TV subtitles have come a long way since the days of teletext. Thanks to the technical capabilities of streaming services and recent legislation mandating accessibility features, closed captions are now roundly available for TV content, and a recent YouGov poll found that 28 percent of viewers in the UK prefer to watch TV (in their native language) with the subtitles on.
But when it comes to ads, the picture is somewhat fuzzier. Research from ad tech firm XR found that just 9 percent of TV ads globally in 2024 included closed captions, and only 1 percent featured audio description. This risks excluding viewers with disabilities, and losing the full effect of an ad on millions of consumers. UK studies suggest around one-quarter of the UK population have hearing impairments, while sight loss affects about 4 percent of people.
To help address this accessibility gap, Channel 4 Sales announced this summer that all ads delivered to the UK broadcaster will require closed captions from spring 2026. Amy Jenkins, Customer and Commercial Leader at Channel 4, says the initiative aims to highlight the commercial benefits of accessible ads, as well as their inclusivity.
“If I was talking to my customer and told them their ad didn’t go out properly, and potentially 18 million people didn’t see their ad, there would be a consequence to that,” she tells VideoWeek. “But we haven’t quite got ourselves to a stage in the UK where we have that conversation about the missed opportunity around accessibility features.”
Lack of clarity
Clearcast, the company that approves ads for broadcast in the UK, currently has no specific accessibility requirements for ads going to air. And data from the Clearcast Library reveals that the proportion of UK advertisers and agencies intending to add subtitles rarely rises above 20 percent. Amy Jenkins argues this is not due to any ill intention, but because the industry lacks clarity as to whose responsibility it is to implement accessibility features.
Sam Smith, Managing Director at Clearcast, agrees that accessibility is often seen as a ‘nice to have’ rather than a ‘must have’. “People are used to the way things have always been done and accessibility, unfortunately, is often an afterthought,” she comments. “People really do underestimate the benefits of accessible ads. The potential added reach is huge, and of course it’s the right thing to do for our audiences.”
There are however checks from Clearcast that contribute towards accessibility, such as assessing the legibility of superimposed text (which tends to contain terms and conditions) in terms of font, size and hold time. Clearcast also performs photosensitive epilepsy checks on all ads to ensure they do not trigger any viewers. Meanwhile the EU’s European Accessibility Act (EAA) is helping to push the issue up the agenda by improving access to audio-visual media services.
But when it comes to features such as subtitles, audio description and BSL (British Sign Language), there is still a misconception that these will be time-intensive and costly to implement, according to June Johnson, Director of Access Services at XR. “That just isn’t the case,” she explains. “In many markets, the technical infrastructure is already there, but brands aren’t always factoring accessibility into the creative or delivery process. There’s also a bit of a visibility problem where if it’s not mandated, it can make it easier for brands to overlook.”
Ease of access
Yet there are companies that offer accessibility services for advertisers, including XR and Clearcast itself. XR’s June Johnson notes that adding closed captions has a “minimal” cost, particularly when planned early in the production process. “Audio description can take a bit more time, but it’s still very doable and even faster if you have one partner for both,” she says. “Technically, many broadcasters in mature markets are ready to support accessibility for advertisers. The real hurdle is operational, making sure it’s baked into the brief, the workflow and the delivery process.”
Clearcast also offers subtitles for £200 per TVC, which Sam Smith calls a “very small price” for the extra reach they can deliver. “If I said you could increase your reach by up to 20 percent by spending £200, you’d do it wouldn’t you?” says Smith. “And that’s without it just being the right thing to do.” She adds that these can be simply applied to an ad by ticking a box in the Clearcast Library, and the subtitles are created in parallel with the clearance process, meaning advertisers do not need to wait until after the ad is cleared. And closed captions will only appear when the viewer has subtitles enabled, so they will not disrupt the experience for users who do not want to see them.
Channel 4 works with both partners, as well as Cape.io (formerly Peach), for ad delivery, and is hoping its initiative requiring ads to include closed captions moves the industry forward from an accessibility standpoint. Amy Jenkins says progress is already underway, with around 30 percent of ads now coming to the broadcaster with subtitles as standard. And with closed captions becoming more mainstream, Channel 4 aims to move the conversation towards audio description and BSL.
Signs of progress
The company has previously explored BSL in advertising, delivering a fully signed ad break during a live episode of The Last Leg, as part of its Paralympics coverage in 2016. The broadcaster went one step further during the 2024 Paralympics, pushing for 100 percent of ads around the coverage to be subtitled. But Jenkins says the deadline imposed by the initiative proved challenging for advertisers.
“Our experience in the Paralympics probably pointed to my own personal naivety, more than anything else,” she comments. “I was quite surprised at how challenging it was to get to 100 percent. We set quite a tight deadline, and that did result in a few advertisers feeling quite frustrated at the fact that they weren’t able to turn it around quickly enough, or that there were cost implications.”
Channel 4 is therefore learning from that experience, according to Jenkins, with more support in place for advertisers to bring them along on the broadcaster’s accessibility journey. “What we’ve taken away is the need to make it an iterative process,” she says. “It’s about setting a deadline but moving the industry through that, rather than saying, from now on we don’t accept any ads from this day.”
The broadcaster is also working with and recognising brands that lean in to accessibility as part of their creative. Last year, Channel 4’s Diversity in Advertising award was won by Curry’s for its ‘Sigh of Relief‘ campaign, which had BSL and audio description baked into the narrative. Channel 4 also worked with Virgin Atlantic for a campaign during International Week of Deaf People in 2024, promoting the airline’s BSL-trained crew members.
“I’ve seen some brilliant work from an accessibility perspective,” comments Jenkins. “I think we have some hugely talented people in the industry in the UK that are more than up for a challenge to think of things differently, and to push the boundaries on how ads are created to reach as many people as possible.”
Clearcast’s Sam Smith echoes this enthusiasm for UK advertisers to embrace accessibility features in the months ahead. “As an industry, we’re trying hard to create a culture shift, with a mixture of new technology, awareness, education and support,” she says. “We’re excited about Channel 4’s new stance on subtitling, and we are definitely sensing a small, but real, shift in attitudes around it, thanks to the brilliant work by a number of organisations across the industry. We’re really proud to support this initiative and we hope it really starts to change things.”
Follow VideoWeek on LinkedIn.
