The Audio Description Project (ADP), an initiative of the American Council of the Blind (ACB), aims to bring more meaning and enjoyment to entertainment, cultural, and educational experiences for blind and visually impaired people. ADP maintains a list of described DVDs, broadcast television, movies, performing arts, museums, and national parks on the ADP website, www.acb.org/adp. As the only repository of all audio described titles on DVD and the three video streaming services (Amazon Prime Video, iTunes, and Netflix), the ADP created an index of all the titles. Here are the described video statistics as of January 1, 2020, from the ADP Master AD List:
Here are the described video statistics as of the end of April from the bottom of the ADP Master AD List:
SUMMARY: 4075 unique described videos and TV Series. 1786 videos were duplicated in more than one service.
0 Current Cinema; 1253 DVDs; 24 Apple TV+; 488 Disney+; 78 Hulu; 1272 iTunes; 1217 Netflix; 1799 Prime-Video; 8 Other;
242 TV Series: 34 ABC, 13 CBS, 5 CW, 27 FOX, 18 NBC, 25 DISCOVERY, 32 HGTV,
28 HISTORY, 4 OXYGEN, 2 SYFY, 17 TBS, 7 TELEMUNDO, 9 TNT, 21 USA.
The following DVDs and Blu-ray discs were released with audio description tracks last month. The links are clickable and take you to the description on our website. Most of them are also available on iTunes and Prime Video.
- The Rhythm Section
- Bad Boys For Life
- The Gentlemen
- The Turning
- Just Mercy
- Underwater
- Cats
- Dolittle
- Little Women
The streaming services added the following net number of described videos this past month (net = adds minus deletes): Apple TV+ = 7; Disney+ = 24; Hulu = 0; iTunes = 6; Netflix = 46; Prime Video = 44. Hulu is a big disappointment, and we are investigating. Apple TV+ has accelerated the number of new shows, and iTunes is unusually low this month, with Netflix unusually high, and Prime Video just keeping plowing forward as the #1 provider of audio described videos. With the movie theaters closed, Disney is accelerating the release of new films otherwise destined for theaters.
Other news from the ADP website this month:
- The ACB and ADP Conventions are going virtual via Zoom in July. See the agendas on our website. $25 buys you a LOT of content!
- One more month to submit your nominations for the ADP Achievement Awards. These are a big deal! Submit your nomination now.
- The FCC has proposed increasing the number of markets required to provide audio description on TV by 10/year.
- The Sunday Night Movies are coming back to CBS in May, this time with Audio Description. See our main page for the schedule.
- Lots of audio described TV shows were added in April. See our main page or the TV Shows by Network page.
- If you missed the One World Together broadcast and would like to view it with Audio Description, check out the CBS One World Together rebroadcast.
- The website was enhanced by adding shows that are broadcast with foreign language description on Disney+ (we already listed such Netflix shows); breaking out Amazon Prime Video’s “Included with Prime” shows in a separate list, including direct links; and taking you directly to the DVD description from our Master AD list or the alphabetic start letter of streaming videos for pages with indices.
Follow the Audio Description Project on Facebook at facebook.com/acbadp, or on Twitter at twitter.com/ADPwebmaster.