Should localization be the next advertising asset class?

The challenges facing the localization industry are myriad and well documented.  The seemingly insatiable demand for global content combined with a lack of funding, talent shortages and tight turnarounds has the industry scrambling to find possible solutions using everything from synthetic voices to AI workflows. 

While the issues are complex, the argument could be made that most of them stem from a lack of funding.  The fact is that, despite the massive amount of money spent producing original programming, very little of this budget is invested into reversioning content for international audiences.  If more money was available for localization, the industry would attract more talent, be able to invest in technical development and support more suppliers.  But where should this additional finance come from?

Our recent work with social initiative, Turn On The Subtitles, has led us to wonder whether it’s time to introduce a new advertising asset class for international programming. 

Introducing TOTS

According to research by the National Literacy Trust, if you leave school with low literacy levels you are three times more likely to be incarcerated, three times more likely to be hospitalised and three times more likely to die young.  But simply turning on the subtitles when children are watching TV can double the chances of them becoming proficient readers.  Turning on subtitles on the content an average child watches over the course of the year would result in them reading the same number of words as all of the Harry Potter, Narnia and Lord of the Rings books, as well as everything that Roald Dahl has ever written. This is the basis of the Turn on the Subtitles initiative launched in 2021. 

And TOTS has already been enormously successful.  Thanks to the tireless work of their team, partners and ambassadors, Turn On The Subtitles has already impacted 4.5 million children, making it the world’s biggest literacy project.  But there are 1.5 billion children across the world that could be benefitting from this initiative. 

Aiming for global impact

While TOTS’ previous strategy has been to lobby for changes in legislation and harness public support to convince broadcasters to turn on subtitles by default, following this approach on a global scale would simply take too long.  In addition, not all children’s content is produced with subtitles and many public broadcasters, especially those in developing countries where literacy rates are lowest, don’t have the resources to cover the (albeit relatively small) costs involved in playing out subtitled content.  With the majority of the world’s children still watching linear TV, paid for by advertising, it quickly became apparent that the only way to solve these challenges was with a commercially driven solution.

Caterpillar Captions is the new social enterprise born from TOTS to answer the questions: how do we reach the other one billion children that could benefit from turning on the subtitles, and how do we fund this initiative?  The proposed solution: to bring broadcasters and businesses together by providing broadcasters with high-quality subtitled content, sponsored by pre-vetted and appropriate brands.  But can commercial and social goals co-exist without compromise?  Will sponsors see a return on investment and how will audiences react to advertising messages appearing on children’s programming?  These and other questions could only be answered by conducting a comprehensive pilot.