Sweden’s national public TV broadcaster, SVT (Sveriges Television AB), has taken a significant leap in enhancing its digital content accessibility by employing AI technology to generate subtitles for its on-demand news content. In a pioneering move in Europe, SVT has achieved 100% coverage for subtitles on its news content, thanks to a collaboration with Limecraft, a subtitling and ingest orchestration company, and Woody Tech. This innovative solution not only streamlines the subtitling process but also enables SVT to reallocate resources and save millions of Swedish Krona annually.
The challenge of subtitling short-form content
SVT has been committed to providing subtitles or captions for its content, aiming for 95% coverage. However, with a growing volume of short-form online content, the subtitling process proved to be manual and time-consuming. This challenge prompted SVT to seek a more efficient and cost-effective solution to meet its accessibility responsibilities.
Creating an AI-powered subtitling workflow
As part of its digital-first strategy, SVT collaborated with Limecraft and Woody Tech to develop a user-friendly and swift workflow for non-technical personnel. Limecraft introduced a subtitling plugin seamlessly integrated into SVT’s production environment. This integration revolutionized the subtitling process by allowing users to generate AI-powered subtitles with the simple click of a button within the production environment.
Olof Appelqvist, head of post-production with SVT, explained the motivation behind this innovative approach: “With our journalists taking increasing responsibility for subtitle creation, it became clear we needed to find a better way of meeting our responsibilities.”
Streamlined workflow and cost savings
The integration of Limecraft’s subtitling plugin has had a profound impact on SVT’s operations. By enabling journalists and non-technical personnel to effortlessly create AI-generated subtitles, SVT has significantly expedited the subtitling process. This not only enhances the accessibility of their content but also frees up valuable human resources that can be redirected to other areas of the business.
Appelqvist emphasized the financial benefits of this solution, stating, “This solution has enabled us to redeploy human resources into other areas of the business, and it is saving us a significant amount of money – millions of Swedish Krona per year.”
Pioneering the way for other broadcasters
SVT’s adoption of AI technology for subtitling positions them as pioneers in the field, setting a precedent for other broadcasters to follow suit. The successful implementation of this innovative solution, coupled with the technical support and training provided by Limecraft, has garnered praise from SVT.
“We’ve been delighted with the implementation, with the technical support and training received from Limecraft, and with the overall result. We’re also very happy to be an early adopter of this technology, forging a path that we’re sure other broadcasters will want to follow,” Appelqvist noted.
Sweden’s SVT has embraced AI technology to streamline the subtitling process for its digital content, becoming the first European broadcaster to provide subtitles for 100% of its on-demand news content. This groundbreaking initiative not only improves content accessibility but also leads to significant cost savings by reallocating human resources to other critical areas of the business. SVT’s collaboration with Limecraft and Woody Tech highlights the potential of AI-driven solutions to revolutionize content accessibility in the broadcasting industry, setting a precedent for other broadcasters to follow suit in the quest for greater inclusivity and efficiency.
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