Some Sound Advice: TV Commercials Are Too Pumped-Up

by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, August 10, 2006

TV marketing is easy: big volume speaks volumes.

You can always get big attention with your TV program or commercial by raising the volume for your viewers. In theory, this is an easy awareness trick. TV commercial volume always seems a bit louder than program volume.

We become alert and may even hang around a while with big sound commercials--even for a few seconds. Then again, we might just remember never to associate with that annoying--sounding Big Mac again.

Commercial volume seems to be less of an issue, however, in this country. In our growing DVR world, the volume and the length of commercials doesn't carry as much weight. Fast-forward buttons take care of the reverberations.

Since the early '80s, I've always had an analog DVR-like button to avoid TV commercials: my mute button. It lets me catch my breath, and maybe, if I'm in the mood, gives me time to investigate current video goings-on. Then I may even turn off the mute to watch a commercial with full senses working overtime.

Supposedly, Italians have a special relationship with their televisions, especially with the volume of their TV advertising. The Italian government now says 83 percent of TV ads pump up commercial volume more than 50 percent over programming volume. The Italian government believes this is a lack of respect towards home viewers. Italy will start issuing fines to subdue those loud TV marketers.

Sounds like a good idea. But audio is only one part of equation. Now, with ever-larger plasma HDTV sets, what to do about the amped-up size of commercial video?

Following the Victoria's Secret TV ads in this country, as I closely do, and you'll see bigger breasts nestled in ever-larger black bras. If this can't be stopped, then Victoria's Secret should get some sort of award at the Golden Globes.

With all that's coming at TV viewers these days, TV marketers should offer up more warnings--as TV producers seeming do with pre-show disclaimers. Just give us some warning: big sound or skin volume ahead!

2 comments about "Some Sound Advice: TV Commercials Are Too Pumped-Up".

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Paul Solomon from Paul Solomon and Associates, June 14, 2009 at 6:34 p.m.
I'm sitting in my barcalounger eating Cheese Doodles and watching the "NCIS" marathon on the USA channel. It's Saturday, and I'm taking the day off. I don't want to be distracted by having to make decisions or pay bills on the weekend. But now, as another commercial comes on, I'm thinking to myself, "enough already, there ought to be a law." I reach for the remote to turn down the volume. Is it just me, or is the commercial way louder than the regular programming? Yes and no. It seems broadcasters are allowed to air commercials at a volume equal to the peak volume of the program during which they play. For instance, there's a loud bomb blast in an episode of our favorite show. All the commercials during that program can reach that level. In other words, the commercial is constantly running at the loudest volume possible, while the actual show balances the explosions with dialogue at a natural level. The shows have a realistic pattern of volume that ranges from whispering to loud dialogue to loud blasts, while the commercials constantly blare at the peak volume. This issue has confounded TV viewers for years, and is now being investigated by the U.S. Congress, which this week heard from experts on the subject while considering HR 1084, the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act (CALM). The appropriately named CALM Act would require the FCC to restrict television commercial volume to the average sound level of the program that it airs on, as opposed to the program's peak volume. As I keep having to reach for the remote during each commercial interruption, I'm comforted by the fact that the day of the ear-blasting announcements for male enhancement products, AARP membership and bipolar medication may be coming to an end. Soon there could be a law.
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William Hughes from Arnold Aerospace, June 16, 2009 at 6:28 p.m.

I am all for this piece of Legislation. I would like to see it combined with the Bill to limit certain Prescription Drug Commercials to Late-night TV, or better yet, combimed with the Proposal to amend the V-Chip Rule so that it applies to Commercials as well as Programming. Combined, this would be one POWERFUL Law!