Research shows children who watch TV with subtitles can improve their literacy skills without even realising it.
Over 500 episodes of children’s programmes from Sky, WarnerMedia and ViacomCBS Networks UK will have the subtitles automatically turned on.
It’s part of the Turn on the Subtitles campaign and available to Sky customers with Sky Kids. The campaign aims to improve the reading and writing skills of children while they’re watching their favourite shows: one in four children in the UK leave primary school without being able to read fluently. Turning on same-language subtitles for children’s content can double the chance of them becoming a proficient reader.
Through the ‘read as you watch’ area of Sky Kids, viewers will be able to watch programmes including The Amazing World of Gumball, Scooby-Doo, PAW Patrol, SpongeBob Squarepants, Henry Danger and The Thundermans. Viewers watching on a traditional linear TV channel will continue to be able to turn on subtitles in the usual way.
Lucy Murphy, Director of Kids Content at Sky, said:
“At Sky, we connect millions of children to stories they love. We’re delighted to partner with Warner Media and ViacomCBS to support the Turn on the Subtitles campaign and help improve the literacy skills of thousands of children in the UK and Ireland…”
Oli Barrett MBE, Co-founder of Turn on the Subtitles, added:
“Some ideas are so powerful that something must be done about them. Subtitles improving literacy is one of those ideas. This campaign takes an incredibly simple insight and uses it to improve people’s lives. We are incredibly grateful for the support of Sky, Viacom and Warner Media who are now taking this seriously, and to the many high-profile names who are helping us to spread the word.”
Explainer | Subtitles
The widespread introduction of subtitles was originally intended to help the deaf and hard-of-hearing. In the 1970s, Ceefax began offering subtitles to BBC viewers with a teletext-enabled television. This service soon expanded to ITV through its teletext service Oracle, and in the 1980s to Channel 4. In the late 90s, Digital TV services launched that allowed subtitles to be always on. Some devices even included a dedicated subtitles button on the remote. Fast forward to the present, and Ofcom is currently reviewing how subtitles can become more widely available on streaming services.
Generally, subtitles for pre-recorded programmes are more accurate than live subtitling, which is subject to voice recognition issues.
The Turn On The Subtitles campaign involves turning on the subtitles by default. This is something that has traditionally only been done in the past for foreign language dramas and films. This follows research that shows that following the subtitles can benefit literacy.