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Key takeaways
Social media video subtitles usually add an indicative £20–£50 a clip in the UK, or £150–£400 a month for a typical batch of 8 clips (2 to 4 hours at £75–£100 an hour). Alt text and accessible formatting should cost little or nothing extra when built into the workflow. Many people watch with the sound off, so captions help everyone.
- About £20–£50 a clip, indicative.
- £150–£400 a month for 8 captioned clips.
- Alt text should be part of every post, not an extra.
- Check captions by hand; auto-captions misspell names.
Want your content made accessible as standard? Message us on WhatsApp.
Chat on WhatsApp →What does accessible social content include?
Accessible social content is posts that people can use whatever their sight, hearing or reading needs: burned-in or closed captions on video, alt text on images, readable colour contrast, CamelCase hashtags and plain language. Most of it is a habit at the writing stage, not a separate service.
How much do subtitles cost?
Auto-generated captions take minutes, but they need checking for names, technical terms and punctuation. Styling, timing and correcting a 30 to 60-second clip takes 15 to 30 minutes, about £20–£50 at agency rates. A monthly batch of 8 clips is 2 to 4 hours, an indicative £150–£400.
- Short clip, checked and styled: £20–£50.
- Batch of 8 clips: £150–£400 a month.
- Long-form video: priced by length.
- Translation into another language: extra.
Send us a sample clip on WhatsApp and we will discuss your requirements.
Chat on WhatsApp →Should alt text cost extra?
Not much. Writing a one-sentence description of an image takes a minute or two when the post is written. If a quote lists alt text as a premium add-on, ask why. It is reasonable to charge for retrofitting alt text to an old archive, because that is new work.
When are subtitles less important?
Captions matter less on a video with no speech, such as a product demonstration set to music, though on-screen text still helps. They matter most on talking-head, interview and how-to videos, where meaning is in the words. Skipping captions on those loses viewers who scroll with the sound off.
What does this look like in practice?
A pattern we see: a firm relies on auto-captions that mangle its own brand name and product terms. Adding a short checking step before publishing usually fixes the problem for a few minutes per clip and stops viewers screenshotting the mistakes.
Accessible content checklist
- Caption every video with speech.
- Check names and terms in auto-captions.
- Write alt text for every image post.
- Use CamelCase for hashtags.
- Check text contrast on graphics.
Next step
Watch your last five videos on mute. If you cannot follow them, captions are the cheapest improvement you can buy.
Message us on WhatsApp for an accessibility check, or book a 30-minute consultation.
Chat on WhatsApp →Sources and further reading
- Understanding SC 1.1.1: Non-text Content · W3C
- Equality Act 2010 · legislation.gov.uk
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to add subtitles to a social media video?
At UK agency rates, checking, styling and timing captions on a short clip costs an indicative £20–£50. A monthly batch of 8 clips is about £150–£400. Long-form videos and translations cost more.
Are auto-captions good enough?
They are a good start but rarely right first time. Names, technical terms and punctuation often come out wrong. Always check and correct them before publishing, especially for brand names and regulated claims.
Is accessibility a legal requirement on social media?
The Equality Act 2010 requires service providers to make reasonable adjustments, and accessible content is good practice for reaching every customer. Public bodies have specific website accessibility duties. For businesses, captions and alt text are a low-cost way to include more people.
Written by
Global Bridge Labs (GBL) is a UK–Sri Lanka partner for social media, websites and BPO. Everything here comes from client delivery, not theory.
