Author: Allan Caeg

Why Captions are Critical for YouTube [Statistics]

Allan CaegLeave a comment
Why Captions Matter to YouTube Creators [Statistics]

You continuously invest in your YouTube channel. You produce great content, invest in distribution, work on SEO, and more. How else might you optimize your channel?

Through statistics, we’ll explore what your YouTube reach looks like. Get a general sense of key YouTube data points, creator statistics, impact of accessibility, and more. We’ll expound on the results that you’d expect if you religiously add captions to your YouTube videos.

Adding captions to a YouTube video provides SEO advantages and increases watch time, as well as boosts engagement and accessibility to a bigger audience. So, the question remains. Why don’t more YouTube creators caption their content?

YouTube Key Data Points Creators Should Know

Although Google has never disclosed the total number of videos hosted on the global network, we know that it’s changed the way we find, consume, and share information.

Youtube attracts a major chunk of internet users. (Up to ⅓ of internet users go on YouTube.) After all, YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine.

With over 50% of YouTube views come from mobile devices, you’ve probably also noticed that half of your YouTube views come from a mobile device. Have you optimized your video content for this mobile audience?

What YouTubers Are Doing

Currently, there are 50 million creators and over 5 billion videos shared on Youtube.

With the astounding number of YouTube creators uploading content, it’s amazing how many of their videos are now being captioned.

Every minute, 400 hours of video are uploaded, and a whopping 1 billion videos now include captions.

Adding captions is a move towards accessibility, as well as a smart business move. Captions help attract a wider community, increase watch time and shares, and boosts your ranking. See how repurposing content can also boost your channel.

Why Accessibility Matters

It’s time to set a universal standard for accessibility. How many people have visited your channel and left without complaining because of its inaccessibility?

Invest in video captions to reach that sizeable audience. Captions are essential to ensuring that your videos are accessible to the wider public.

Source: uscreen

Although more YouTube creators are placing effort into creating more accessible content, many are still turning a blind eye, too.

How People Are Watching YouTube Videos

YouTube captions benefit more than those who need them for accessibility.

Of the 7.5 million people in the UK who use closed captions, only 1.5 million were deaf or hard of hearing. This means that viewers use closed captions for reasons other than difficulty hearing.

Turning the sound on isn’t always a possibility. Others, prefer to watch without sound. Captions can help capture this audience segment who watch without sound. In fact, 85 percent of social videos are watched with the sound off.

Over 1 billion hours of YouTube videos are being watched per day, more than Netflix and Facebook video combined. With 500 million of those YouTube views on mobile devices, more YouTube videos can be enjoyed in various settings.

Conveniently generate text to promote and enhance your videos (with Scribie’s native YouTube integration). Get captions for your YouTube video now!

Your viewers may be consuming your content while taking a quick break in the office, out commuting in an environment with heavy background noise, or simply at home beside their sleeping baby.

People are also watching videos longer. The average viewing Session is 40 minutes, which is up 50% year-over-year. However, 20% of YouTube users will leave a video within the first 10 seconds if it hasn’t hooked them in.

The Impact of Captions on Your YouTube Channel

How do the statistics of videos with captions compare to video content without subtitles?

When it comes to watch time, subtitled videos increase view time by more than 12% and are watched an average 91% to completion. In comparison, videos without subtitles are only watched 66% to completion. When subtitles are included, 80% more people watch videos to completion.

Source: uscreen

In terms of engagement, subtitles also increase social reach and elicit better responses. They boost video shares by 15%. There are also 17% better reactions and 26% more call-to-action click-throughs.

Captions increase engagement and engagement ratio is a key ranking factor for YouTube videos.

In terms of rankings, subtitles also boost your SEO and position in search results or as a suggested video.

YouTuber Leron Amin shares that:

Adding captions to my YouTube video added an additional 1,046 words and 393 indexable search terms. Best of all, my target keyword density increased by 68 terms (Green), and my keyword diversity increased by 12 terms (orange).

Captions also improve comprehension. Subtitles were regarded as “generally very effective in making programmes understood”. Up to 7 in 10 YouTube viewers use the platform for help with their work, studies, or hobbies. This helps viewers absorb your video content’s message better.

Earnings also increase. Adding captions could lead to a 7.32% increase in views. This translates into an increase in earnings of $890.93, from $12.171.29 to $13,062.22.

Over to You

There are plenty of ways you can add captions to your YouTube videos, whether manually or through YouTube’s automatic captions.

Take note: YouTube’s automatic (CC) captions do not get indexed, which is another reason why it is critical to add your own.

According to former YouTube product manager Bob Ellis, “We don’t [index] the automatic captions today. I hope that we will down the road, but it’s a trade-off with the quality. If you upload captions yourself to any YouTube video, we do index that. That is searched.”

Unfortunately, YouTube’s automatic captions are also often filled with numerous errors.

For fast, easy, and accurate captions, Scribie offers transcription services with integrated features that directly upload your captions to YouTube.

Boost your YouTube channel through captions and transcripts. Import your YouTube video now to add captions.

How to Get More Youtube Views by Maximizing Your Existing Videos

Allan CaegLeave a comment
How to Get More Youtube Views by Maximizing Your Existing Videos

As a YouTube creator, you want more subscribers, watch time, views, and clicks to your website.

Ultimately, your success on YouTube either helps you generate ad revenue or promote your brand (whether you’re selling bags, cosmetics, or business tools). Given your goals, how do you grow your YT channel in 2019 and beyond?

I’ll discuss actionable steps and YouTube insider tricks that can help instantly boost your view count.

Discover how you can promote your videos on different channels, repurpose content, and why getting transcripts of your videos are a Youtuber’s secret weapon.

The Value of Text

You trust written content. After all, despite Google’s speech recognition powers, SEO still relies on the written word.

As a result, you strive to write and remix your video content into metadata (title, description, tags, etc)… or you just completely miss out on these optimization and distribution opportunities.

Because you’ve invested so much in producing your videos, you want to make sure that they’re found! If they fall on deaf ears, that ultimately hurts your mission and bottom line.

At the moment, you could be working on YouTube on your own or occasionally getting help. In this article, I’ll expound on the kind of help that you can get from professionals who specialize in areas that you would rather (and should) delegate.

Let Scribie’s professionals do the work. Order transcripts of your YouTube videos or upload subtitles to your videos.

What YouTube Looks like in 2019

We know we’re preaching to the choir. You’ve been publishing regularly (perhaps for more than a year now). In any case, let’s revisit the value of YouTube and what the landscape looks like. These facts, trends, and statistics enable us to review your opportunities.

You might know that YouTube is the 2nd(!) most popular search engine. Coincidentally, did you also know that YouTube is the 2nd most popular website on earth (at the time of writing)?

Given its influence, the leading video platform happens to be a lucrative income source (directly or indirectly). How much can YouTubers make? Typically composed of small teams or solo creators, top YouTubers are worth between $10M to $20M. Looking at the other side of the spectrum, businesses like Adobe and Cisco depend on YouTube as a marketing channel.

In other words, YouTube isn’t going down. You’re investing in the right place so you better double down.

How Transcription Services Can Change Your YouTube Game

As mentioned before, you can’t ignore the value of text. As Youtubers, you’ll still need to input text, whether as video captions, in your description and tags, or even when sharing videos on your social accounts.

A transcript of your YouTube video allows you to repurpose content. Why is repurposing content so magical?

First of all, you save time. You get to promote more even when creating less.

According to Buffer, you can repurpose the content in your video to get an SEO boost, reach more audiences, gain authority, and reinforce your message.

All The Ways You Can Repurpose Your YT Video

Through a transcription service that will turn your recordings into text, like Scribie, you can repurpose your video content in a multitude of ways. Awesome, yes?

Adding the (tiresome but essential) metadata like tags and descriptions to your YouTube video becomes easier.

This also lets you distribute your content to a multitude of channels. Use the text version of your video recording to create:

  • new blog posts and articles,
  • a presentation,
  • social media posts,
  • Quora answers,
  • emails,
  • an ebook, and more!

You can also use the text to add subtitles/captions to your videos and become more accessible to a wider audience, as well as boost watch time and your viewer’s experience.

Beef Up YouTube Video Descriptions

Optimizing the metadata or descriptions in your YouTube videos increase the chances of you being found online. Add the right keywords, including LSI keywords, and tags to help your SEO and to rank higher on search results. (LSI keywords are keywords related to your main keyword.)

Here’s how: Plug your transcript into a word cloud (like this) to discover keywords and tags you can use for YouTube SEO.

Check out this interview by Video Influencers which nicely sums up what I’ve been talking about.

Youtuber Daniel suggests these three YouTube hacks to skyrocket your views.

1. LSI Keywords

Besides using your main keywords in your title and such, use LSI keywords in your description. LSI keywords are additional bits of information that relate to your actual content or keyword topic.

For example, if your main keyword is “transcription services”, LSI keywords can include “transcription software”, “human transcription services”, “best transcription services”, etc.

2. Share Function on YouTube

Source: Video Influencers

Don’t stick to one platform.

YouTube is competitive. You’ll need to promote, be social, and push your content out on as many channels and platforms to get the most eyeballs.

Create accounts based on the various platforms available on YouTube’s Share function, and share your video on all of these as it goes live. Use your transcript to create captions or blog posts for sharing. Cherry pick sentences from the transcript to turn into social posts. Turn the transcript into draft points for your blog post.

YouTube loves the backlinking, helping with your views and ranking. Plus, your building communities and exposing more to your content.

3. Suggested Videos

You may want to rank on the first page, but it’s also all about the suggested videos sidebar right now. To get on that sidebar, find the top results for your main keyword on YouTube, get their channel names, and use them as the last two tags of your video. This signals YouTube that your content is similar to theirs.

Cool hacks, right?

How to Upload Your Captions Directly to YouTube

Adding subtitles or captions to your YouTube videos help more viewers enjoy your content. This ultimately boosts watch time and engagement.

With captions, your audience can watch your videos on the bus, in a busy cafe, or wherever they are that may not be as conducive to YouTube watching. It also opens up your content to a more global audience.

Through Scribie, you can directly upload captions to your YouTube video in a few steps:

  1. Add your YouTube URL to import your video on Scribie.
  2. Verify and hit Order Transcript.
  3. Once the transcribed files are ready, click on the “Save to YouTube” button next to the other save options.
  4. Enter the YouTube URL of the video in the pop-up.
  5. Authorize Scribie to upload the captions to your channel.

That’s it! Your captions will then be added to the video on Youtube.

See more detailed instructions and screenshots of the step-by-step process of adding subtitles using Scribie.

Over to You

Start turning your YouTube videos intro transcripts and make it a habit.

You don’t have to do it yourself. Scribie can be your transcription partner for text versions of your video content and for adding captions to your YouTube videos.

After investing in creating a transcript, fuel the discipline of repurposing, promoting your content, and implementing SEO.

Ready to try Scribie? Order a transcript or add captions to your YouTube videos today!

Scribie | The Lowest Transcription Rates: Fast, Accurate & Simple Pricing [New]

Allan Caeg1 Comment
Scribie | The Lowest Transcription Rates: Fast, Accurate & Simple Pricing [New]

You may be searching Google for affordable transcription services, and you’ve found it.

We’ve researched and compared the prices of leading transcription service providers (so you won’t have to), and…we’re thrilled to share that our new prices are the best offer!

Whether it’s a professional manual transcript or a quick automatic transcript, Scribie offers more for less with the simplest and lowest rates for transcription services.

Another awesome bonus when you order: You’ll only need to pick between two price packages: Automated or Manual.

As you shop around for the best-priced transcription, you’ve probably encountered confusing and frustrating pricing, lacking features, or slow turnaround times.

Many services aren’t upfront about pricing or accuracy level. You’ll need to take the extra step of submitting your transcript for a “free quote”. Disappointingly, some will provide rock-bottom prices without any of the important, standard features.

Figuring out the value for money becomes an ordeal in itself!

So much time could have been used more productively, instead of spent on calculating the cost or waiting forever for your finished transcript. You’ll want to ensure that you save both time and money.

Keep scrolling for a list of more reasons why Scribie is your best choice for any type of transcription service.

Scribie’s New and Improved Pricing!

At the Scribie headquarters, we’ve listened to your concerns.

We want to offer the simplest and most affordable transcription prices. So, we’ve recently updated our pricing structure to make the order process as simple and straightforward as possible. See our recent announcement.

What’s new?

Whenever you order a transcript, you’ll only have to choose between two types: Automated and Manual.

What’s more, Scribie’s rates stay the same for any type of file format or industry. Your recording can contain highly technical data and specialized terms without extra charge.

See the updated transcription prices offering more for less below:

The Lowest Transcription Rates, Charged Per Minute of Audio

We’ve merged our previous Budget/Regular/Rush transcription packages into a single type called Manual for $0.80/minute.

Take note: Turn-around time is faster than 36 hours (depending on file length). Expect your order within 12 hours. Short files are often delivered within the hour.

Automated transcripts, on the other hand, go for only $0.10/min.

You also can choose to customize Scribie’s Manual package with add-ons for only $0.50/minute, including strict verbatim, accented speakers, noisy audio, subtitles, or if your audio quality is poor.

Plus, You can order a re-review, if you are not happy with the transcript, for FREE.

Ready to order an Automated or Manual transcript? Use the Scribie cost calculator to calculate your total cost with the lowest rates.

Why Scribie’s Pricing is Better

If you compare Scribie to other transcription companies, you’ll see why we’re your best choice.

Some transcription rates may be similar, but our packages offer more for the price.

Whether your recording contains difficult, technical terms or specialized content, you’ll still be charged the same rate.

Besides simple pricing packages with the lowest transcription rates around, our transcripts are among the most accurate and thorough using our signature Four-Step Process.

Our manual package also includes features like speaker tracking, while other similarly-priced packages by competitors don’t. With the fastest turnaround rates, our manual transcribers can deliver your transcripts as soon as within 1 hour.

Pros

  • Same rates for any industry (legal, academic, technical, etc.) or file format
  • More features for the price (time coding, speaker tracking)
  • Fast turn-around
  • Four-Step Process for quality assurance

Consistent, Predictable, and Accurate

We’ve designed the pricing packages for both regular and one-time transcription customers.

Order transcripts when you need it. Our new pricing structure helps make ordering transcripts when you need it–as soon as you need it–super easy.

For example, if you’re a video production company or podcaster who frequently needs text copies of your work, you can grow your business with our predictable and affordable transcription pricing.

Assured Quality: Our Four-Step Process

Your transcript’s quality will be vetted multiple times by different Scribie specialists.

When different transcribers work on a single file, your transcript’s turn-around time is faster.

This also means that no single transcriber will view the complete contents of your file for confidentiality.

Here’s how the four-step process works:

Step 1. Files are split into smaller parts. Each part is transcribed by a different transcriber, which is simultaneously reviewed by certified specialists.

Step 2. The different file parts are collated, proofread, and checked by in-house proofreaders.

Step 3. Our in-house quality experts analyze the proofread file for accuracy. The delivery is done only if it meets our standards of 98%+ accuracy. If not, the file is sent back again for proofreading.

Step 4. Certified freelancers and the in-house QA team research on topics, names, and acronyms, while fixing any contextual errors at every step.

We’re Here for You

Got any questions? Our customer support is always available.

We know how essential customer support is for questions or custom specifications, such as requesting a certain format.

We’re also surprised at how many leading transcription companies offer awful customer support. They’ll usually respond with scripted templates or don’t respond at all.

Scribie actually works with you as your transcription partner every step of the way.

We can address any of your concerns through live chat or email. We’re available on Live Chat during weekdays and provide email support on weekends.

Manual or Automated Transcription?

If you’re unsure whether to purchase a Manual or Automated package, keep reading to help you find out.

Through more advanced speech recognition software, you can order close-to-perfect automatic transcripts on Scribie.

With an automated transcript, you’ll have a fast first draft of your recording, in no time, at a lower rate ($0.10/min).

Scribie’s free transcription editor lets you quickly edit your transcripts online.

For error-free transcripts, on the other hand, you may order the Manual transcription package ($0.80/min). Brands, enterprises, academics, or legal cases might prefer Manual transcripts for quality assurance.

Our new updated and simplified pricing structure means that ordering a transcript is easier than ever.

Do you need an Automated or Manual transcript? Use our simple cost calculator for a custom quote.

4 Effective Research Tips for Academic Transcription

Allan CaegLeave a comment
4 Effective Research Tips for Academic Transcription

Not all audio or video files are a breeze to transcribe.

Occasionally, you’ll encounter recordings that are chock full of highly technical and specialized language. If the recording is filled with acronyms, scientific terms, or university names, you’re probably transcribing content related to academic research.

Researchers and academics need transcriptions because it’s an integral process in the analysis of their research data. Transcription simplifies the overall process for interpreting data. It allows them to read and analyze interviews, field notes, and others through text that is accurate, concise and easier to digest. This means that they need their transcript to be highly accurate. When it comes to publishing research results, there is no room for error.

However, what should you do if you come across a complicated term you don’t recognize? Many transcribers will consult Google or their online dictionary. We’ve compiled a few research hacks to help make academic transcription more effective for you.

If you plan on transcribing academic research, here are a few things you should know. Keep reading to discover skills you’ll need, why research matters, and 4 tips for effective research in finding the correct term and spelling.

Skills You’ll Need

Wondering which skills are essential in academic research transcription?

Whether you’re doing academic, legal transcription, or even just general transcription on a difficult topic, you’ll need two relevant skills. First, you should know your way around online research. Also, transcribers who are fast learners can quickly interpret difficult terms.

Transcription and research go hand in hand. When transcribers can’t identify a word, they’ll often hop on Google to check spelling and any results that might fit the context of the recording.

However, the transcription of research papers, thesis or dissertations for various academic fields adds an extra level of challenge. You should expect tons of researching (and be more or less masterful at it).

Being a fast learner is also a useful skill for understanding the content of your recording. Many transcribers will try to grasp the topic of the research first to identify the context by which a word is used, before finalizing a transcript.

The more you know what they’re talking about, the better you can interpret what they’re saying into text.

Why Research Skills Matter

The most common pitfalls for researchers during data collection are equipment failure, environmental hazards, and transcription errors. Research papers need to be accurate and its results hinge on error-free and accurate transcripts.

A big issue is figuring out the acronyms or names of an organization or project. Academic papers include a multitude of facts and terminologies that go in-depth into a topic.

Naturally, this means that you’ll encounter many obscure or technical references and terms. Oftentimes, the definition will even change according to ideology.

This is why research is a key skill for academic transcription. Knowledge of the subject matter may help, but the topics are often very specialized so it’s unlikely that you’ll always be familiar with the subject matter.

4 Tips for Effective Research You Should Know

It’s all about the context.

Researching the right keywords help you transcribe within the appropriate context.

For example, a single word, like “slit lamp” may seem like gibberish. However, when you hear the speaker say “slit lamp” and “eye” within a recording, you can search those keywords to clarify your understanding of the bigger picture. Then, you’ll find that a “slit lamp” is an instrument used for eye exams. Voila!

These context clues can be found in the surrounding content.

Check out these four tips to zero in on the right keywords for research.

1. Know the industry type.

You don’t always know the content of a recording. If you encounter words you are unfamiliar with or that are unclear in the speech, try and pinpoint the particular industry. You may have to listen further to do this. Once you’ve identified the industry, you might get a better understanding of industry jargon.

2. Consider the research topic.

This is similar to knowing the industry type. If you hone in on the topic, the chances are you’ll figure out the term in question.

3. Consider the geographic area.

A particular word may be difficult to transcribe because of a speaker’s accent. Knowing the geographic area can help identify words that are heavily accented. You may also be able to identify any slang words that are used.

4. Check the organization’s homepage.

Acronyms, organizations, names and their spelling can be problematic. If you can determine the organization involved, check out their website. Most universities will have webpages for faculty and staff. They may also mention the term you’re struggling with.

To find the correct word used in the recording, type its phonetic spelling (or spell out how it sounds) and other keywords you find in the search bar. Further refine keywords based on the search results to zero in on the meaning.

If you still can’t identify the term, you can leave a blank in the meantime. We’ll inform the client to simply use Scribie’s online editor and fill out any blanks. Check out our other tips for how to write a transcript fast.

Over to You

Taking your research seriously when doing academic transcription is important. First of all, it helps produce accurate and quality transcripts that will make clients happy. You assist in their research process and in publishing their findings sooner.

Besides ensuring that your transcript is top-notch and error-free, you’ll experience personal benefits, too. Regular research is a great opportunity to increase your knowledge, which results in quicker work, increased productivity, and…yes, more money!

Scribie has online transcription jobs for both beginners and experienced transcribers. Learn more about how you can join Scribie as a freelancer.

A Step-by-Step Guide: How to Write a Transcript Fast

Allan CaegLeave a comment
A Step-by-Step Guide: How to Write a Transcript Fast

So, you’re supposed to transcribe an audio or video file.

Your work may need you to do a steady stream of transcriptions, or you’ve never transcribed a word in your life.

Best practices and guidelines ensure that transcripts adhere to industry standards. How do you keep your transcripts high quality with minimal effort? It helps to establish a process for things to stay organized and smooth.

If you happen to be a seasoned transcriber, there may be transcription tips and tricks that you haven’t considered before. Can you improve your current transcription process?

We’ve created this checklist covering all the essential bases to optimize the transcription process, from start to finish. Check out the necessary steps to get you on your way to completing that transcription task efficiently.

Step 1. Prepare Your Tools and Equipment

Make sure you’ve prepared all the necessary tools and equipment before you begin to transcribe.

A comfortable or ergonomic chair creates a huge difference in keeping your body relaxed during hours of transcription work. It supports your lower back, promotes good posture, and ensures proper blood circulation. Adjust the seat to your preferred position.

Use good quality, noise-canceling headphones. Over-ear headsets are the most comfortable as they encase your entire ear and isolate distracting noise. Human voice frequencies lie between 250 Hz and 2000 Hz, the midrange of sound. We recommend headphones that have a pronounced yet smooth midrange.

Keep your essential every day carry items close. Eyeglasses, a bottle of water, a cup of coffee, or mobile phone should have already been placed on your desk to reduce distractions while doing transcription work.

An online reference such as soft copies of a dictionary or Google helps you quickly search for unfamiliar terms and the context to its meaning.

A foot pedal lets you control dictation playback with your toes. You can play, rewind, and fast forward by tapping sections of the pedal with your foot. You can setup your foot pedal to work with Scribie’s transcription software.

Step 2. Find a Good Transcription Software

There are web-based transcription tools that let you upload and transcribe your entire recordings online. These are your best friends in getting transcripts done–fast.

Scribie’s all-in-one transcription software has built-in tools and shortcuts to make everything easier from start to finish. You can even automatically transcribe your file to cut down time spent on transcription.

Basically, you can transcribe on Scribie in three simple steps:

  1. Upload your file.
  2. Scribie transcribes automatically.
  3. Check and edit the transcript.

Step 3. Amplify Volume and Increase the Audio Quality

Not all recordings are made equal. If you have a difficult file with plenty of background noise, there are ways you can increase its audio quality.

Scribie has a built-in dynamic range compressor that automatically increases the audio quality of your file for transcription. It reduces the volume of unnecessary loud sounds and amplifies sections that are difficult to hear. As we’ve been mastering transcription for about a decade, we continuously optimize tools like these.

Step 4. Familiarize Yourself with the Tools

Make the most out of your transcription software. Buckle up for your transcription journey by getting to know your tools.

Scribie has a timestamped audio player and fully-featured integrated text editor–everything you need for transcription. There are built-in tools, keyboard shortcuts, and a control panel that you can customize to fit your work process.

Scribie’s tools and shortcuts:

The word expander saves time by predicting and expanding the word you’re typing. Frequently used words allow an overview of what words to expect in your recording. This saves you from guessing a vague term.

Spellcheck provides you with suggestions to autocorrect any potential spelling mistakes.

Slow down or speed up audio to catch every word.

Use keyboard shortcuts to pause, skip, forward, or rewind to a certain time in the recording.

Identify mistakes with a blue underline through Scribie’s AI tool.

For recordings with heavy accents, you can dictate and transcribe the file using our voice recognition software.

If you happen to have little idea of your recording’s content, you have the option to automatically transcribe your file. This gives you a nice overview of what to expect and speeds up transcription.

Step 5. During Transcription

Here’s a pro tip: Many transcribers put speech to text by matching the transcript and audio word-for-word. We actually recommend against that. Instead, listen to the entire conversation and use context to interpret and identify the correct words.

During transcription, you may come across unfamiliar content such as technical or medical terms. Do a Google search for context or install soft copies of an online dictionary for a quick definition.

Don’t get hung up on a difficult word, though. There may be certain terms or words that are difficult to catch where you end up pausing and rewinding multiple times. Skip them. Leave a blank in the meantime and get back to those words you missed later to avoid breaking your flow.

Avoid context switching and juggling different tasks at the same time. Alternating between transcribing and editing becomes tiresome. Instead, do one thing at a time.

Begin the task by putting on your transcription hat and focusing on the transcription task ahead. The first draft doesn’t have to be perfect. Once you’ve completely transcribed the entire recording, whether manually or automatically, you can pivot your attention to editing and refining the transcript.

Step 6. Edit the Transcript

Re-play the audio, go over your draft, and zoom in on the ff:

  • Areas left blank or missed
  • Misheard words, terms, or expressions
  • Misspelled words
  • Punctuation
  • Formatting

Use Scribie’s spellcheck and AI tool to identify any misspellings or mistakes that may have slipped through.

Over to You

Transcription work can be rewarding for those with an eye for detail and quality content.

Breaking the transcription process down into step-by-step increments makes long hours seem easy and do-able. While a great transcription software saves time and effort.

We’re always on the lookout for opportunities to make transcription as easy as possible for our transcribers.

Scribie offers online transcription jobs for beginners and seasoned professionals. Learn more about how you can join Scribie as a freelancer.

How to Create Promo Videos out of Interviews [Faster with Transcripts]

Allan CaegLeave a comment

As video editors or production managers, you don’t always have the luxury of working with a storyboard or script.

You may have to create a short promo video from pre-existing footages. This could involve re-purposing your subject’s past TV appearances or putting together interviews from respondents who shared their candid feedback.

See how InVision puts together a powerful 2-minute promo video based on original interviews in the example below:

It’s very easy to underestimate the work required to edit that video, yes?

Now, video production agencies are also often asked by clients to edit video content that they haven’t even seen yet.

Consider the typical shooting ratio or the total hours of footage shot in relation to the eventual runtime of the promo video. Raw footage (to be condensed to a less than 5-minute final cut) can run for over two hours!

This means spending loads of time sorting through every piece of footage after production has wrapped before you can even begin editing. We also lose our flow and productivity when we have to switch between context and tasks.

Stick to your budget, save time, and create a top-notch promo video for your clients through transcription.

Without a pre-existing script, transcripts are a post-production lifesaver.

What Can You Expect from a Transcript?

So, what is a post-production transcript in a nutshell? A transcript gives you a highly-accurate, word-for-word account of your video footage. It’s essential to a fast and smooth post-production process.

They include many elements that make life easier for the storyboarding artist or video editor, such as onscreen captions, music cues, scene details, timestamps, and speaker turns.

How do these transcript elements cut editing time in (at least) half?

You can add on-screen captions from automated or manual transcripts, without having to determine every word yourself first.

Transcripts also provide music and applause cues. With a transcript, you’ll be able to catch specific details, scene-by-scene.

Timestamps, aka time coding, are used to sync text in the transcription with specific frames or scenes. This speeds up locating segments for editing during post-production.

If you have more than one person on the footage, speaker turn tracking allows you to identify the different speakers in your file. You’ll also have the option of having each speaker identified by name.

Speed up your video editing workflow with a transcript. Upload your file on Scribie.

3 Post-Production Tips to Create High-Converting Videos

As content moves towards more video-based mediums, which increase conversion rates, more brands need professional promo videos on a shoestring budget.

After all, video content is dominating the online market. Cisco shares that video traffic will account for 82% of all global internet traffic by 2021.

Studies also show that the audiences’ attention spans are getting shorter when it comes to consuming online content. Not many folks will hunker down to watch a 20-minute video nowadays. We need to get to the gist of the matter, like ASAP.

Check out this 2016 study by Wistia. As video length increases, you’ll notice a huge decrease in engagement levels.

If you look closely, the average engagement of video lengths beyond two minutes decline sharply. Wistia’s study suggests videos lengths within the 1-2 minute and 6-12 minute mark retain the most attention.

Keep It Short and Sweet

To keep your promo videos short and sweet, it’s necessary for you to efficiently sift through hours of footage to find the relevant footage in the reel. A transcript helps editors zero in on what matters for audiences.

Tailor Videos to the Message

As video editors, time is money. And the more time you spend on a single project for a client, you could lose out on other projects. You may be tempted to save time and cram everything in the reel to a single promo video, but for high-converting videos, you’ll need to clarify the message.

A tailored video with a clear message and a specific goal will be much more effective. Transcripts help you stay organized and on top of things. You’ll be able to have a clear overview of the entire contents of the raw file and highlight important points from any long footage.

Immediately Grab the Audience’s Attention

A transcript on hand also lets you create videos that get to the point within seconds. The average attention span is only 8 seconds. Knowing that viewers would click away if you don’t grab their attention immediately, you need to get the message across right away.

A goldfish’s attention span is 9 seconds, a second more than the typical viewer.

A transcript helps you quickly figure out the “why” of your video, and how to immediately captivate and entrench viewers into the middle of things from the onset.

Process and Workflow

Editing can be daunting. A documentary involving multiple interviews, for example, can amount to 30 hours of footage. Reduce your video edit time and cost.

Here are the steps to efficiently create promo videos out of your raw interview footage.

  1. Upload all “rushes” or unedited material on Scribie to convert your video file into a text document or transcript.
  2. Scribie’s transcription software adds a timestamp to your file to help you identify any point in the video, even by the second.
  3. You can edit the automated transcript yourself through our browser-based editor, or delegate the task to our transcription specialists.
  4. Transcripts are then downloaded and used to assist in the video editing process.

Over to You

Transcripts save time, money, and effort.

Whether you had a hand in the shoot or were brought in during post-production, transcripts guarantee that you have total control over your raw interview footage.

Efficiently produce an attention-grabbing and high-converting promo video that perfectly aligns with your client’s goals.

Let Scribie be your post-production partner for promo videos. Upload your raw interview footage for a transcript now.

Human vs. Machine: Should You Use a Manual or Automated Transcription Service?

Allan CaegLeave a comment

Speech and voice recognition software is getting better than ever.

In the age of Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant, we expect more advanced transcription software. However, are any of the automatic transcription services good enough for your audio or video?

How many times have your automatic transcriptions included potentially grave (and often tragically embarrassing) errors?

Transcribing words is relatively easy for machines, and they’ve gotten really good at it. Just take a look at this chart by Kleiner Perkins.

What’s difficult is to infer what you truly mean by saying these words, which makes it more prone to error. Humans, on the other hand, are much better at discerning and recognizing the context of a conference call, webinar, podcast, or any kind of content.

Transcripts produced automatically are quick and private. Yet, they eventually need intervention by hand for proofreading. Others who are looking for accuracy and convenience think that they might as well order manual transcription services.

If you’re unsure whether automatic or manual transcription is the better solution, we’ll be comparing and discussing the pros and cons of both options in detail.

Find out whether you should purchase a manual or automatic transcription service…Human or machine?

The Benefits of Automated Transcripts

First, let’s go over the benefits and downsides of each option, beginning with automatic transcription services.

Transcription tools like Scribie, AWS Transcribe, or The Cloud Speech API by Google converts speech into text transcription from audio. Sometimes, you don’t even need a recorded file. Scribie, for instance, lets you directly make in-app calls where conversations are recorded for automatic transcription.

Automatically turning your video or voice file into a transcript is fast and easy. The average time it takes Scribie to transcribe a 2-hour file is 30 minutes. You’ll have a fast, first draft of your recording in no time.

Besides speed, it also comes at a lower cost for those whose needs don’t require a perfectly documented version of their audio.

Concerned about privacy and confidentiality? With automatic transcription, no other person would listen to your audio. Although some platforms, like Google and AWS, transfer your data to Google servers or others. Scribie is unique in that we have our own tech for privacy concerns and don’t require 3rd-party platforms to process your recordings.

Is It Good for You?

That depends on how you’ll use the transcript. If you’re simply using it to refer to while listening to the recording, you’ll have an easier time processing the information and content of the recording.

Transcripts of interviews, video content, and raw footage are often used by media outlets and journalists as a first draft. Scribie also provides automated subtitles along with the transcript. Users will be able to download the file, as well as upload it to their YouTube account and add it as a caption.

Researchers whose files may contain highly-technical terms or crucial data might prefer automatic transcriptions. Later, they’ll be able to edit the copy themselves for preciseness and accuracy.

For highly sensitive transcripts, such as psychotherapy sessions, rest assured that no other person would listen to the audio or watch the video.

Many businesses also use automated transcripts as a backup for detail discussed in a meeting. It’s also useful for contact centers who record a high-volume of calls with customers.

Automated transcripts are Ideal for:

  • Journalists
  • Medical
  • Research
  • Businesses
  • Contact Centers
  • Media

Get a fast and easy transcript of your recording. Upload a file on Scribie for automatic transcription now.

The Downsides to Automation

Transcription software doesn’t have language inference systems. Without this tech, the machine won’t be able to make corrections based on context, as well as identify different speakers, appropriate paragraph breaks, punctuation marks, and more.

Scribie, however, has a highly-advanced speech recognition engine tuned specifically for transcription of all file types. Unlike others tuned only for conference calls, Scribie can automatically recognize multiple speakers, whether on the other side of the call or sitting right next to each other.

If you find transcription technology that guarantees 100% accuracy, they’re either overshooting claims or over-optimizing for one particular scenario.

Of course, accuracy will also depend on certain factors such as the speaker’s accent or whether the audio is of high quality.

Typical Errors in Automated Transcripts

There are a few usual errors you can expect based on the limitations of today’s transcription automation software.

Artificial intelligence has difficulty detecting speaker turns, especially when there is fast back-and-forth between multiple speakers. All systems have a 20% to 30% failure rate for fast turns. In the most ideal scenario, a system will be able to figure out 90% of the turns. This means paragraphs won’t be broken correctly, words will be missing, and speakers won’t be tracked.

Names of people and places are also often mixed up. There is a village in Wales, for example, called Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, which will most likely never be recognized by transcription software.

Source: Imgur

You can also rule out an automatic transcript from accurately displaying single or double quotes. A voice recording with “He said,…” will show the start of a quote but can’t determine where to close them.

Punctuations, such as hyphens, quotations, and exclamation marks, as well as proper capitalizations, are often unrecognized by systems. AWS, Google Web Speech, and Speechmatics don’t support quotations.

Fortunately, Scribie has an 80% accuracy rate for punctuations. We support all types of punctuations, including quotes and hyphens. Our speech recognition engine also uses Continual Learning to consistently decrease the word error rate (WER). In five to ten years, we’ll be able to reach a 95% accuracy rate for most audio files with good quality.

Automatic transcription is usually the first step to transcription of data and the first draft is rarely the final one. As Scribie keeps your transcript synced to audio, you’ll have an option to manually edit the transcription afterward through our built-in editor tool.

The Benefits of Manual Transcription Services

Transcription by hand is great for a high-quality text version of your file, with an accuracy rate of anywhere beyond 95%.

Nothing is more convenient than handing over the task of transcription to a specialist. Manual transcription services can be beneficial for large files, fast talkers, speakers with accents, and audio challenges, like background noise or distortion.

Manual transcriptions can also be secure. When you use Scribie, your covered by an NDA. Our transcriber directly works through our editor and won’t be able to download the file.

A time-coding feature for manual transcripts helps you determine when a sentence is spoken, so the subtitle shows up at the right time.

Is It Good for You?

Hire a manual transcriber for a clean and polished copy that is presentable to audiences.

Brands and enterprises might need high-quality transcripts to remain compliant with brand guidelines. TV Show subtitles, for example, can benefit from a transcription by hand.

Some content, such as medical and scientific papers are high stakes. It might be preferable to have a human type out the findings. Manual transcription is also crucial for court transcripts, depositions, and other legal documents.

Despite the higher cost of manual transcription vs. automated, a human with attention to detail can save you money. Mistakes by automated transcription software can be costly. A missing punctuation mark once caused a rocket’s engine failure and ended up costing $620 million.

Manual transcripts are ideal for:

  • Enterprises and Brands
  • Research
  • Media
  • Education
  • Marketing
  • Legal

How Will You Use Your Transcript?

Deciding between a human or machine mostly boils down to the application of your transcript.

The modern tech of transcription software is impressive, with an accuracy rate higher than ever.

If you prefer a low-cost alternative and a more hands-on approach, you can use platforms like Scribie to quickly turn your recordings into written text which you can then edit afterward. Of course, doing-it-yourself may be impractical for large files.

Manual transcription services ensure your transcript is high-quality, convenient, and error-free for public or internal use.

Try Scribie’s manual transcription service by 100% humans. Order transcripts online today.

Easy Webex Transcription: Record & Document Your Teleconference with Scribie

Allan CaegLeave a comment
Easy Webex Teleconference Transcription Service

Teams can be productive without having to be physically there.

However, are you documenting your important teleconferences?

Webex has been a key tool in the corporate setting. You use conference calls to stay in touch with remote colleagues, run workshops, or attend training events.

Teleconferences also allow you to connect with clients. You can easily hold sales meetings with potential overseas buyers or easily walk clients through solutions with consulting calls.

What happens after the conversation, though?

To get the most out of your events and meetings, you want to get transcripts out of your recordings.

Transcripts help you keep track of discussions and agreements made during the call. With a documented record of every word, you’ll have an accurate and precise reference point to look back on for future meetings. Plus, you can share the transcript with other team members who’ll be able to keep tabs on discussion points, gain insights behind decisions, and understand the next steps.

Sales and account management teams, for instance, can use a transcript for identifying members’ strengths and improvement areas when it comes to making clients happy. They can pinpoint what works and what doesn’t, and ultimately understand what it takes to close a deal.

Marketers and subject matter experts would also find teleconference transcripts incredibly useful. Workshop attendees would appreciate subtitles as they go through the recorded video afterward. For those who were unable to attend, marketers can offer the recorded transcript to go over the webinar’s content. Hosts can also use the transcript as speaker notes for future webinar sessions.

Alternative Ways to Generate Transcripts

If you’re exploring how to record Webex meetings, there are various ways to process and transcribe the increasing amount of video and audio data.

TIY or Transcribe-It-Yourself

First, you can do it manually yourself. It’s definitely tedious but not impossible to work through, especially for quick meetings. This, however, takes a lot of rewinding, slowing down audio, and close listening. Huge plus if you have a rapid-fire typing speed and can easily decode accents.

In any case, you have to review how to best spend your time and what it costs for you to get up to speed with this task.

Delegate to Team Members

Another option is to delegate the task of transcription to team members. This, however, can distract them from their current focus and more immediate tasks. Based on their strengths, their transcriptions might not be as accurate as you want.

Use Automated Transcription Tools

If you have zero bandwidth to manually transcribe, automated transcription tools are at your fingertips.

Important note: To use transcription services, you will have to convert your ARF file into a widely supported format like MP4, WMA or WAV.

Apps like these are fast and easy with a fair accuracy rate. Text is computer generated, using speech-to-text technology that ideally produces transcripts faster than the length of your audio. It could require some editing after, but still enables you to work faster.

You can try Scribie’s automated audio/video transcription here.

Just keep in mind that you will have to review any automatically generated transcript’s accuracy. For the best combination of cost, convenience, and accuracy, you can order transcripts that are manually written by our professionals at Scribie.

How to Skip the Webex ARF File

When it comes to transcribing Webex calls, you typically have to deal with ARF files.

If you’ve ever attempted to turn your recording to text, you might have stumbled upon Webex’s proprietary file format. Being exclusive to Webex, you’d find difficulties in terms of its closed nature and lack of portability.

It also involves hassles, like installing software to specifically handle this file format.

Converting an ARF file to a compatible format sounds foreign and a bit daunting. You’d rather just stick to familiar cross-platform file types such as MP4.

For clarity: ARF stands for advanced recording file. It is the default file extension format for Webex files. Within a .ARF, you have your recorded online meeting. This includes an index of the attendees and other details.

Other Webex files may come as a WRF. This is a local recording that’s made whenever the user directly records the meeting using Webex’s Record on My Computer option. ARF, on the other hand, are network-based recordings created by the meeting host using the Record on Server option

While ARF may come with advantages, its complications may hold you back from documenting your important teleconferences.

Fortunately, Scribie covers Webex transcription without having to work with ARF files.

By using our phone call service (no need to pay for the call), we’ll be able to record the phone calls and seamlessly deliver transcripts.

What’s great is that it also works for any teleconference with a dial-in number, including UberConference and Google Hangouts Meet.

The Best Way to Transcribe Your Webex Calls: Use Scribie’s Call Recording Feature

Scribie can handle your Webex recording and transcription in a single step. You can dial in directly on Scribie and we’ll record the video and turn it into text as well. Recording is free of charge. All you have to pay for is the call, with a flat rate of 3¢ per minute.

The recording is done on the server side and the audio data is captured directly off-the-wire. The recorded file sounds exactly as the actual call without any artifacts.

Here’s the very simple process:

Step 1: Go to Scribie’s One-on-one Call Service

Step 2: Fill in the required fields

Under Participant 1, add your number.

Add your Phone NumberUnder Participant 2, add your Webex dial-in number. If you’re using other teleconferencing solutions such as Google Hangouts Meet or UberConference, you can use their dial-in numbers too!

Add the Teleconference Dial-in Number

Step 3: Click “Start Call” to get Scribie’s service to call your phone number and the dial-in conference number.

From there, take the phone call as you normally would.Take the phone call as you normally wouldStep 4: Voila! Get the transcript in your inbox.

This easy method allows you to record and transcribe teleconferences without dealing with proprietary file types and extra software.

Over To You

Transcribing and recording Webex sessions can be cumbersome and time-consuming. Usually, you’ll have to record the calls, then convert them into a usable file format for transcription, and finally, upload them to be transcribed.

With Scribie, you can dial in directly and seamlessly get the transcript–all while still using Webex or any other teleconference service with a dial-in number. Transcription just got a whole lot easier.

Got a teleconference coming up? Take your call using Scribie with built-in recording and transcription.