Accessibility Overlay Tools on Making Podcasts and Video Marketing More Accessible

Podcasts are increasing rapidly in popularity, and Accessibility Overlay Tools often questions how to make this type of media — along with videos in YouTube, Tiktok, or other platforms, more accessible — as they are more complex media forms than content on a website.

Even though they are more complex with the right tools and knowledge you can make these forms of media more accessible. 

 

Just like making content and images accessible, all it takes are a few tweaks and additions, such as:

 

Adding a transcript

For people who need alternative communication methods, transcripts are an excellent way to get your podcast across to them. It won’t be different from reading any other text type online, and most screen readers or accessibility overlay tools can detect them. Users would understand what the podcast is about and what is being discussed. And just like with podcasts, they can take in the discussion at their own pace.

 

Adding captions

Captions are another method of providing clarity on what the content is about. Captions can be embedded into the media itself or added to the video player. Some video transcription programs or automatic captioning programs are so sophisticated that they can detect what is said and write the captions independently. Some can even auto-translate into various languages, such as YouTube’s interface.

 

Use accessible players

As much as possible, embed the media with a player compatible with other accessibility overlay tools or enhancement programs. Ensure that the player also has clear labels and alternate attributes for buttons and controls. Ensure that there are also keyboard navigation options, such as pressing “+” to jump forward by five seconds or hitting the spacebar to pause.

 

Allow users to download the content.

Some accessibility programs require a conversion process so that a piece of media can be read or scanned correctly. Allow users to download the audio file of the content to use tools or services to convert them into the type of media they need.

 

With these simple steps, your podcasts and video are opened up for access to a far broader and more inclusive audience, who will appreciate the lengths you’ve gone through to make sure that they can enjoy your content.