Why is it that during your television program, you have have to turn up the volume to hear it, and when the commercials come on, there’s a 5-15 db increase in volume?
I’ve used a db meter to prove that the commercials are increasing in volume, and the increase is significant.
There needs to be some standardization so that you aren’t blown out of the house when the commercials come on..
Hey Advertiser’s Lobby, is it any wonder that we want TIVO and others to skip the commercials in our broadcast TV? You are making this happen… if we wanted commercials, we wouldn’t have purchased cable….
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Finally!!! I know I’m not crazy.
The worst offenders seem to be local ads that attempt to blend in with the nationally syndicated ads. I could sit in a room, close my eyes and tell you when the local commercial comes on by the volume change alone.
The reason for the increased volume during commercials is because the advertising companies and tv stations know that people get up and go the fridge or bathroom during commercials and by increasing the volume they feel you will have a better chance of hearing the ads. At least that’s what I learned during my classes in advertising.
Mike on October 6th, 2007 at 8:05 pm | Link
Personally the only way to combat this situation is not to buy any product that has this annoying way to advertise. If you want peace and quiet, play movies. When I look for website for information or news, if there is an flashing advertisement I immediately get out and never go back. I hate things shoved in my face. I refuse to buy or view the product.
Diana on February 2nd, 2008 at 10:59 pm | Link
There is a device on the market which will detect these commercials and automatically lower the volume or mute them. I have found it available in some mail order catalogs similar to fingerhut.
mark on February 4th, 2008 at 10:36 am | Link
Just noticed on TNT that the volume of the TV show increased just seconds before the commercial came on. I thought the TV was acting up, I go out of my way not to buy products that are shout cast.
Lew on April 18th, 2008 at 11:43 am | Link
I hate this too! I just watched an infomercial and I’m positive the volume increased suddenly at THREE separate points throughout. Earlier I rented a movie OnDemand (satellite rental). While you’re looking through the options a titles, they play previews in the corner of the screen. This OnDemand menu stuff is almost twice as loud as the movie! It’s ridiculous. It popped up while I went downstairs and I’m pretty sure it woke my roommates!
Loud ads certainly aren’t the worst thing in life. It just drives me crazy that humans insist on bombarding each other with ADS ADS ADS.
b
Beck on July 22nd, 2008 at 11:35 pm | Link
I am so fed up with this barrage on my auditory senses that I immediately hit the mute button on the remote when the commercial starts. They can take their commercials and stuff them. Many of these annoying “volume enriched” commercials come from my own cable company trying to sell me the service I am using.
What makes them think they can attract customers by assaulting them???
Justin Seine on July 23rd, 2008 at 6:23 pm | Link
Amen! What about all the ads that clog up 1/4 of your t.v. screen during the program??? I don’t need to know what’s on a week from now and I don’t need the station identification logo in the corner, either. It blocks subtitles and credits! I SAY WE ALL DUMP THE TELEY! It’s full of worthless crap anyway! IDIOT BOX, BOOB TUBE.
heart of stone on September 6th, 2008 at 1:03 pm | Link
This volume manipulation needs to be outlawed.
The Cable and Satalite Service Providers need to fined for this anti-social behavior.
Each & Every time the volume is raised it should cost then $100,000 in fines.
Anybody out there willing to write a law to this effect?
I will sign it and pass it on, Legislature would have to act on this Majority vote.
I catch myself cursing them often, and I know I am not the only one.
Tom Rupp on November 26th, 2008 at 3:17 pm | Link
If you have ever done video editing this type of law would be nearly impossible to abide by or enforce. Government already controls too much of our lives to let them into our living rooms on this level would be not only intrusive but dangerous!
mark on November 26th, 2008 at 9:39 pm | Link
To require the Federal Communications Commission to prescribe a standard to preclude commercials from being broadcast at louder volumes than the program material they accompany.
I watch television with the remote in hand to lower the volume or mute loud commercials. It is a way of life.
Mary on November 30th, 2008 at 11:53 pm | Link
We have some potential help on the horizon…
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=talkbackCommentsFull&talk_back_header_id=6537213&articleid=CA6570221#111436
It should NOT have to be a way of life, the broadcasters have the ability to “normalize” the volume of all programs it airs, just like I do when streaming audio music in the house on my home network.
It hasn’t always been the way it is, only in the past 5 years has it really become noticeable.
I would like to see the FCC actually take volume complaints, and then do something about it. If the FCC actually cared, they would require the broadcasters to “normalize” the volume output.
Amen to all your complaints about commercial shout casting - suddenly I long for the days of the antenna on my roof and quality programming on a limited number of channels. And the crap that appears in the corners of programs promoting “whatever” just makes me furious. I have written every network where this happens, over and over agagin. Nobody has answered. I don’t think they care what their viewers think. If they did, they would not allow the volume increase during commercials or the overlay of “information” on their programs. Ever notice that the overlays never happen during a commerical? GRRRRRR!!!!!!
Barb on December 27th, 2008 at 6:35 pm | Link
North America’s government’s are the culprits, believe it or not. In my birth country there exist a law on how much the commercials may get louder. Which make all the commercials almost the same volume as the shows, and you can enjoy the commercials, without it blowing your brains out. Here I have to jump up, swear, and look for the remote. Dam, people, when will this stop!
Me on February 2nd, 2009 at 5:45 pm | Link
Is there an FCC or equivalent agency to ask about this? We have comcast and it is jarring, to say the least….
Will Stone on February 13th, 2009 at 7:16 pm | Link
All we have to do to stop this aggravation is to just stop using what they are shoving down our throats. Do something other than watch tv that charges you for the programming AND for the commercias! TV stations, cable, etc don’t think we are stupid, they know it by the way we accept this kind of abuse. For 60-100 bucks a month, we are not even allowed a place to complain!! Don’t like gas prices? quit wasting gas!! Don’t like the high price of cell phones? Throw them away!! We as a country are so spoiled and so controlled, we are willing to pay any price and put up with any abuse to enjoy our soft way of life. Quit griping and do something to show you are in charge.
Tom on February 17th, 2009 at 4:13 am | Link
They assault me with double and I’m sure triple volume then I assault them back with email thats not even close to being nice. I don’t mean just one. I’ll fire off three or four a night to different stations. I also email the products website and let them have it, too since I’m sure they have to pay for the extra volume. Maybe if the manufacturers get tired of the email assault, they’ll call off the morons at the stations.
Tom on April 13th, 2009 at 5:46 pm | Link
We should not have to put up with living with a remote in hand! The FCC should fine the cable companies. They fine them for other things like profanity. This is damaging our hearing and our childrens hearing.
Tim on April 29th, 2009 at 3:51 pm | Link
This is a pet peeve of mine. The high volume really stresses me out. The problem is a lot worse if you have a high powered surround system with a lot of bass. I am thinking of buying this product that supposedly normalizes the volume. I am wary of it degrading the signal of my home theater setup though
http://www.audiovox.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10001&storeId=10001&productId=15874&langId=-1
Michael on May 21st, 2009 at 12:21 am | Link
I hear you all. I feel like cancelling my cable all together. It really tics me off. I heard it is done so that while you going to the bathroom walking out of the room we can still hear the commercials. Crazy.
mike on July 25th, 2009 at 10:20 pm | Link
The long-running commercial by Progressive Insurance Company is getting on my nerves! Every 5 minutes, on every channel, you just cannot get away from it. I believe we ALL have it seared in our memories by this time. So tired of “Flo”, I could scream (and have)! Everyone should contact Progressive.com with a complaint and requesting a NEW commercial. I wouldn’t by any insurance from them if I never had any insurance. I contacted them by email on their website with my complaint and received a reply, thanking me for my input and that my suggestion would be shared with their advertising department. Please contact them!
D on August 23rd, 2009 at 3:41 pm | Link
Before Digital changeover there were laws why do we allow this B.S. now. The politics of this simply SUCK!!!! who got that kickback DUHHHH
mufgn dude on November 17th, 2009 at 9:53 pm | Link
Constant Pain When i do sleep These Pricks want 2 mess with evry 1 Im deaf in my left ear & losing my sight What the F___ gives them that right Some1 please help!
mufgn dude on November 17th, 2009 at 10:30 pm | Link
I am beginning to think - It could be about time for a joint action law suit
against, those that think “loud volume will increase their sell in stead of injuring the ears of listeners.
I have quit watching major violators of this loud sound selling.
Odis
odis f. smith on April 20th, 2010 at 7:51 am | Link
I have found the answer! If you hit ‘menu’ and then ’setup’ on your tv, you may have an option called ‘auto volume level’. The setting on my tv said that it was on, so I turned it off. No more blasting of commercials! I don’t have to watch a show with the remote in hand anymore. YEAH! I am liking this.
sunshine777 on April 20th, 2010 at 9:03 pm | Link
It only works if the television supports it. Sadly, all of them do not.
Also, if you enable this feature, and are watching a HD Movie with high dynamic range of audio, such as a war movie, with explosions, you will suppress the actual intent of the director’s use of louder sounds, if you use your TV Speakers for audio playback.
Sadly, I haven’t found a receiver that can do this yet… but I’m still looking.
There isn’t one place that I have found concerning the sharp S’s or better yet the crisp S’s used by women on certain ads, It can really be irritating to the ears, Tell me I’m wrong, JUST LISTEN SOMETIME.
Randal Gardenhire on May 18th, 2010 at 7:43 am | Link
Cable boxes support this setting.
But you might need to play with it to figure out how.
jeff on July 10th, 2010 at 10:55 am | Link
DIRECT TV SAYS THE PROBLEM IS NATIONWIDE AND THE ONLY SOLUTION AT THIS TIME IS TO REPLACE THE COAX CABLE WITH THE RED WHITE AND YELLOW CABLES……….. WHATEVER THAT MEANS????
chasm on July 17th, 2010 at 9:29 am | Link
Buy a Tivo for only $49.99 and cut the annoying offenders out, all together! This mind set of theirs, that they can shove their advertising down out throat is quite the turn off! I have complained to my cable provider, but they tell me that it is the individual networks and that they can do nothing. I don’t know if this is true, because I would expect to get the runaround in cases like this. If you have a DVR through your cable provider, you can simply jump through the annoying adds and have this despicable bombardment tactic blow right up in their faces!
Reward this disgraceful practice on the behalf advertisers, by not watching the annoying offensive ads at all. In this way, they waste their advertising dollar and you keep your sanity!
Joseph Cristofalo on August 4th, 2010 at 1:20 am | Link
Buy a Tivo for only $49.99 and cut the annoying offenders out, all together! This mind set of theirs, that they can shove their advertising down our throat is quite the turn off! I have complained to my cable provider, but they tell me that it is the individual networks and that they can do nothing. I don’t know if this is true, because I would expect to get the runaround in cases like this. If you have a DVR through your cable provider, you can simply jump through the annoying adds and have this despicable bombardment tactic blow right up in their faces!
Reward this disgraceful practice on the behalf advertisers, by not watching the annoying offensive ads at all. In this way, they waste their advertising dollar and you keep your sanity!
Joseph Cristofalo on August 4th, 2010 at 1:21 am | Link
This practice of increasing commercial volume is both annoying and insulting. There are other annoyances - such as instantly jumping from programming scenes - often dramas - instantly into bright loud commercials. No more “[this show] will continue in a moment” I’ve also recently discovered some commercials GRADUALLY increase their volume about 10-15db over a few seconds, which I somehow find even more annoying than the rapid increase.
Sadly, we’re not going to get the cable-companies to change if we keep watching it. We voluntarily PAY a monthly fee for programming, and we’re still fed advertisements.
Commercials used to waste our time 10-12min per hour, but has increased to around 18-22min per hour.
Another solution would be to enact legislation requiring some queue for DVR’s to mute/pause/etc when commercials start and stop.
A better model for the consumer would be to provide cable free of charge WITH advertising, and without advertising for those that pay the monthly fee. However, given that would be less profitable for the cable-TV industry, don’t expect it without legislation.
Online… I highly recommend Adblock Plus. I cannot stand to browse without it.
The trend is clear. People are growing tired of traditional advertising models and it’s time for a paradigm shift in marketing.
Greg on August 5th, 2010 at 1:26 pm | Link