Learning articles

U.S. adults spend an average of about 6 hours per day consuming video. According to Cisco, 82% of the world’s internet traffic will be video by 2022 – an increase from today’s estimated 80%. As the amount of video increases and technology continues to develop at exceptionally fast rates, expectations and trends for video change as well.

Verizon Media partnered with Publicis Media to examine this evolution of video viewing. Their results come from an online survey of 5,616 U.S. adults age 18 to 54 conducted in April 2019. Below we’ve reviewed their most interesting findings, with a specific look at the critical role of captioning.

The Royal National Institute of Blind People and MullenLowe UK have announced a partnership with Cannes Lions to introduce a new award celebrating the use of alternative text.

Alt text involves the use of online image descriptions to enable people with impaired sight to visualise pictures.

This document is intended to provide rules and guidelines for use of accessible graphics and text on AMI-tv. These rules are designed to
maximize accessibility for a blind and partially sighted audience while not limiting creativity.

This document is based off the research and standards set by Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0). Relevant sections have been adapted to accommodate the differences in nature of web content compared to television content.

Accessibility refers to the practice of ensuring that information, services and environments are accessible, usable and enjoyable for all people, regardless of ability. In advertising, accessibility means ensuring there are as few barriers as possible between all users and the media they consume. Accessible advertising content, whether broadcast or online, should be used, read, viewed, understood and enjoyed by everyone, including people who are blind, deaf or have vision/hearing loss, or people with disabilities, whether physical or cognitive. Accessibility can be understood within the wider context of creating a more inclusive society.

The vast majority of TV ads today are not designed with accessibility in mind or do not have services in place to make them accessible. Click below to learn more about access services and how they are used.

This page includes links to resources that may help support broadcasters and on-demand providers in making their programmes accessible. While Ofcom does not endorse the specifics of content included on external websites, this list was put together following extensive consultation with user groups, industry and accessibility experts.