Captions are on-screen text that transcribe or summarize what's being said in a video. Most mobile viewers watch with sound off, so captions materially lift watch time and conversion on TikTok, Reels, and Shorts. UGC Copilot auto-generates stylized captions and text overlays optimized for each platform's safe zones.
Video Captions and Subtitles
Frequently Asked Questions
Are captions and text overlays the same thing?
Closely related but not identical. Captions transcribe spoken audio for accessibility (and SEO indexing). Text overlays emphasize key messages or hooks regardless of what's spoken. Most successful UGC ads use both — captions running through the video for sound-off viewers, plus distinct hook overlays in the first 2 seconds. UGC Copilot generates both automatically.
How much do captions affect watch time?
Significantly when sound is off. Around 80% of social video is watched without sound on mobile; without captions, sound-off viewers drop after the first 2 seconds. Adding well-timed captions to a UGC ad typically lifts average watch time by 15–25%. Captions also let TikTok and YouTube's search algorithms index the spoken content for better discovery.
Should captions be hard-coded into the video or added at upload?
Hard-code them into the video itself. Platform-side auto-captions (TikTok, Reels) are inconsistent and may not appear for all viewers. Burned-in captions guarantee every viewer sees them. UGC Copilot burns captions into the rendered video by default so the file you upload is already accessible to sound-off viewers.