# Captions in Reels and TikTok. Why Businesses Need Them | Illia BizTech > Why social videos get watched on mute, how auto captions differ from burned-in ones, and how that affects watch time. Source: https://illia-biztech.de/en/blog/untertitel-social-media-warum-wichtig 1. [Home](/en) 2. [Resources](/en/blog) 3. Captions on Social Media Video. Why They Are Not Optional ![A person adds captions to a video on a laptop screen before posting it to social media](/_ipx/f_webp,q_75/https://cms.illia-biztech.de/uploads/medium_untertitel_social_media_warum_wichtig_62d734c2d8.png) ![Portrait of Alina Belichenko, content and social media specialist](/_ipx/f_webp,q_75/https://cms.illia-biztech.de/uploads/small_Alina_Belichenko_author_ae667ebec9.png) By: Alina Belichenko October 8, 2026 # Captions on Social Media Video. Why They Are Not Optional A video in the feed gets opened without sound more often than with it, which is why captions turn a video into a message that stands on its own, even muted. ## Do people watch social media videos without sound Yes, and this is not a one-off observation from a few creators. According to several large publishers cited by [Digiday](https://digiday.com/media/silent-world-facebook-video/), up to 85% of video views on Facebook happen with the sound off. The outlet Mic reported that 85% of its 30-second views were silent, and the ad agency MEC North America saw similar numbers, 85 to 90%, across client videos. This pattern has held for years. People scroll the feed on the move, in line, or during a meeting, and sound is off by default in almost all of those moments. ## Do businesses need captions in Reels Technically the platform does not require captions, not for Reels, not for TikTok, not for Stories. But if a video is meant to be understood rather than just scrolled past, captions matter, because the first seconds often play without sound even for viewers who turn it on later. For a business account this matters even more, because a Reel usually has to land one specific offer or idea within 10 to 15 seconds, not just hold attention. ## Why auto captions fall short of burned-in ones A platform's automatic captions, such as Instagram's built-in feature, transcribe speech after upload and appear as a separate layer that viewers can turn off in settings. They should be checked manually, especially for names, brand terms, professional jargon, and accented speech. Instagram gives no built-in way to manually correct the finished auto captions. Burned-in captions, by contrast, are baked into the video file itself during editing. They stay visible regardless of a viewer's settings and let you choose the font, size, and timing of every line. * Platform auto captions are fast and free, but error-prone on names and jargon, and viewers can switch them off * Burned-in captions take editing time, but the text is accurate, styled to match the video, and always visible ## Do captions help viewers watch to the end Yes, and the gap is measurable. Per a roundup by [Rev](https://www.rev.com/blog/ultimate-roundup-closed-captions-statistics), citing Facebook Business data, captions raise average watch time by roughly 12%. The same source, citing Newton Technologies, puts the share of Facebook viewers who finish a captioned video at around 80%. The mechanism is simple. Captions keep a viewer from losing the thread in the first seconds while they are still deciding whether to turn the sound on, then keep holding them once it is. ## How to add captions to social media video * For a quick post with no editing budget, turn on the platform's auto captions and reread the text before publishing, fixing names and jargon by hand where possible * For ad or key content, commission burned-in captions during editing, styled to match the video * Either way, check that the captions do not cover important parts of the frame and stay readable on a small phone screen ## What to do first If an account currently runs videos with no captions at all, the first step is turning on auto captions for every new post and reserving burned-in captions for Reels that carry an ad message or promote a specific product. Alina Belichenko builds burned-in captions into the quote for ad Reels from the start, rather than adding them later as an optional extra on request. **Share** [ ![A large exhibition hall with visitors at a trade fair](/_ipx/f_webp,q_75/https://cms.illia-biztech.de/uploads/medium_leipzig_messewochen_website_vorbereitung_85c57e917e.png) Next Post How a website in Leipzig should prepare for fair weeks](/en/blog/leipzig-messewochen-website-vorbereitung) ![Portrait of Alina Belichenko, content and social media specialist](/_ipx/f_webp,q_75/https://cms.illia-biztech.de/uploads/small_Alina_Belichenko_author_ae667ebec9.png) ##### Alina Belichenko Alina edits Reels, TikTok videos, YouTube Shorts and training videos. She works with subtitles, color correction, audio, music and text animation, and adapts videos for different platforms and formats. ##### Recent Posts [![A large exhibition hall with visitors at a trade fair](/_ipx/f_webp,q_75/https://cms.illia-biztech.de/uploads/medium_leipzig_messewochen_website_vorbereitung_85c57e917e.png)](/en/blog/leipzig-messewochen-website-vorbereitung) #### [How a website in Leipzig should prepare for fair weeks](/en/blog/leipzig-messewochen-website-vorbereitung) October 7, 2026 [](/en/blog/leipzig-messewochen-website-vorbereitung) [![An engineer checking technical documentation next to production equipment](/_ipx/f_webp,q_75/https://cms.illia-biztech.de/uploads/medium_dresden_technologiebranche_website_b2b_225f93daca.png)](/en/blog/dresden-technologiebranche-website-b2b) #### [What a service provider website for Dresden's tech sector needs](/en/blog/dresden-technologiebranche-website-b2b) October 6, 2026 [](/en/blog/dresden-technologiebranche-website-b2b) [![A street with independent shops and street art in an alternative city district](/_ipx/f_webp,q_75/https://cms.illia-biztech.de/uploads/medium_dresden_neustadt_website_unabhaengiger_laden_9b5fd6bb4d.png)](/en/blog/dresden-neustadt-website-unabhaengiger-laden) #### [What an independent shop website in the Dresden Neustadt should look like](/en/blog/dresden-neustadt-website-unabhaengiger-laden) October 5, 2026 [](/en/blog/dresden-neustadt-website-unabhaengiger-laden) The problem is almost never that captions are technically unavailable, it is that nobody rereads the platform's auto captions before a video goes live. Alina Belichenko builds caption review and styling into the editing process itself, rather than leaving it to speech recognition. Illia BizTech builds and maintains websites for companies in Germany in German, English, Russian and Ukrainian, from the first version through ongoing maintenance and search visibility work. One monthly plan covers the website, advertising and content, the scope is agreed in advance and can be moved between them when priorities change. The domain, hosting and ad accounts stay registered to the company, so the work can continue on the existing setup without a full rebuild. That fits businesses moving to Germany or expanding into the German-speaking market who want to explain their task once.