--- title: The world’s subtitle use is speaking volumes - The Hustle description: With more viewers watching TV with subtitles, closed captioning startups are open for business. image: https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/945883034-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-roku_subs_20230612225638.webp --- # The world’s subtitle use is speaking volumes ![Jacob Cohen](https://thehustle.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/IMG_5670-1-modified-768x768.png?width=48&height=48&name=IMG_5670-1-modified-768x768.png) [Jacob Cohen](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/author/jacob-cohen) [Jacob Cohen Twitter profile ](https://twitter.com/ImJacobCohen) Published: June 13, 2023 Updated: October 11, 2023 The hottest trend in watching content is… reading it. ![Roku subscribers using subtitles](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hs-fs/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/945883034-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-roku_subs_20230612225638.webp?width=595&height=400&name=945883034-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-roku_subs_20230612225638.webp) Between 2017 and 2022, the number of Netflix subscribers using subtitles more than [doubled](https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-do-all-these-20-somethings-have-closed-captions-turned-on-11663386473?mod=djemalertNEWS). In 2022, [58%](https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/06/watching-movies-tv-with-subtitles/674301/) of Roku customers used subtitles, including two-thirds of millennial users. Something about words on the TV screen has struck a chord with consumers, and it’s paving the way for a Golden Age of video accessibility. - For Roku’s customers, over one-third of subtitle users have diagnosed hearing impairments; another third uses subtitles situationally; and the rest… Well, they just do it. #### **Reading between the lines** In recent years, captioning and transcription software startups have seen tons of funding, like Verbit and Rev, which have raised $569m and $30.4m, respectively. Another startup, [Ava](https://www.ava.me/), which aims to help deaf and hard-of-hearing people live-transcribe anything from a Zoom call to, uh, “gossiping at lunch,” has raised $16.3m. 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