching content with closed captions can reportedly improve literacy, vocabulary, and the speed of reading," YPulse said.
What they're saying: "I have two chances of being able to tell what they said in a scene," Natalie Cummings, 19, told Axios.
- While her mom doesn't totally get the practice, the junior at Ohio University turns them on for everything she watches, saying it helps improve focus.
Subtitles are a lifeline for Erika Gesualdo, 41, while watching TV. With ADHD and auditory processing disorder, she gets easily distracted otherwise.
- Over the past two decades, the dialogue has gotten more accurate, and text to describe sounds has become more specific, said Gesualdo, who lives in Maryland.
- Deaf and hard of hearing content creators advocated for automatic caption tools.
Of note: Watching foreign-language TV shows and movies with English subtitles made the feature mainstream for young watchers.
- "These gens are interested in entertainment from around the world, thanks to the global platforms they've grown up with access to," YPulse said.
- But young people are using captions even for content in English.
- Companies are now putting resources into making them descriptive, YPulse said.
Meanwhile, maintaining quality sound has been a challenge in the streaming era, the New York Times reported.
- Watchers could be turning to subtitles because they are simply not catching dialogue.
What's next: Accuracy of captions still has to improve for true accessibility, said Howard A. Rosenblum, the CEO of the National Association of the Deaf.
- Sometimes, primarily English content will show [Speaking foreign language] when a character is speaking another language.
- Song lyrics are also usually also omitted from captions, which "forces a disparity in viewing experience," Rosenblum said.
Go deeper: Americans prefer subtitles to dubbing for foreign-language content