Closed-Captioned Television Viewing Preferences

Closed-Captioned Television Viewing Preferences Molly Fitzgerald and Carl Jensema Since the closed-captioned television system for the hearing impaired went on the air in March 1980, the National Captioning Institute (NCI) has carefully monitored its growth and the characteristics of its audience. The information obtained is being presented in a continuing series of articles and research reports. This report presents the results of a survey of audience viewing habits and preferences. On August 26,1980, a random sample of 3,084 closed-captioned television adapter owners across the United States were sent a survey questionnaire. The respondents were asked several questions concerning the quality of the captions, what captioned programs they had watched during the previous week, and what programs they thought should be closed captioned. By September 26, 1980, 2,232 questionnaires were returned to NCI, a 73% response rate. These data were merged with the respondent's demographic data which had been obtained at the time they purchased their adapter. The combined data were analyzed, and the highlights are reported here. CAPTIONING Table 1 presents the results of three survey questions related to current captioning techniques : caption clarity, language level, and rate of presentation. For each question, at least 80% of the respondents expressed satisfaction with the closed captions they had viewed. The highest rate of viewer dissatisfaction (16%) involved caption clarity. Although only Carl Jensema is Director of Research for the National Captioning Institute, Inc., Falls Church, Virginia. Ms. Fitzgerald is a Research Associate also with the National Captioning Institute. 16% perceived that the captions were unclear, this may indicate reception and/or transmission difficulties. Future closed-captioned programs will be monitored closely by NCI to gain an accurate insight on any problems which may exist. Fifteen percent of the viewers felt that the captions changed too fast. However, since viewers must learn to make some adjustments in their viewing habits when captions are present , the number of people with this complaint may be reduced as viewers gain more caption reading experience. Table 1 also indicates that nearly 70% of the respondents thought commercials should be captioned. Most television viewers resent commercial interruptions, and the high response to this question may simply show that viewers want as much captioning as possible, regardless of the material. The hearing-impaired television audience represents a market which has received little attention and which clearly needs further study. PROGRAM PREFERENCE The questionnaire listed all closed-captioned programs by day of the week and asked the respondents to check the programs their household viewed during the previous week. A breakdown of responses is given in Table 2. Disney's Wonderful World attracted the largest audience (83%), followed by both the Sunday andMonday Night Movie (81%). Friday and Saturday programming was limited to PBS programs and attracted few viewers. Most viewers appear to prefer commercial programming. The questionnaire requested respondents to list five programs which are not closed captioned but which they thought should be closed 536 A.A.D. I August 1981 Viewing Preferences Table 1. Responses to Captioning Questions. "In the past week, have the captions on your television been clear and easy to read?" N _%_ Yes 1,799 81 No 357 16 No response -----Zé_ —3_ Total 2,232 100 "Is the language in the captions too hard or too easy?" N Too hard Just right Too easy No response Total 1,950 151 ___43_ 2,232 4 87 7 ___2_ 100 "Do the captions change too slow or too fast?" N % Too fast 344 15 Just right 1,786 80 Too slow 55 2 No response -----^Z_ —2_ Total 2,232 100 "Do you think commercials (advertisements) should be closed captioned?" N _%_ Yes 1,544 69 No 553 25 No response —135_ —6_ Total 2,232 100 captioned. Some viewers listed specific programs , while others listed generic categories such as "news" and "movies." Table 3 presents the 56 most frequent responses from a total of 240 different responses given by the viewers. The two most-frequently cited programs (Little House on the Prairie and Love Boat) were among those selected for captioning in the fall of 1980. Caution must be exercised in the...