Do subtitles affect my junbi scores?
Subtitles are on-screen text overlays that transcribe or translate spoken dialogue within a video. In junbi, uploading a video with subtitles directly changes how the predictive AI models analyze visual attention and cognitive processing.
The Strategic Value
Most YouTube viewers watch video content with their audio turned on, meaning subtitles are often unnecessary for basic comprehension. Scientifically, adding text elements creates an extra visual focal point that forces the brain to split its processing capacity between the background imagery and the written words.
How to analyze the impact of subtitles on your creative
When you test an ad with subtitles, the added text layer will impact your diagnostic scores in two distinct ways:
- Cognitive Ease score: If your video asset already contains fast-paced editing, rapid movements, or multiple visual elements, adding subtitles creates an extra focal point. This extra focal point makes the video harder for the brain to process, which will lower your Cognitive Ease score. If your video is visually simple, subtitles can actually improve your score by giving the viewer a clear, centralized anchor point to focus on.
- Ad Breakthrough score: Large text with contrasting colors naturally pulls human eyes toward it. Because of this reflex, adding bold subtitles can give a minor lift to your Ad Breakthrough score. This lift depends heavily on whether other elements in the frame are distracting from the text.
To see exactly when text blocks help or hurt your creative performance, look at your second-by-second diagnostics. This allows you to pinpoint the precise seconds where subtitles clutter the frame or guide user attention effectively.
💡 Pro Tip:
Upload two separate versions of your creative asset to the junbi dashboard to run a direct A/B test. Upload one version with burned-in subtitles and a second version completely clean without text overlays. Open the ad-level Overall Score of both videos side-by-side in two separate browser windows. You can then use the effectiveness drivers over time chart to see exactly how the text shifts your second-by-second viewer engagement.