How Multimedia Is Changing the Way We Reach Global Audiences
Multimedia is proving to be a game-changer in the field of marketing, digital advertising, and e-learning. Brands are effectively using interactive multimedia channels to garner better engagement and reach virtual, local audiences. Videos and interactive multimedia channels are taking the place of words and pictures. It seems like a picture is worth a thousand words and a video is worth a million words. That is the kind of engagement multimedia channels are generating.
Today, video is the preferred source of information for 66% of internet users. This may explain the 3.7 hours we spend on our phones and other devices. Social media and watching videos on social media consume a lot of this time. If these statistics aren’t shocking enough, how about this: Over 500 million people actively watch videos on Facebook every day. Video content is a powerful medium and these numbers establish the fact without a doubt.
Change in Consumption of Digital Media
It’s a well-established fact that video has been the breakout trend in the world of business and marketing in the past decade. People aren’t interested in text messages or blogs as much as they used to be. Videos and animation are grabbing eyeballs today. Social media videos generate 1200% more shares and engagement than both text and image content together.
This change isn’t limited to English-speaking countries. In fact, developing economies lead the video revolution. This means audiences now come from diverse backgrounds. To engage these global audiences, having a presence in multiple languages is a must for brands.
Global Brands Using Digital Content to Reach Their Audiences
In the history of advertising, ad spends have always followed viewership. With the rise in the popularity of video content, brands across the board are adopting videos. According to 75 Staggering Video Marketing Statistics for 2021 by WordStream, 87% of online marketing professionals worldwide use video content.
Brands across the globe are fast changing their marketing strategies. Video content for digital media is seeing a sharp rise. Zenith media forecasts that expenditure on online video will rise to US$61 billion by 2021. This is an 18% rise compared to the 10% a year for internet advertising as a whole.
Where Are Viewers Located and What Languages Do They Speak?
The answer to this question is simple. The world is a global village. Viewers are the citizens of this global village. And they speak diverse languages.
The rise in video content consumption isn’t limited to English-speaking countries. China and Sweden are the keenest video viewers. The average person in both countries spends 103 minutes every day viewing online videos. These aren’t the only countries where daily viewership exceeds the 100-minute mark. Experts at Zenith media expect India, Mexico, Canada, the UK, and the US to join the 100-minute league by 2021.
Localization Techniques Used to Reach Other Audiences
The above facts make it clear that multimedia content needs to be localized for it to be consumable for viewers scattered around the world. Localization of multimedia includes subtitling, dubbing, voiceovers, and in some cases, recreating digital content in its entirety to appeal to different languages and cultures.
However, recreating isn’t always a cost-effective move. This means advertisers working on tight budgets may not be able to recreate videos in multiple languages. Subtitling, dubbing, and voiceovers can be much more practical options, as they are less costly. If content creators know that multimedia work is destined for a global audience, then creating a video or other assets with localization in mind can lead to a smooth, more cost-effective translation and localization process.
“Consider localization from the outset. Consider the possibilities of text expansion (Russian takes up 40% more space than English), how subtitles may fit, whether motion graphics can easily have text edited, and how a voice over can be easily synched to the source material.” Michael Anderson, Senior Multimedia Engineer, Welocalize
The Need for Localization
While localization to meet the globalization goals of brands is the need of the day, it’s easier said than done. Video translation demands a more complex process and specialist skills compared to straightforward text translation.
Welocalize specializes in the language, technology, and post-production process needed to localize multimedia and global e-learning course to appeal to multimedia audiences in over 250 languages. For more information and to contact our specialist multimedia team, click here.
