They say “average” volume. What do they mean by that? Or, more precisely, how are they measuring that? RMS? LUFS?
Probably LUFS, but even with LUFS there are ways to make perceived volume louder while remaining within a threshold
There are people that still get ads on their shows? Ew. Icky.
I know right? This is 2026, we’re all self-hosting and ad-blocking now! Only sheeple would pay for no ads.
because this is Lemmy it’s impossible to know if this comment is sarcastic or genuine.
finally! This has been a scourge for decades.
ads? 🏴☠️
Depends on if local or hosted. Just that the hosted ones are … usually not filtered.
I feel MAD Magazine was already lampooning loud ads in the 1960s… plus ca change
Is this loud, or just boosted loudness?
Where I live it has been illegal to up the volume for publicity, but not to cram it so full of loudness the clipping cuts your hair.
How many times do we have to get laws like this passed?
I swear I feel like all consumer protections have just been thrown out.
Louder commercials than TV have long been illegal, but they don’t enforce it. I know someone however that used to call or email or whatever the station to complain when they did it and they would stop for at least a bit because of those laws that went mostly unenforced.
But the less cynical more hopeful generations before us had passed those common sense laws and enforced them at one point.
You can file complaints with the FCC, but the FCC doesn’t actively monitor it. The biggest problem is that no matter how the law is written, they will find ways to abuse it. The law actually requires that the average volume of the ad not be greater than the average volume of the show. And it even specifies that the average is a running average, not just the peak vs lowest. But then loud portions of the show pump that average up. Like let’s say that during the credits you play really loud music, or really loud bloopers, well that would bump average. And if the commercial had a really long quiet period, like a long section where someone whispers the side affects a medication, well that bumps your loudest allowable portions up. They can also wait for the quietest part of a show to make the difference more significant.
And there’s much more that they can do that makes it seem louder, like frequency boosting and audio compression that are all totally legal. So, they can actually bump the apparent “loudness” of a commercial quite a bit and still be legal.FCC does not have jurisdiction over streaming.
That is true, but I am not sure why you are telling me. Responded to the wrong comment maybe?
just to clarify that this only works for TV and not streaming, because the article is about streaming
Yeah they had their chance. Audio streaming services have (mostly) managed to figure out licensing agreements so all music is on all platforms.
Video streaming services all created their own walled gardens with various levels of advertising. Paramount even offered an advertising free tier but would happily advertise their own shows before other shows (noticed specifically on Star Trek shows but I imagine other providers do it too).
In the end… Fuck them. I give up on trying to figure out streaming video with all its complications. Back to the seven seas to procure my own.
W
Not in the US, but I’d go even further and ban any ad mimicking an “alerting” kind of sound, especially starting with it.
Alarms, ringtones, even loud door knocking. Even worse, traffic sounds with car horns (rare, but some still do this shit somehow). I can’t believe some of the ads I get are still legal, deliberately stressing you to get your attention shouldn’t be.
legal, deliberately stressing you to get your attention shouldn’t be.
I’m thinking of a couple of entire industries that could be banned or destroyed to help people’s brains.
I worked on a crew that took lots of long interstate drives when “We Like to Party” by the Vengaboys was a big radio hit. Every time that goddamned horn blasted in that song when we were on the road, we all frantically looked around to see the big truck that was about to kill us only to realize it was just the stupid Vengabus.
Those car horn/siren radio ads are worse than Internet clickbait and dangerous. Hate them worse than extra loud ads.
Emergency sirens in radio ads (i.e. often played in the car) are the worst.
I can’t understand how people use any platforms with ads. Any ads are bad, but audio/video ads are the worst. I refuse to use any platform that tries to hijack my attention like that.
Punish the brands that do it with boycotts, bad reviews and naming/shaming online. Call out the creative production and call them hacks. That must be why they’re in advertising instead of making something someone would enjoy hearing.
🏴☠️
Excuse me, I am finally glad I’m in California for a reason besides the food
You’re taking a lot for granted then. Seek out some broader perspective
On one hand, this, on the other hand, y’all are trying to destroy the entire concept of property rights by putting government-snitch DRM in 3D printers. You’ve got some work to do to crawl out of that net negative.
Yeah, this unfortunately. The Californian government is nuts
Happy Cake Day!
Imagine when your grandmother watches them, it is already turned up too loud.
Dude I got tinnitus. I watch louder than gran
Wowsers!
FINALLY
Focusing on the real problems of our time
Didn’t takeaway from anything else to do this. Grow up.
Hell yeah California. Suck it, Peacock.
