Audience expectations of access services across TV and Video-on-Demand services

Ofcom commissioned the Research Institute for Disabled Consumers (RiDC) to conduct research with people with different access needs, exploring their use of, attitudes towards, and preferences for access services (subtitles, audio description, and signing) across broadcast TV and Video on Demand (VoD) services. This report details the findings which have supported Ofcom’s accessibility best practice guidelines (which have been updated and expanded to cover VoD accessibility). The research has also helped Ofcom further develop recommendations, which include wider audience engagement with access services, beyond those with sight and hearing loss, for whom access services are expected to primarily serve.
These findings are based on 55 in-depth interviews with people with hearing loss, sight loss, dual-sensory loss (both hearing and sight loss), British Sign Language (BSL users) and cognitive and neurodevelopmental conditions. Fieldwork was conducted between June and November 2023. The findings presented in this report should not be considered a reflection of the views or opinions of Ofcom or RiDC but the views and opinions of the respondents interviewed, as well as their experiences and perceptions of various broadcaster and on-demand services' functionalities. We would like to thank broadcasters for the use of images within this research, which were used during fieldwork and have been
included in this report for illustrative purposes only.