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Television

Annoying Loud TV Commercials To Get Scrutiny From the FCC (bloomberg.com) 96

Posted by msmash from the for-a-better-tomorrow dept.
Here's something to do if that TV commercial is too loud: complain to the feds, who just might do something about it. From a report: The U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Monday asked for public help to determine whether to update rules to prevent broadcast, cable and satellite providers from sending commercials that are louder than the programming they accompany. "In particular, we invite consumers to tell us their experiences," the agency's media bureau said in a public notice. The action follows an April 13 letter from Representative Anna Eshoo asking FCC Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel to look into a reported increase in complaints about loud commercials. Eshoo wrote a 2010 law, known as the CALM Act, or Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act, that underpins FCC rules that may be changed. The FCC has never sought to enforce the act, despite receiving thousands of complaints, Eshoo said. A recent press report said complaints to the FCC had increased "sharply," Eshoo wrote. "This worries me a great deal." Eshoo mentioned a March 31 report in Business Insider that said complaints to the FCC for the four-month period from November to February rose 140% compared to the same period a year earlier.
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Annoying Loud TV Commercials To Get Scrutiny From the FCC More

Annoying Loud TV Commercials To Get Scrutiny From the FCC

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  • Mute was a wonderful invention (Score:5, Insightful)

    by bloodhawk ( 813939 ) on Monday April 19, 2021 @07:27PM (#61292192)
    The change in volume actually makes us Mute the TV for ads during the rare occasions we watch FTA channels. So probably has the opposite of the intended effect for us. Sleazy advertisers are Sleazy, nothing new, they all need to be hit with more regulation be that on the web with scum like google or on TV/Radio.

    • Re: Mute was a wonderful invention (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Z00L00K ( 682162 ) on Monday April 19, 2021 @08:27PM (#61292344) Homepage Journal

      Annoying ads is what makes people stop watching TV. You can run a decent adblocker on your computer and find a lot of content online.

      Too much ads is also why shows are pirated.

      • I wonder why TVs don't have automatic volume leveling (or whatever it's called) to keep the volume at a constant level?

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          Some do. I had a Samsung many years ago with that feature, and many soundbars have automatic levelling and compression.

          The problem is that volume is not just a function of amplitude. A heavily compressed "wall of sound" can have the same amplitude as a clear and well separated soundtrack but be perceived as much louder.

          As ever, the only option is to block. Hit mute, or use an ad blocker.

          • Not to mention, sometime the sound editing of something relies on having both "silent" and "loud" parts - like in "Saving Private Ryan" beach assault scene. Or "Band of Brothers" - eerily silent at one moment, and all hell breaks loose the next.

            • "Dynamic range compression" solves this if you have equipment where it works well.

            • Re: (Score:3)

              by jwhyche ( 6192 )

              Yup, and I want that crap leveled out too. Which my tv does quite nicely. I'm sure a lot of cinematic thought went into blowing the hell out of that beach, but the story can be told just as well with out the neighbors thinking D-Day is happening in the apartment next door.

              • Advertisers and stations used to to say the decibels were the same on programs and that advertisements weren't louder. TIVO showed that was a complete crock. Ads used all possible wall-of-sound technology.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by hawk ( 1151 )

          until recently, the problem has been that the ear's perception of volume and analog circuitry's perception are different.

          Advertisers gimmicked the wave shape to appear louder to the ear than to the electronics.

          I suspect that with current digital electronics, measuring human-perceived volume would be trivial, but I haven't seen references to products that do this.

      • We actually have regulations here in Australia about advertisements being too loud since I was a kid in the 1980s. Unfortunately advertisers just get around it by using heavy compression on the advertisement audio to give the psychoaccoustic impression of being loud.

        There actually used to be ad blocker type hardware boxes that I think worked by looking at the loudless of the video and blocking at those points. From memory they didnt work very well at all.

        • This would be a swell time to put modern, 21st century technology to use to detect this compression, and mute the audio until it no longer senses it. This sampling/mute could be done in mere milliseconds.

          Of course if the show is on a shitpot channel that uses this for normal programming as well, then you are SOL, but usually it would just be old shows repackaged as shovelware anyway.

      • Song remains the same. When we got our first VCR, the magic of commercial skip was discovered...we bought it to time shift, but when we realized we could commercial skip ? Heaven. Over time, the boxes have gotten fancier, tape has given way to hard drives, but it's still record and play back/skip preferred to any realtime.
      • OTOH, ads are a great reminder to get up and walk around. Multiple studies (which I'm too lazy to cite and assert you should just trust a random person on the internet) shown the health benefits of getting up.

        So, I view TV advertisers as friends who cares about my health. Web advertisers, OTOH, are a**holes who are enabling the mass surveillance of the internet and the degradation of privacy.

    • You noticed the ad, you had to interact with it by hitting the mute button that's what they want. Ad agencies have been around for as long as media if loud annoying ads didn't work they wouldn't use them.

      • "If advertising didn't work it would go away" is an outrageous fallacy on the face of it.
        Advertising doesn't go away because the people who buy it are convinced to take the chance that it works.
        The people who have the data that might show how well it works--those who sell the advertising--have no incentive whatsoever to be open with that data.

      • I do take note, but in a negative way, Annoying Ad's I make mental note to ensure I never buy the product and in some cases the brand as well. anyway mostly I don't even see what the Ad is anymore, we automatically Mute within seconds of Ad break starting and then play with phones or take a toilet/drink break.

    • I started muting or changing channel in the 1990s (usually changing to my Scart input for a bit of Amiga action for a few minutes) when the adverts were getting louder and more annoying. I hardly ever see an advert on TV now. These days I always mute and go on the internet until things are back, or I record them and start watching 15 mins in to catch up by skipping the ads.
      I don't think TV ads have ever got me to buy anything, but they have stopped my from buying things when the ads have annoyed me.

  • FCC really springing into action (Score:5, Funny)

    by JMZero ( 449047 ) on Monday April 19, 2021 @07:33PM (#61292202) Homepage

    Man, don't piss off the FCC!

    60 years after you start doing something abusive, they'll start a commission - and they'll totally start considering the practices your grandson is still doing. Give them another 5 years.. 20 years tops... and they'll have some toothless regulations for this dying industry.

    And if you break them, gosh darnit they will give you such a warning... maybe.

    • What's worse is that Congress passed a law against excessively loud commercials over a decade ago, but the FCC never enforced it.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Briareos ( 21163 )

      Man, don't piss off the FCC!

      I think you'll have a hard time trying to surpass Eric Idle [archive.org] in doing that...

  • Smart TVs, huh (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Krishnoid ( 984597 ) on Monday April 19, 2021 @07:39PM (#61292212) Journal
    The one thing they could use their "smarts" for in determining when an ad is on and normalizing the volume, and it's not a standard feature.

    • With the way incentives are structured in these industries, I’d place my bet on the opposite: "smart" TVs are more likely to be programmed to increase the audible volume of ads as a means for generating post-sale income for the TV manufacturer, rather than decreasing or normalizing it.

      • Yes indeed - a "smart" TV that prevented the mute button working in ads would probably be able to claw some more money out of advertisers, and so reduce the sale price of the TV in stores. As such, it'd be the most "popular" TV available, heralding a whole new era of TVs that don't do what the consumer wants.

        Sadly, paying more for a TV doesn't guarantee anything, but paying less for one encourages more and more "smart" crap :-(

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by EvilSS ( 557649 )

      The one thing they could use their "smarts" for in determining when an ad is on and normalizing the volume, and it's not a standard feature.

      Some sound bars/receivers can do this already.

    • All TV is pretty much normalized to -6dB. The problem is that overall loudness is more than just the peaks. With TV commercials, they're compressed so heavily that the whole waveform is mostly a peak.

  • This is still a "thing"? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by 50000BTU_barbecue ( 588132 ) on Monday April 19, 2021 @07:43PM (#61292222) Journal

    I have MAD magazines (actual print on paper, remember that?) from the 1950s making jokes about this...
    Well, paperbacks, but same idea.

    • I thought this was dealt with like 20 years ago.

      I'm not sure why any advertiser thinks I would be more likely to purchase their product or service if they annoy me by forcing me to turn down the volume when their commercial is aired.

      • I thought this was dealt with like 20 years ago.

        Maybe the story is a dupe.

      • Re: This is still a "thing"? (Score:4, Informative)

        by Z00L00K ( 682162 ) on Monday April 19, 2021 @08:29PM (#61292356) Homepage Journal

        The regulation was put in but then the ad makers found out that nobody took the effort of punishing them.

      • I know, right? How many times do they need to ban this before advertisers stop it?if
        • Is it the advertisers or the broadcasters/carriers/whatever, who fail to apply volume leveling or compression to what they broadcast? Advertisers don't know the particular characteristics of a given stream, they only know that they need their audio to be as loud and clear as possible. Whoever assembles the stream (however delivered) has the ability and responsibility to get the levels right. I think that gets split between the network and the local broadcaster/cable company/streamer; with the network ins
      • 11 years ago. But apparently three administrations in a row have failed to direct the FCC to enforce the law.

  • Next is embedded players? (Score:5, Informative)

    by bjwest ( 14070 ) on Monday April 19, 2021 @07:44PM (#61292224)
    They need to get on the embedded media players that play at full volume with no volume control.

  • So complaints went up in 2020? Perhaps that had something to do with there being a lot more people stuck at home with nothing to do but watch tv and write complaints about it?

    • Almost certainly. Like a lot of things, COVID has brought this to the attention of more people. It's not exactly as profound as things like 'treatment of the working class' or 'availability of healthcare', but good on them for getting after this. Finally.

  • Sound compressors (Score:5, Interesting)

    by biggaijin ( 126513 ) on Monday April 19, 2021 @07:58PM (#61292254)

    Many times in the past these guys have been accused of blasting TV commercials at a volume level higher than that of the program they accompany. When this was found to be true, they changed strategy and began using voice and sound compression. This technique raises the average energy level of the sound without raising its peak value. The volume of the commercial can be measured with a sound pressure meter and the peak volume is not higher than that of the program containing it even though it is subjectively considerably louder. They also tend to use very noisy backgrounds, with lots of music, crowd noise, etc. to fill any silence that remains. The ones that always annoyed me most were the noisy American Toyota commercials, which often simulated a party of some kind with noisemakers and balloons surrounding the commercial message.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by sjames ( 1099 )

      The worst ones compress the sound so hard it sounds like things sound when you have a fever on the edge of delirium. You might think they wouldn't want their product associated with being that sick...

      Of course, given some commercials out there I can only conclude that even ad agencies hate some of their clients.

    • And when that happens, in my mind I say "shut up already". Really, are they so desperate that they have to jump around screaming "Look at meee!". Last I heard, Toyota wasn't hurting for money.

      Interestingly enough, the "little guys" seem to be a bit quieter on average.

        This is the audio equivalent of a Javashit page overlay that you are trying to get out of the way as fast as you can. Only this is an unwanted "overlay" over my peace and quiet.

      • Last I heard, Toyota wasn't hurting for money.

        So you're confirming it's working for them then?

        • When was Toyota ever on the verge of bankruptcy? The point I was trying to make is that Toyota is doing well enough and is well known enough that they don't need to resort to desperate attention grabbing tactics.

          • Unless they are doing well enough because of their advertising shenanigans.

            They are a company, if they think doing this makes them more money, they will do it.

            • Blasting your commercial 'loud' (using compression) will only get you so far, especially with an investment like a car. People tend to do a bit of research before putting down money for such an expensive item.

              Really, how did blasting their commercials vs playing them at normal volume help Toyota profit? I doubt the numbers were anywhere near significant.

              • It helps with brand awareness, You're still talking about it now. So at least you remembered it. And now you've gone and reminded me.

                The benefit may be small, but the cost could be even smaller.

                I guess it's possible some number of people would be so annoyed they would refuse to buy a Toyota. But People tend to do a bit of research before putting down money for such an expensive item. So it may not really hurt them.

    • This is the same technics IIRC than the loudness war in music. Per say, they are not making it "louder" than the surrounding programs, the amplitude is probably the same, but they make it appear louder to our ear. https://enhancedmedia.medium.c... [medium.com]

    • Which is why the audio industry has developed a measuring method that looks at the average energy level [sweetwater.com] instead of the peaks. This is commonplace on the web these days: sites like Youtube normalize all incoming audio using this method instead of just looking at the peaks.

      Commercials can still be annoying because they're so overcompressed, but unless the TV station still uses outdated leveling methods they shouldn't be louder.

    • Rather than compare peak volume levels between commercial and program, why not compare RMS values? That's a much fairer way of doing things, essentially looking at the 'average' volume. I prepare audiobooks for distribution and the majority of retailers specify not only peak limit but give a window for the RMS level. So it's not as if it's a particularly difficult concept to understand or measure. But then... when has common sense ever come into things?!

    • Compression and EQ tricks are used all the time in commercials. Sucking out the lows that use up power and speaker travel and boosting the mids for that "in your face" tone tends to allow a much LOUDER sound without ticking the db meter any higher. And they've been aware of that for quite some time now.

  • Are you telling me Slashdot readers still watch cable/satellite?! (wait for it....)

    I haven't had cable in over 15 years! (and there it is)

  • Right (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Ol Olsoc ( 1175323 ) on Monday April 19, 2021 @08:15PM (#61292314)
    They'll have as much success as they've had silencing all the junk phone calls.

    Which is exactly - none.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by sconeu ( 64226 )

      Difference is, with TV/whatever ads, they know who to go after... The network.

      • This. With sufficient effort they don't even need to wait for complaints, this can be monitored directly without any creep privacy implications.
  • Still not watching commercials.
    Usually.
    But I know these reports are accurate. They've been either reducing the program volume or raising the commercial volume for quite some time now.

  • No, spam. (Score:3)

    by kackle ( 910159 ) on Monday April 19, 2021 @08:50PM (#61292404)
    First of all, there was a law passed about this issue years ago--what about that? I haven't noticed much difference in volumes during that time, and now they're bringing it up again, like it's new, in "1984"-esque style.

    Secondly, I'd much prefer the telephone marketers and scams be dealt with by the FCC more so than anything else. Elderly are getting hurt. You can't mute you phone. TV is mostly entertainment; communication with others, less so.
  • Time to put actual "cancel culture" at work here. Name and shame the ad and channel for obnoxious ads and pledge not to buy that thing. That will shut them up faster than official investigation.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Remember when cancel culture used to be called market forces, until it became rather inconvenient to the wrong people. All of a sudden, market forces are “woke”. Poor old right wingers, struggling to deny reality.

  • I no longer watch Cable/Dish, so we have OTA and a couple of OTN. BUT, even these groups have commercials that used to jump a FEW decibels, but now appear to jump up 5-10 decibels.

  • last time they made a toothless attempt at this all it ended up doing is forcing the commercial producers to collude with the television producers to make the unacceptable volume manipulation tactics happen slightly more gradually in order to avoid automated detection that apparently by the letter of the law only was required to prevent instantaneous volume spikes

  • I have not thought about since I got rid of my last TV a few years ago. After checking out the streaming stuff, I also dropped all my streaming accounts they were about as expensive as TV and did not offer much I was interested in.
    • I have a ball-in-a-cup for my entertainment.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by clovis ( 4684 )

        I have a ball-in-a-cup for my entertainment.

        Ever since my toddlers saw two girls and a cup, that's been the entertainment around here.

  • Sirius/XM Radio has been pissing me off by cranking up the volume on commercials they serve during commercial breaks on their network news channels. On the rare occasions when I venture out of the public broadcasting-type news channels and check out the network news channels I'm reminded of this evil. Really frakking annoying.

  • commercials got louder and more frequent. My solution is to quit. I haven't watched TV in several years. There are plenty of other options. Hurt their pocketbooks and they will change,

  • Loud commercials is a problem that can be solved by pressing a button on a remote control. I don't think we need the federal government to get involved.

  • Sigh. (Score:2)

    by ledow ( 319597 )

    Welcome to 2008, America.

    https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/... [thisismoney.co.uk]

  • We have a local furniture company here called Freight Warehouse, and their commercials are especially annoying, consisting of a guy screaming at the top of his lungs at high speed about their furniture. So bad that I have complained to our local TV stations on several occasions, and I am generally not a complainer. This should be the very first commercial to get banned. If you live in NE Florida, you know what I mean.

  • Here's an idea: if you want to waste your time, complain to the FCC.

    Any individual's complaint to a government organization carries exactly 0.000 weight; maybe less. These organizations only respond to top-down pressure, or to very large pressure groups who are perceived to have political clout.

  • The biggest issue as I see it has been the absolute lack of any sort of meaningful enforcement by the FCC of anything in the past few decades.

    The FCC has been sitting around like an old fat toothless dog that occasionally barks for many years now, IMO this is why nobody takes them seriously any more, and I doubt this will change any time soon.

    Seems like they become more of a joke day by day. First they promised to quiet all the loud commercials which never happened, then they promised to stop all the scamm

  • It is my personal conspiracy theory that the people who do sound for ads, needing to stay within the newish rules about average volume not exceeding the surrounding programming, have vastly increased the number of commercials that feature aggressive tympani and other percussion, in an attempt to break through and get you to look. Many ads include only percussion in the background. They pummel my ears. I have noticed other things about ads, which nobody seems interested in: Many feature only "doorbell music
  • ..F**K Renewal by Anderson! I am SO SICK of their god damn commercials. As well as all the damn cable company ads.

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