No more loud ads
New regulations mean we may have seen the end to shouty ads says Marcus Casey but what does the introduction of OP 59, the new rule governing commercial volume, mean for the production sector, advertisers and advertising delivery services?
It has long been one of the biggest bugbears for both TV viewers and networks – the loudness of television commercials.
Over the years there have been countless complaints forcing networks to explain that shouty ads are not actually their fault, that there is no centralised volume control, placing the blame firmly with the advertisers and those making the ads.
Volume levels of commercials are determined during the production process as a result of audio compression which effectively prevents networks from having any control during the broadcast process.
mmmmm……the biggest problem has always been the loudness of the station promo. Considerably louder than the TV commercials playing before or after them. And some stations are still guilty.
this is an extremely simple and inexpensive thing to alter for compliance
Beware companies seeking to cash-in..shouldn’t take more than 30mins-1hr to
have it sorted…at the most!
Anything that stops consumers getting further pissed off with TVCs isn’t a bad thing. Happier consumers will be more receptive to the message one expects. Now if only we could get rid of the ridiculous disclaimers in micro-print on TVCs and also the 15 secs of disclaimers at end of radio commercials……….
Hope this applies to the ABC-TV between program promos too.
My company produces 130+ TV commercials every day, so we saw very quickly the effect that this OP59 rollout had. The period over the new year when the standard was introduced cause so much grief to clients! Explaining to them that they could no longer shout louder than the next ad to get noticed caused some to re-think their strategies.
I wonder if these new guidelines will change the creative on TV – it’s been interesting to see Harvey’s adopt a much softer approach with their jingle and concept, and I wonder if that was partially driven by these new requirements?
One last thing – I know Adstream and Dubsat offer ‘auto correction’ to material that is not -24LKFS. As I understand it, this is just lowering the overall audio level as once the audio is EQed, compressed and mixed, you can’t ‘undo’ any of that processing. To maintain the best sonic quality, Free TV suggest that compliance be achieved BEFORE the audio goes through it’s final stereo mix – as adjusting EQ and compression of the voiceover and sound effects achieves a better result then simply lowering the overall level of the final mixed track. Even the speed of a voiceover changes the LKFS measurement.
All TVC audio that leaves our studios is -24LKFS, so it doesn’t have to be touched. I wonder if agencies and production houses who deal with non-compliant audio would be happy that their audio is being adjusted/changed after it leaves their suite? Interesting to know….
As a professional audio post engineer I think it is important to point out a couple of the errors in this article. The first error is that broadcasters have no control over the volume of the material they broadcast. The truth is they do, they just don’t want to employ staff to “mix” the station output. The 2nd error is the assertion that Free TV has run regular industry briefings. There have been a couple of talks at AFTRS that have dealt with the history of the issue but very little about workflow. Industry professionals have all been asking for clear guidlines for months. But the biggest error of them all is the assertion that Adstream & the other delivery companies have to provide QC of commercial material. Here is the fact. At no time has Free TV appointed any company to QC material before delivery. When a delivery company tells you material will be rejected by broadcasters & offers to “fix” it (for a fee), consult a professional audio person. I have heard stories of material being “rejected” by distribution companies for exceeding loudness by 0.2dB. We don’t measure audio in tenths of a decibel & no broadcaster would dare. Having said all that, it seems odd to me that the courier is checking the contents of the parcel before deciding whether or not they will deliver it!
Does this mean the end to every voice artists most hated written direction – “Hard Sell”?
“Over the years there have been countless complaints forcing networks to explain that shouty ads are not actually their fault”
More often they blandly deny that the problem even exists. One of many reasons why I stopped watching TV in the 1980s. I produce some of it, but I can’t bear to consume.
I’m going to miss those screaming ‘EVERYTHING MUST GO’ exhibition center ads. They were always so endearing!
As another professional audio engineer I would also add the following facts to the basket –
OP59 is not legally binding, unlike CALM in the US which has financial penalties for non compliance, it is only a “recommendation” from Free-TV ti it’s member stations to adopt the standard. The ball lies solely in their court for self-regulation.
Worth remembering at this point that advertisers give a lot of money just for the privilege of airing their ads and may not be impressed with being told how or what they can do in terms of production.
There’s also the issue of the “off air processing” – of the signal of the respective TV channels – ie bumping the signal up during transmission – which are completely compressed and overdriven anyway – ie no matter how we at the coal face produce our final mix they are then made sound ( much ) louder at the broadcast stage so it’s self defeating. I could name specific channels but won’t.
Pay TV is also not involved in any of this and are still cranking everything out at the old LOUD level, so the ads and promos don’t sound any softer there.
I have a theory about this ( and it’s only my theory ) that what’s happening is TVC producers are still making their ads at the old level figuring ” well if it’s fine for Pay TV then it’s fine us and elsewhere if they want to go through the hassle of bumping the levels down let ’em do it, they’ll soon get bored “.
Have TV channel streaming apps missed all of this? I never really noticed excessive ad volume in the past despite having heard all the complaints.
But streaming an old MasterChef episode the other night and the first ad nearly had me jump out of my seat.