The new subtitles will remove descriptive elements such as background music, sound effects, and character names, and only show the dialogue between characters on the screen. Netflix plans to expand this feature to all new content, starting with the original series “You,” which is ending with Season 5. The feature will be rolled out sequentially to all languages Netflix offers, not just English.
With research showing that half of U.S. viewers use subtitles when watching content, Netflix said it is introducing this feature to “provide viewers with subtitle options that meet their diverse environments and preferences.” In fact, it has been revealed that approximately 50% of Netflix viewing time in the U.S. is done with subtitles or captions.
There are two types of subtitles introduced this time. One is 'English', which only displays spoken dialogue and omits audio descriptions. The other is the existing 'English (CC)', which displays descriptions such as [door closing sound] and [music escalation] in addition to dialogues. Users can select the desired subtitle format in the language settings menu while playing content.
