Media Execs: 3 tips on the importance of Bullet subtitle

As a media executive, it is important to know that variable online video services offer online videos for audiences to watch, such as YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, and etc, and it is becoming harder for these companies to attract audiences in the market. As a graduate student in the Northwestern Medill Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) program with an interest in media management and digital marketing. I have found two articles on festivals you will find interesting. 

According to Weijing Zhu’s article, "BULLET TO THE HEAD: INTRO TO‘BULLET SUBTITLES," the interactive feature is called Dan Mu in China, which literally translates to “bullet subtitles”. It basically refers to the commentaries shooting across the screen, in the style of an arcade shooting game. This “Bullet Subtitle” feature has been adopted by the biggest online video services in China such as Tudou and iQiyi. Besides online video services, the “Bullet Subtitle” was even appeared during a theater screening of a movie, Tiny Times 3. 

                        (source:  www.iqiyi.com)

According to another article "Bullet Comments of Bilibili",which is written by October 4, 2014, Bilibili is a China-based video sharing website, which its core feature is a real-time commentary subtitle system-- The “Bullet Subtitle.” If people have an interesting thought when they are watching a video, then they can pause the video and type the comment to share with others. The other audience can read these comments directly on the screen when the video is played till the same time. Instead of discussion in a chat room or fan page, this real-time commentary subtitle system gets audiences involved in “video sharing.” This feature will enhance streamers’ word-of-mouth effect and encourage them to engage with video services. 

After reading these two articles and from my studies in the Northwestern Medill IMC program, I have three action items you should consider in your next:

1. Understand it Role - you might never hear of this feature, so you can try it first to experience how people engage with Bullet subtitle. Understanding Bullet subtitle technology and function is a important step to use it in future. 
2. Test Bullets -  you can offer this Bullet subtitle to some target audiences.  It could help you understand whether audiences will enjoy this new features.
3. Collect Feedback -  based on target audiences' response of Bullet subtitle, you can determine whether you can apply this features to all audiences in future.

The Bullet subtitle is quiet popular in China now, and many audiences enjoy this feature to share comments with others. It is worth to try it in U.S. market. Since there is no video services add this feature in U.S., it is a great opportunity to differentiate its services by using this feature.

  

Fuyuan Yao is a graduate student at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, and major in Integrated Marketing Communication. She is interested in marketing analytic, media management and digital marketing. If you have any feedbacks, please contact her by @FuyuanY and LinkedIn.