Zdenek monitored the commercials during two hours of programs on Comedy Central, and found that 33% of them were captioned. This figure is in line with a survey of Australian TV commercials conducted by Media Access Australia in 2007, which found that 35% had captions. In Australia, many of the major advertisers, such as McDonald’s, KFC and Toyota, have been captioning their commercials since the early 1990s.
Zdenek notes that captioning levels on the highly coveted advertising slots during the Super Bowl are much higher (75% in 2010). This makes perfect sense given that a slot for a 30-second commercial during the Super Bowl cost US$2.7 million this year. When the minimal cost of captioning is added, the ad becomes accessible for the estimated 17% of Americans who report some degree of hearing loss.
The results of Zdenek’s survey can be found on the Accessible Rhetoric website.
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