Video Advertising

The ways video adverts can be made more accessible

Subtitles

Subtitles are often the first step towards making video advertising more accessible, and more effective.

There are two main approaches:

• Open captions: The text is burnt into the video and permanently displayed on screen so they can’t be turned off.
• Closed captions: Text is on an overlay that can be turned on or off by the viewer, depending on the platform.

We also provide multilingual subtitles for global or bilingual campaigns, and SDH (Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing), which include relevant non-speech audio information. 

Interestingly, from March 2026, Channel 4’s updated mandate means adverts aired on linear TV and streaming must include closed captions. Across other broadcasters and social platforms, subtitles may not always be required. However, they make a meaningful difference to the 18 million people in the UK who are deaf, hard of hearing or live with tinnitus.

Subtitles ensure audiences can fully understand the message behind your advert, even in sound‑off environments, helping your visuals and audio work together as intended to explain your product or service.

Voice overs 

Voice overs give your adverts depth, connection and emotion. 

We provide voice overs in over 200 languages, offering both:

• Human voice over artists
• AI voice over solutions

We will always be honest and transparent as to which service suits your project best, as well as if AI will be allowed on certain platforms. 

Audio description (AD)

Audio description supplies the extra details not covered in dialogue or a standard voice over track. The detail may be a look of excitement at your product, or it could be something unexcepted flying across the room, or a visual cue that adds humour to your ad. These details are important if they are relevant to the advert.

AD is still often overlooked in adverts, but recent, delightful campaigns from brands such as ALDI, Waitrose and Matalan have shown how powerful inclusive advertising can be when AD is built in from the start.

We provided dedicated support, from finding the right audio describer and writing the script, to ensuring audio levels are balanced and integrating AD seamlessly into your advert. 

When you’ve spent significant budget on your advert, you might as well give as many people as you can the opportunity to enjoy it and experience it as intended. 

Without AD, the two million people in the UK who are blind or have sight loss may miss the details that bring your product or service to life.

As blind broadcaster and VoiceBox guest blogger Fern Lulham puts it: “There’s music. There’s shouting. There’s a small child riding a dog through a field of butter. The describer, bless them, does their best, scrabbling for a second to interject: “A woman laughs. A kettle boils. A man dances with a tractor. And I’m sitting there thinking ‘what on earth are you selling me? Is this an ad for insurance, yoghurt or emotional whiplash?!’”

That’s why carefully created audio description for adverts makes all the difference.

British Sign Language (BSL)

British Sign Language can also play a key role in accessible advertising. There are around 87,000 people in the UK who use BSL as their first language, and approximately 151,000 BSL users overall in the UK. 

We work with experienced, vetted BSL interpreters to ensure high‑quality interpretation that fits naturally within your advert. While BSL is not currently a regulatory requirement for advertising, it’s a powerful way to go beyond minimum standards and ensure BSL users are fully included too.

How VoiceBox supports adverts

VoiceBox supports accessible video advertising by working directly within existing advertising, clearance and delivery workflows. We remove friction for advertisers, agencies and broadcasters, while ensuring multimedia accessibility is handled properly from start to finish.

Advert delivery specialist, Cape.io (formerly Peach), uses VoiceBox as its accessibility partner, allowing advertisers and agencies to trigger accessibility services within the same systems they already use to prepare, approve and deliver adverts to broadcasters.

Rather than introducing separate suppliers or additional handover points, we fit into established workflows and supply:

• Supplying caption, subtitle and audio description files in the formats required by broadcasters
• Supporting multiple versions of adverts, including different durations and languages
• Working to the timelines, specifications and approval processes already in place
• Acting as an extension of in‑house production and client services teams

Accessibility is a sliding scale 

If you don’t have any accessibility measures on your adverts in place right now but you want to, that’s ok. We’re not here to guilt trip you.

Accessibility doesn’t have to be all or nothing. Taking some steps to be more accessible is always better than taking no steps.

We would always advise considering accessibility at the storyboard phase as it’s much easier, more effective and cost-effective to bring it in from the start, rather than add it in at the end.

Contact us today to see how media accessibility can fit into your adverts for your budget and projects.