Do captions increase views?
By the maker of Captions Cut. Facts checked on from the pages listed under Sources.
The short answer
Captions reliably help people understand and remember video: a 2015 review counts more than 100 studies showing it. For views and watch time, the evidence is thinner: Meta’s own 2016 tests found captioned video ads were watched 12% longer, a 2014 YouTube case study found 7.3% more views on captioned videos, and a 2019 survey found 69% of people watch with the sound off in public. No independent study has measured captions and views on TikTok, Reels or Shorts.
The evidence, with its limits
| Finding | Who and when | Limits |
|---|---|---|
| Captioned video ads watched 12% longer on average | Meta (Facebook), internal tests, 2016 | Ads only; no method or sample published |
| 41% of video ads were “basically meaningless without sound” | Meta, 2016 | One study of Facebook ads |
| 69% watch video with the sound off in public; 25% in private | Verizon Media and Publicis Media survey of 5,616 US adults, 2019 | Self-reported; run by an ad seller and an ad agency |
| 80% of people who use captions are not deaf or hard of hearing | Same survey | Self-reported |
| 7.32% more views on captioned YouTube videos (13.48% in the first two weeks) | 3Play Media with Discovery Digital Networks, about 2014 | A captioning vendor’s case study; closed-caption files, which also help search |
| Captions improve comprehension, attention and memory | Gernsbacher, review of 100+ studies, 2015 | Mostly lab, classroom and language-learning studies |
Sound on, sound off
Both habits are real. In 2016, publishers told Digiday that up to 85% of their Facebook video views were silent; that figure is about Facebook autoplay a decade ago, not today’s feeds. TikTok, commissioning Nielsen in 2020, reported that 88% of its users say sound is vital to the experience. Captions serve both: people with the sound off can follow, and people with it on read along.
What this means for your clips
- Expect captions to help people follow and remember what is said; that is what the research shows.
- Treat claims of “40% more views” with suspicion: we could not find a primary source for any of them.
- Measure your own: post comparable clips with and without captions and compare watch time in each app’s analytics.
How we checked
Each figure was traced to its original publisher where it still exists, and read on 22 October 2026. The Verizon Media study page is gone; its figures are taken from StreamingMedia’s report of it. Widely repeated statistics we could not trace to a primary source (“80% more likely to finish a video”, “40% more views”) are left out.
Questions
Do captions help on TikTok?
No published study measures it. What is known: captions help people understand and remember speech, and many people watch with the sound off in public. Test it on your own account.
Is it true that 85% of videos are watched without sound?
That figure comes from a few publishers’ Facebook views in 2016, reported by Digiday. It is not a study and is not about today’s apps.
Sources
- Facebook for Business: updated features for video ads (2016)
- StreamingMedia: Verizon Media and Publicis study (2019)
- 3Play Media: Discovery Digital Networks case study
- Gernsbacher (2015), Video Captions Benefit Everyone
- Digiday: Facebook video without sound (2016)
- TikTok: sound on TikTok (2021)
Each page read on .