This is a common question and here’s what our WOW! Engineering team shared with me, so I could share with you. The question is easy, the answer is tough.
There are two reasons why commercials blare loudly at times:
First, the producers of some types of ads want them to be loud, and there are technical ways to make an ad sound louder than it really is. Way back in the golden days of analog TV (last year) if you were to measure the peak energy of audio in the ad and compare it to the peak energy of audio in the programming it would be the same despite the fact it sounded a bit louder. Also in the days of analog, the WOW! headend engineer had multiple points where audio levels could be calibrated to compensate for annoyingly loud advertising. Since the digital transition, audio simply cannot be adjusted in the network.
Second, the new format for Digital TV – ATSC, defines AC3 as a standard for audio. AC3 has many benefits including 5.1 surround sound and dynamic range to deliver the very quietest audio recordable up to the loudest levels with amazing clarity. The problem is, in the world of digital TV, audio levels can only be adjusted at two places, and this is critical:
- The first is when the content is encoded to digital by the producer.
- The second is when it is decoded by your set top box
Having only two places of adjustment is good because you get to hear exactly what the producer wanted you to hear. It’s bad because there is no way for the cable engineer to match the level of commercials to the level of adjacent programming.
The content producers and the cable industry (along with a gentle nudge from the federal government) have agreed that standards must be put into place to maintain a more reasonable audio level when transitioning from a TV program to a commercial and back. Dolby laboratories, along with the content producing industry, is adopting a standard of measurement and calibration called “dialogue normalization”, or “dialnorm” for short. This will, in time, effectively improve the marked difference in perceived levels from commercial content to programming content, and even level out differences program to program and channel to channel.
Standardization will take some time, so in the meantime, WOW! is actively working and communicating with programmers and commercial producers to help to maintain audio levels. So, if you come across an annoying unlevel or distorted audio scenario, give us a call and let us know. We can do a check of the audio settings on the receiver and notify our Head End personnel if the issue appears to be related to the producer. Here’s the minimum information we need in order to pursue a remedy with the producer.
- Channel and Time
- The Advertiser.
- Description of Problem (Too loud, audio distorted, etc.)
So, there you have it.
Thanks WOW! Engineering for the tough answer to the easy question!
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Comments
I worked in the Sales & Marketing field for many years and there is another reason television commercials are loud. Long ago, when television viewing started to become a normal function in many U.S. homes, the commercial industry realized that even though they were bombarding t.v. views with commercials, the majority of store sales were down. To find out why television commercials were not very successful, the commercial industry decided to do a survey based on the various television viewing habits of people.
The survey results proved that many people used the commercial times, in between shows, to momentarily leave their television rooms to get snacks, something to drink, bathroom breaks, etc. the same as we do today. Many various television show executives, also realized that companies were not willing to purchase commercial time slots, due to the loss of consumer sales. So in order to sell more products, the commercial industry (with the help of television show executives), had to find a better way to reach more potential customers. Turning up the volume during commercial times, means advertisers can reach the many t.v. viewers that do not stay in front of their t.v. sets during commercial time slots. Product sales have proven over time, that many of us consumers will listen to many popular commercials, even though we may be in another room while the commercial is playing. How do you think so many people can sing the Band Aide or Oscar Meyer commercials, along with many other great commercial jingles throughout the decades? It seems that where ever many of us went in the 1970s and ’80s, those commercials jingles were within constant hearing distance. Happy times, Happy times…!
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Thanks for your enlightening comments. “I’m stuck on Band-Aids ’cause Band-Aids are stuck on me. Oh I wish I were an Oscar Meyer weiner” Yep, I was there too. Very interesting perspective. And, it’s not hard to relate to using commercial time outs to take breaks; they’re certainly long enough to grab a snack and drink or to take a bathroom break. I wonder how advertisers are coping with shrinking air time as more and more homes have DVR’s installed?
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