Not all vendors are equal, and this is especially the case when you look at the accuracy level of a transcription service. The industry standard right now is a 99% accuracy rate, which means that there is a 1% chance of something being wrong. This ultimately means that for every 1500 words you have, 15 errors are going to be there. If you get an accuracy rate which is lower than 99% then this can really affect your content. You may find that the comprehension of your content is affected and this makes it very difficult for those who are deaf or even hard of hearing.
Low accuracy rates also affect your SEO as well. You may find that the correct names, the spellings of places and even technical vocabulary all works against you and this is the last thing that you need.
What Matters when Choosing a Closed Captioning Service?
There isn’t really a right way for you to caption your videos. Various methods lend themselves to higher quality outputs so it is vital that you keep this in consideration when you make the decision to try and invest. Automatic speech recognition software is good, and it can really help you to get a fast result but you have to make sure that you do everything you can to try and make sure that the closed captioning services you are hiring are able to provide you with a very high accuracy output as this is the only way for you to ensure you are getting a quality result.
What to Watch Out For:
If you are choosing a closed captioning service then you need to look at:
Crowdsourcing
Crowdsourcing is essentially when a vendor splits a file between a lot of different transcriptionists. The end result is then pieced together. Crowdsourcing is incredibly risky because it is way less safe. Your content can be leaked and because you have less consistency, you may end up having less accuracy.
Training
Training is essential if you want to make sure that the accuracy of your captions are on-point. If transcriptionists are not being trained to the highest standards, then you can almost certainly guarantee that you are not going to get the best result overall.
Security
It’s vital that you ensure the closed captioning service that you are going through can deliver your files safely and securely. If you suspect for one moment that the service is not going to be able to give you the support you need throughout the process or if you believe that they do not have the best security practices, then this should be a red flag and you should consider using another service.
Turnaround Time
Another thing that you need to watch out for is the turnaround time. You have to make sure that the company you are going through is able to provide you with a very fast turnaround when it comes to your content because if they don’t then you could end up missing important deadlines.
