SKY, WARNER MEDIA, AND VIACOMCBS WILL ADD SUBTITLES TO OVER 500 EPISODES OF KIDS CONTENT

Sky, WarnerMedia, and ViacomCBS Networks UK have partnered to improve the literacy skills of thousands of children across the UK and Ireland by turning on the subtitles of more than 500 of their most popular episodes of kids’ content. "We’re delighted to partner with WarnerMedia and ViacomCBS to support the Turn on the Subtitles campaign and help improve the literacy skills of thousands of children in the UK and Ireland through something as simple as turning on the subtitles to their favorite show,” Lucy Murphy, Director of Kids Content at Sky, said.

The new collection, in support of the Turn on the Subtitles campaign and available from 8th March to Sky customers with Sky Kids, is intended to improve the reading and writing skills of children while popular kid's shows. "Some ideas are so powerful that something must be done about them,” Oli Barrett MBE, Co-founder of Turn on the Subtitles, said. “Subtitles improving literacy is one of those ideas. This campaign takes an incredibly simple insight and uses it to improve people's lives. We are incredibly grateful for the support of Sky, Viacom, and Warner Media who are now taking this seriously, and to the many high-profile names who are helping us to spread the word." 

The subtitle campaign will be implemented to popular shows such as Nicktoons' "SpongeBob SquarePants," Nick JR.'s "Paw Patrol," "The Amazing World of Gumball," "Be Cool," Warner Media's "Scooby-Doo,"and Sky Kids Originals like "Pirates Love Underpants and Moominvalley."  “Turn on the Subtitles is a great way to help improve children’s reading and writing skills in the UK & Ireland,” Louise Bucknole, VP Programming Kids, ViacomCBS Networks UK & Ireland, said. “We’re thrilled to support this great initiative with Sky and to add subtitles to our much-loved shows from the Nickelodeon catalog.”

Turning on same-language subtitles for children’s content is said to be effective in helping with poor literacy skills. It can also double the chance of children becoming proficient readers. Eye-tracking behavior research shows that 94% of children engage with subtitles while watching their favorite shows which can improve spelling, grammar, and vocabulary.