Displaying Not Only Dialogue but Also Background Music in Subtitles
Domestic OTT in Early Stage... "Need to Provide Direction"
[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Su-yeon] To break down viewing barriers for vulnerable groups such as the hearing impaired, online video service (OTT) platforms' barrier-free services are emerging as a key competitive advantage. As TV viewing environments improve, many lines of dialogue become difficult to hear due to sound effects and background music, leading viewers to prefer Korean subtitles even for the same programs, prompting OTT companies to increase related investments.
On the 19th, following Netflix, TVING applied barrier-free Korean subtitle services to original content as well as popular content. Subtitle services are available for 84 popular titles, totaling 1,200 episodes.
Recently, access rights for people with disabilities have become a social issue, and as more people watch content with Korean subtitles displayed, the inclusion of closed captions or Korean subtitles for OTT barrier-free services is increasing. Unlike regular subtitles that only provide character dialogue, closed captions additionally offer screen descriptions for the hearing impaired. For example, if classical music is playing in the background, it is expressed as "calm music," and if the main character laughs, "laughter" is shown in the subtitles, displaying speaker information and sound details such as music.
Wavve began providing Korean subtitles on some original content in December last year and is expanding subtitle offerings mainly for new popular dramas. Last year, it formed a consortium with SBS, content companies, and artificial intelligence (AI) specialists to jointly develop an AI subtitle system. Watcha relatively quickly introduced barrier-free services among domestic companies. Since July last year, it has provided Korean subtitles and closed captions on about 240 titles.
Compared to overseas operators like Netflix, the introduction of Korean subtitles by domestic OTTs has been sluggish. Netflix supports closed captions for the hearing impaired on all its self-produced content. For the visually impaired, it provides audio descriptions and text-to-speech technology. In contrast, domestic OTTs have so far only partially introduced Korean subtitles, not closed captions. The National Assembly Legislative Research Office recently issued a "2022 National Audit Issue Analysis" report pointing out the need to activate barrier-free services on domestic OTT platforms.
In terms of scale, domestic OTTs are much smaller and cannot easily invest manpower and costs in subtitle production comparable to overseas OTTs with over 200 million subscribers. An OTT industry insider explained, "Domestic OTTs are not yet large enough, so manpower is lacking. Overseas companies use AI, but currently in Korea, people manually input and synchronize subtitles. Even dramas that have already aired on TV with Korean subtitles need detailed adjustments to fit OTT platforms. Especially for closed captions, nuances must be reviewed and described by humans one by one, requiring significant time and manpower."
There is also the issue of licensed content. Even if subtitles are produced with considerable cost and manpower, they cannot be used once the license contract period for the content expires. This is why OTT companies focus on creating barrier-free subtitles mainly for original content.
Since the introduction of barrier-free subtitles in the domestic OTT industry is relatively recent, concrete discussions have not yet been activated. There is demand for related technology, but the direction is unclear. Industry voices suggest that since access rights for people with disabilities are a matter of social interest rather than individual operators, the government should provide guidelines for OTT platforms, similar to how it formed research groups for terrestrial broadcasters in the past and discussed strengthening broadcast accessibility for marginalized groups.
An OTT industry insider said, "Since improving access rights for people with disabilities is a social issue, we hope the government will discuss and provide direction together rather than leaving it solely to operators. Even if investment is difficult, we hope for support such as operating research groups or offering technical advice, as done for terrestrial and pay broadcasters, from a promotion perspective."
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