Why Commercials Are So Loud Again - Cheddar Explains

For years, loud commercials have been a constant source of frustration and confusion. With advertisers fighting to keep our attention, some people have decided to fight back. To understand why commercials are so loud and how we can put a stop to the noise, we first need to reconsider what noise means in the first place.
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Izotope
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[@yungthunder2681]

The number of times I've googled, "why are advertisements so loud?" is off the charts Also, I feel that KZbin ads are WAY worse than television ads on this issue

[@crazyboydakota]

Hulu adds blow out your eardrums

[@crazyboydakota]

Ads

[@gardensofthegods]

Yeah irritating because if I wake up in the middle of the night and want to go back to sleep I will often just turn KZbin onto a long video or movie and close my eyes ... but a jarring commercial will ruin it if I'm not asleep yet

[@Milesco]

_"Also, I feel that KZbin ads are WAY worse than television ads on this issue"_ I'm not an audio or telecommunications expert, but I suspect this problem occurs on KZbin because uploaders record their content at too low of a volume, while the commercials (which are professionally recorded by third parties) are presented at the normal, "correct" volume.

[@petermello55]

Yeah, trying to watch in bed without waking up my girl and it’s like dropping a frying pan every time one comes on

[@TheBooban]

An interesting question is why companies think pissing us off is a good way to sell their products?

[@Helaw0lf]

They must be desperate for our mindless consuming and money. I find most times they fail to sell me anything. As kid, it was a different story.

[@thekatprincess]

Raising my goddamn blood pressure should be illegal 😡🤣😭

[@wesjones6370]

Poor marketing actually. Psychologist Robert Cialdini has two books on his lifelong research in market psychology. He found that virtually all advertisers have constantly focused on exposure. Their research shows loud commercials are more noticed. Same with products in TV shows that are both shown, and mentioned by name. Yet he asked the research teams if they had ever considered whether being more noticeable led to more sales or not…and not one team had even looked into it. His research shows the exact opposite. Products that are shown and named in shows are noticed more by viewers…but actually lead to lower sales. Turns out people noticing them noticed it was an ad, and as such, it had less influence. The more subtle ones that either mentioned a name in passing, or showed a product on screen without mention, led to increased sales, as it caused unconscious influence. I think that asking the question of why would be the most effective way to deal with this. We can pass as many laws as we want, advertisers will always find a way around them. If we shows advertisers their actions hurt sales however, they’ll reconsider.

[@P-Mouse]

There is a brand of yoghurt i used to buy, But don’t anymore cuz the ads are such a pain.

[@rebelartstudio3730]

It's a complete turn off. I got roommates right now so it's always like damn! Bam! Everytime a commercial it's evn worse on some movies. The compression levels are like night and day

[@Zerg435]

"There is always the mute button", which forces you have the remote in your hands all the time as long as you are watching. With every 10 minutes a commercial, that is undoable. That is why people, like me, no longer have television and listen their own music records.

[@BanditFlashpoint]

I haven't watched tv since 2002. You can't avoid commercials. This is why I don't watch Pluto TV either. If I wanna watch a movie? I use Netflix or Amazon or here on KZbin Premium. Without ads.

[@mosseatermusic]

387

[@fernandod4046]

I'm so glad I record all my shows so I can skip the commercials

[@BanditFlashpoint]

@@fernandod4046 hehehe Same here. Use to record 3 stooges back in the 80's and skipped some commercials as well. VHS, those were the days. :)

[@Exarian]

"there's always torrenting stuff"

[@NoName-ik2du]

Advertisers really shoot themselves in the foot by making the commercials so loud. I rarely watch live T.V. anymore (because of the ads), but when I do, I _always_ mute the commercials immediately no matter what because they are all so obnoxious. If their volume were, say, half the volume of the program I was watching, I probably wouldn't mute them, because then they wouldn't be so obnoxious. Then, even though I'm not interested in them, I'd still hear what they have to say because I didn't feel the need to mute them outright. Basically by trying to use volume to grab my attention, they do, but in a bad way that makes me shut them off completely instead of tolerating them.

[@steverayerdriving]

I try to make a conscious effort to avoid any product or service that uses unbearably loud commercials between programming.

[@BonaparteBardithion]

This is why I rarely listen to radio anymore. When every single ad is extra loud and fast-paced to grab attention none of them stand out anymore. I turn the volume way down until it sounds like music again.

[@lordsiomai]

Oh the irony eh?

[@Kriss_L]

Just like negative political ads, if loud commercials didn't work then companies would change to something else that was more effective. I suspect that most people don't really care, and they are the ones that still watch TV and not youtube. Probably why almost all the comments here about how loud ads turn the commenter away from the product being sold.

[@Milesco]

@@Kriss_L : I don't think the comparison between negative political advertising and loud ads is apt. The former is about content while the latter is simply about the loudness of the ad. Negative political ads *_are_* powerful and effective. But noisy ads are probably not, because, as the original poster pointed out, they're so annoying that consumers just mute them. Advertisers may _think_ or _assume_ they're effective, but I believe they're wrong.

[@RoninMilli]

The only thing that should be louder than the show we are watching is an Emergency Public Announcement like a tornado warning.

[@edwardcole4623]

i cpletely agree!

[@PictureMaker22]

In my house, we hit the Mute button during all commercial breaks. One of us, usually me, keeps an eye on the TV and puts the sound back on when the break is over. Ultimately, advertisers trying to make themselves louder has resulted in them being completely silenced. Good times. 👍🏼

[@teethgrinder83]

I used to turn it down low, pick up a book or later my mobile and when I heard them over put the volume back to where it was. I don't watch any TV now except streaming like Netflix/Amazon prime and I watch KZbin, that's about it so ads aren't an issue any more except the rare occasion I watch something on a catch up app

[@cheddar]

It doesn't have to be this way! 😭

[@PictureMaker22]

@@cheddar On top of the loudness, commercials have become the podium for political correctness. So we don’t mind turning them off and tuning them out at all.

[@atk05003]

The same trend can be seen with phone calls and ad-blockers. I won't answer my phone if I don't recognize the number and wasn't expecting a call. That means cold calls are less effective because of past abuse. I use an adblocker, because advertisements can carry malware or popup over what I'm reading. Bad advertiser behavior results in people just tuning out completely.

[@teethgrinder83]

@@PictureMaker22 lol what do you mean "become"? Ads have always followed what's most culturally appropriate at that moment which equals more customers/money for them. Look at Cokes "I'd like to buy the world a coke" advert in 1971-you telling me that wouldn't be called "politically correct" if it came out today? People like you make me laugh lol all ad companies want to do is help their clients sell the most of their products that's all, it's no "podium" for anything

[@cloudwyrms9752]

The amount of times I’ve almost crashed my fucking car because the commercial streaming on the CAR RADIO thought it was ok to put a loud car horn in it

[@burgernthemomrailer]

Trolled

[@AdrianColley]

@@burgernthemomrailer Or a scream. Sometimes a siren. At one point about a decade ago, they all started inserting attention-grabbing sounds. I think they all went to the same conference on modern dirty tricks in advertising.

[@villewintermaul1907]

Yeah obviously never use this crap while driving 🤣

[@pupasarus]

Yes

[@TheSameYellowToy]

I think it should be illegal to have sirens or car crash sounds on the radio. I wonder how many car accidents have been caused by those sound effects...

[@give_me_my_nick_back]

And then comes poor sound mixing in movies with a super quiet dialog and extra loud explosion - no reasonable balance at all

[@catscats4427]

Tenet (2020)

[@Milesco]

Yeah, I _hate_ that!

[@lunayen]

Ugh, I really hate that.

[@taufeeqagherdien3134]

Hate that in movies I have to sit with my hand on the mouse/remote to control the sound when music comes on vs dialogue

[@lizkeene2051]

really interesting video! I learned a lot :) a little fun fact about how we're able to hear 20-100 times faster than we see: when animators are animating a cartoon lipsync we always make the mouth shape for a sound happen before the sound actually plays so when we watch it they match up correctly to how we process sound vs video

[@TweEkc]

By about how many frames or does that change with different sounds?

[@lizkeene2051]

@@TweEkc Usually 2-4 frames or so before the actual sound

[@Santospirito007]

This is the first thing professional gamers train to recognize is sounds to react faster.

[@NIronwolf]

Our brains also know that it can take a moment for sound to reach us vs when something is seen. So a bit of lag in the sound doesn't hurt our brains as much as a sound happening to early. Sound travels (roughly) 1 ft per millisecond. So even in the back of a large theater you're going to hear the dialog an extra frame or even two frames behind the people in the front row.

[@DoctorX17]

Animation is magic

[@ChrisCrond]

Advertisers will find every loop hole and crevice to service you those ads as annoyingly as possible. Somehow they think that helps

[@LucasFernandez-fk8se]

But WHY though? WHY ON GODS FLAT EARTH WOULD THEY WANT TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH IRRITATION AND ANGER? Like mute it down it’s ridiculous. If I were a brand I wouldn’t want to be associated with shrieking and anger while they rush to find the remote. I would rather be associated with positive emotions

[@Milesco]

@@LucasFernandez-fk8se : Totally agree.

[@thatrandomguyontheinternet2477]

@@LucasFernandez-fk8se RAID SHADOW LEGENDS WITH PC GRAPHICS AN EPIC STORYLINE AND HUNDREDS OF CHARACTERS TO COLLECT JOIN NOW WITH MY LINK TO GET FREE REWARDS

[@robokill387]

@@LucasFernandez-fk8se because at least it sticks in your mind. It's much easier way of doing it than being clever or funny.

[@ph11p3540]

It's counter productive. Not only does it cause viewers like me to thumbs down the original video content but stop viewing KZbin for the day. Does not help that 90% of the KZbin ads are financial security or passive income fraud ads

[@davidmilhouscarter8198]

9:26 I've noticed that some movies and TV shows the dialogue is very quiet like I can barely hear it, and then a truck will drive by and the exhaust is so loud it will blast me out of the room. Like the sound effects are way louder than the dialogue.

[@jackdeath]

Except, I own an SPL meter and have confirmed that the average commercial runs 20 decibels higher than the volume on the show I'm watching. You also failed to mention that the networks lower the gain on their signal during the show's broadcast so that viewers raises their television volumes to a comfortable level. The local affiliate hasn't touched the volume gain, and when they runs their adverts, it blasts thru the television because the viewer had raised the volume in a need to hear the show.

[@XrayTheMyth23]

He pointed out that the FCC isnt enforcing this so obviously nothing has changed in the volume of the ads.

[@ngiotis1999]

thankfully my tv has a sound setting that it auto balances the loudness

[@SoulDevoured]

Omg I always wondered why my local adds were so loud. I always thought they did that because they made a cheap commercial on a budget

[@Milesco]

@@ngiotis1999: I wish my TV had that!

[@AYouTubeChannelwithNoName]

@@ngiotis1999 What TV do you have?

[@ericwright8592]

Online ads on KZbin and Hulu are absolutely louder than comparable TV ads. It's super annoying. It also doesn't help that most commercials are in stereo while programs are in 5.1, so the signal for commercials is divided over only 2 channels. With my receiver that means much louder volume from those 2 speakers during commercials

[@Loafsandfishes]

Hulu’s is sooooo loud it’s awful

[@be5952]

_"It also doesn't help that most commercials are in stereo while programs are in 5.1, so the signal for commercials is divided over only 2 channels. With my receiver that means much louder volume from those 2 speakers during commercials"_ That's really interesting. I didn't know that's how it worked. Thanks for educating me :)

[@mrbust999]

I literally got ear raped by an Ad it was playing an extremely high pitched noise. It's not even music they literally blasted noise in their ads

[@robokill387]

@@mrbust999 Was it Tiktok by any chance? They do that. Extremely loud sirens, buzzing, shouting, dogs barking...

[@nerdoftheatre]

I remember that Act being passed when I was younger because my parents constantly complained about how loud commercials were. Honestly, it's gotten to the point where if a business cranks the volume up on their ad, I immediately dislike their service. Which I have seen other people say as well. Kinda shot themselves in the foot there.

[@TuzoAnime]

Yes, I remember commercials being super loud. I'm glad I was not the only one.

[@Ok-lu8gx]

ok

[@AM-bj7yo]

They still are on KZbin It’s incredibly irritating

[@Sovereignty3]

@@AM-bj7yo yep the pre ads were exact this.

[@Milesco]

They still are. Not just on YT but on TV. It's frustrating that there is a law on the books that prohibits this, but it's being ignored and not enforced. 😠

[@jbmp1390]

I've been on the Do not call list since I was in high school. Never stopped me from getting spam calls. The U.S. government is great at promoting and passing legislation, actually enforcing it on the other hand... smh

[@guillermoelnino]

They could stop it over night. But they have zero interest in doing so. The question is... why

[@FlameClone]

What i really want to know is how advertisers get away with putting sirens in radio ads, I always think im getting pulled over. That should be illegal.

[@HyperWolf]

Dude! Or car crash noises, breaking glass, and screaming. My mom nearly got into an accident when we were driving and a stupid lawyer ad came up with screeching tires and we thought someone was going to crash into us so she turned the wheel really fast to “get out of the way”. Luckily she’s a really good driver and managed to save the abrupt turn and not hit anything. It sounded so real because the music had been pretty low before the blast of car crash sounds. 😤

[@DavidWsTrainVideos]

Don’t forget Car Horns.

[@DM0407]

When I travel and have to stay in a hotel it's so weird watching cable. More commercials than show now a days.

[@WerewolfLord]

KZbin is getting that way, with the unskippable ad to content ratio rapidly approaching, and on short videos, exceeding 1.

[@TheBooban]

@@WerewolfLord yes, i hate ads, and two of them in a row. I hate everything about that product they are trying to sell. One 5 sec ad. More than enough!

[@scrittle]

@@TheBooban they extended their unskippables to 20 seconds, and now there's a chance you'll get 3 consecutive ads. They're pushing their luck

[@LucasFernandez-fk8se]

@@scrittle honestly Susan just needs to be fired. She has ruined KZbin. She’s a tyrannical censor, she caused the adpocalypse fucking over creators and she is pumping us filled with AD after AD. I’m sick of her. Down with Susan

[@Milesco]

_"More commercials than show nowadays."_ Arrrgh, that's so true!!! When watching live TV, I often watch two or three shows at a time -- by which I mean that I watch one main show, and when that goes to commercial, I switch to another show that's on at the same time, and if that is also on a commercial I'll switch to yet another channel. It's not uncommon for me to experience three or even _four_ channels that are broadcasting commercials _at the same damn time!_ And for this I'm paying an exorbitant and ever-increasing monthly fee??? Arrrgh!!! 😡

[@ZackSeifMusic]

I’m tired of having the remote in my hands for Netflix shows (not commercials but the original shows themselves). I’m constantly riding the volume and I have a full sound system. It’s insane.

[@DrT0705]

So true! I thought it was just me. Actors mumbling, then music and sounds like gunshots or a storm blasting my eardrums. It makes it really hard to watch Netflix with someone who isn't as sensitive to noise as me.

[@SteinGauslaaStrindhaug]

Yes, a little dynamic range is good, but not so much that either the dialogue is ok but the explosions deafening, or the explosions are ok but the dialogue inaudible. Sure it's realistic that the action is much louder, but in real life gunfire gives hearing damage, and I don't need that much realism

[@annana6098]

@@SteinGauslaaStrindhaug I fully agree. Saying a show has highs and lows that average pretty high and commercials are just meeting that high average just means the show has moments that are way too loud. I shouldn't have to keep a hand on the remote to hear dialogue in one scene and avoid having explosions in the next scene explode my eardrums. I want to watch a show at night without going deaf or waking my neighbors.

[@be5952]

@ZackSeifMusic --- *YES!* Thanks for bringing up this aspect of the *_massively annoying,_* excessively large dynamic range of movie & TV shows. Like someone else commented, I sit with the remote always in hand and sometimes am almost constantly turning the volume down....turning the volume back up......repeat ad nauseum---even during some TV shows. And often I can't turn the volume down fast enough, since when you press the volume _down arrow_ the TV responds _s-m-o-o-o-o-o-t-h-l-y,_ rather than if you had an old fashioned hardware button you could _turn_ it down quickly/instantly. It's caused me to watch almost everything with closed captions 'on'. Then at least I don't miss dialogue after some cacophonously loud car exhaust....cheering....gunshot..... yelling....'music'....

[@annana6098]

@@be5952 I do this too, leave the captions on so I can keep the volume lower without missing the dialogue. Television shows are often bad and KZbin channels with intros and outros especially. I watch youtube on the living room tv frequently, and have to just mute it before clicking on videos from some channels. I'm not some old fogey who thinks the music is just too damn loud, I just want to watch stuff without angering my entire apartment block.

[@VyvienneEaux]

The most effective commercials in my life have been those that stand out in a point way and were advertising something I soon after was in the market for. When ads annoy me too much, I take to social media to trash the product and refuse to buy it or anything associated with it on principle.

[@baconstrips6260]

You buy shit from ads, 🤡, you are their target market no matter what you say!

[@scottlarson1548]

The other technique people discovered networks were using was to slowly increase the volume of the program for about thirty seconds before the commercial break so the commercials will be at maximum volume but at equal volume to the content preceding them. Some people did graphics of average volume levels and it was consistent and obvious that this was happening.

[@fgsaramago]

Here in Portugal they passed a law to the same effect a few years ago and it took care of the issue

[@cheddar]

Interesting!

[@DrT0705]

Portugal seems to be such a forward-thinking country! I think drugs have been decriminalised there?

[@Strike666]

we did? i did not know? i dont watch many sic or tvi, usually youtube, and the ads on youtube are ridiculous, when watching a video with medium volume and swappy comercial comes by with screaming influencers

[@be5952]

@Filipe Saramaga --- And there we have it---a winner! Some countries are _so much more efficient_ taking care of problems that bother everyone! Here in Canada, the governments and regulating bodies do it the following way: 1) Ignore a problem for years; 2) Then pay lipservice to how bad _Issue 'A'_ might be; 3) Then pretend that they're taking the issue seriously (

[@fgsaramago]

@@DrT0705 yes, about 20 years ago, but don't conflate that with legalization. In any way producing or distributing drugs is still a crime and heavily persecuted, carrying heavy sentences. The only thing that's decriminalised, meaning you can do it but it's still a civil offense, is the possession of small quantities for personal use. If one falls into that category, it still goes to court and can be mandated to any combination of fines, rehab and community work and it gets into one's criminal record, you just don't go to jail for it

[@teethgrinder83]

Damn American lawmakers LOVE their acronyms I've noticed lol

[@msemilyli]

Says the BREXIT 😂

[@sundhaug92]

@@msemilyli technically not an acronym

[@teethgrinder83]

@@msemilyli like comment above said that's not an acronym it's a portmanteau. Even if it were, one instance compared to the multitudes of examples in America doesn't really equate lol anyway it's not like I'm saying it's a bad thing or good thing, I've just noticed American lawmakers do it heaps that's all. Unless they're thinking of the acronym first and THEN the law, then that would be bad and sometimes I do wonder......😁

[@loganlargent4536]

They do. I used to work in consulting and lobbying and entire long meetings would be held to decide which exact word to use. Infuriating

[@monicaperez2843]

Live in an apartment complex for seniors. Make great effort to keep my TV sound low. When a commercial pops up, I noticed it gets significantly louder, to the point I have had noise complaints against me!

[@route2070]

I remember while growing up, when watching TV when you were supposed to be asleep. Watching the show and everything is fine. Ad break and you scramble to lower the volume so you don't wake everyone.

[@Sb129]

Ever since sound ads appeared on webpages I've had no less than 2 adblockers on at all times

[@ChrisLeeW00]

It's amazing how hard our legislative branch works when it is an issue that annoys them directly.

[@SD-oi9gr]

It’s one of the reasons I stopped using live tv. It would blow my head off every time adverts came on. Now I only ever watch recorded shows so I can skip them.

[@AdrianColley]

One theory is that only old people watch TV ads these days, so they need to make the adverts louder for the deaf, sleepy old codgers.

[@Van-Leo]

now why isnt this applied to spotify? my alexa blasts it like 40% louder for every ad

[@EM-wt6qe]

We're looking at you Hulu.

[@sil-80nick]

Commercials are the primary reason i stopped watching live tv several years ago. I started to record the shows I wanted to watch and would skip past the commercials. Commercials have ruined broadcast tv. (Looking at you NFL.)

[@TheTriumfAnt]

DVRs are the best. I can't remember the last time I watched a live TV show.

[@Roxor128]

My patience for ads is low enough that even recording and fast-forwarding isn't enough to get me to deal with commercial stations any more. Their ads are just simply too frequent.

[@Milesco]

Commercials have indeed ruined broadcast TV. There are just so damned many of them! It's just too much.

[@McHeisenburger]

That’s it I want every advertiser sent to the guillotine. Had enough of them already.

[@Juline1221]

This told me more about my compressor than any tutorial

[@steviepurcell7051]

@Suddenly its really not

[@FinancialShinanigan]

Next: "How Personal Finance KZbinrs Get Away Shilling Scam Coins"

[@privateemail9755]

Or how about corporate personhood and the rights they have over actual humans. Including corporate homicide being completely legal. Well, at least in the US and most other countries.

[@robertnelson3179]

Finger at the ready to mute is how I handle it. Looking into a speaker set up that also pushes the dialogue side up over the rest.

[@graham1034]

A much bigger issue for me is how TV shows/movies have been trending towards extremes of quiet and loud. Living in an apartment I have to constantly crank the volume up when there is dialog and then back down when there is action or even just background music sometimes. With headphones it isn't so bad, but with any background noise (which is virtually constant in a city) it is really difficult to hear voices at lower volumes. At first I thought I was going deaf but I have heard many others say the same thing. It's to the point where most people I know leave subtitles on all the time.

[@icopaseticMHF]

The irony of Netflix working on the sound levels in movies when all of their productions start with a thundering BA BOOM

[@chriscall]

Loud commercials are the reason I started always muting them, and eventually stopped watching them altogether.

[@michealwestfall8544]

The reason they should stop blaring sounds at me: it makes me hate the company. Less is more when it comes to me.

[@jimb1580]

Exactly!

[@pspreng]

I use the DVR to watch pretty much all of the stuff I see on TV. That way I can fast forward through the commercials and don't hear them. I have not listened to any TV commercials in years.

[@void________]

Some don't allow fast forwarding through ads.

[@skylineXpert]

Once had the same commercial 3 times during the one break. That was torture. I hated that commercial and some commercials i hate after just one view.

[@MaverickBlue42]

Back in the 90's, plenty of mid to high end TV's had some sort of volume normalizer to deal with loud commercials. Pretty sure growing up we had a Zenith and a Sanyo at different times with their own branded versions in the settings menu.

[@goggler2]

KZbin ads are Terrible for this. Watching something late and night and suddenly a Ad goes off like a bomb, and your just hoping it doesnt wake anyone up

[@cockneyse]

The irony of this being in on KZbin where they can't even get their videos to the same level on loud, the next quiet then up again!

[@ambert.3792]

didnt they make TVs that had this feature of keeping the commercials the same volume level as the show? i remember this from the 90s, im sure of it.

[@void________]

Please do a story on why we still see and can't fast forward through ads, even though we pay for the platform. My subscription should exempt me from seeing ads, like on Netflix. But cable still has tons of ads and charges hundreds for subscriptions.

[@AdrianColley]

It's the legal principle known as "caveat emptor".

[@SylviaRustyFae]

Endroll ad for this vid was a PBR (shitty beer) ad that starts out with a blaringly loud siren noise akin to those "this is an emergency broadcast" things >.> (i decided to see where it went from there and the volume actually increased even more in the next five seconds; as well as just the general noisiness of it increased as it added multiple bsckground sound effects and music and a loud announcer 9,9)

[@joermnyc]

That popped up at the start of the video for me… and it’s annoying because I don’t drink anymore, and I never drank PBR.

[@sonorangaming449]

I always figured it's because we leave the TV during commercial breaks to do other things, so they are just louder to compensate for us not being there.

[@thehumancanary131]

So..when I watch a KZbin video, having carefully adjusted the sound to my comfort level - the next one that plays auto-adjusts the sound level to maximum, without asking permission to do so. It's very frustrating - and is it ethical?

[@daniel_wilkinson]

I remember reading somewhere quite a while ago that advertisers started making their ads louder back before VCRs and DVRs mostly because a good portion of people would get up and leave the room during ad breaks, either for a bio break or to get snacks because they couldn't just pause the video.

[@JVHShack]

My hearing as I have gotten into my 40s has decreased in efficiency and can barely hear dialog (which sounds like whispering to me) in shows causing me to hold on to the remote just to normalize the volume manually because of those stupidly loud explosions and such. I get that it's supposed to be for dramatic effect, but good grief! Dramatic effect be damned! At least for those of us with damaged hearing.

[@geckoo9190]

Maybe they should implement something similar in youtube, some sort of average volume level for all videos, some times I have to change the volume on every video.

[@JJadx]

my parents didn't have a TV for religious reasons. i don't have one for "i f***ing hate TV commercials" reasons. praise be thy adblock.

[@gamechep]

I always use the *MUTE* button. Helps with those earworms. God, those can be really annoying. 🔇 I totally agree when they said in the video that the sense of hearing has more impact over the other ones, in this context, obviously.

[@visittoearth6710]

I think alcohol commercials should be banned - just like cigarette one are

[@ilili493]

Welcome to EU. Or atleast Finland. Its illegal to advertise any hard liquor or cigarettes. Advertisements for alcohol below something 5.3% is legal but only during certain hours. Cigs can't be on display at any grocery store.

[@SylviaRustyFae]

Big same, as a recovering binge drinker...

[@SylviaRustyFae]

@@ilili493 Do those laws affect streaming services tho? Do they affect pop up ads? do they affect embedded ads on webpages?

[@ilili493]

@@SylviaRustyFae I suppose Streaming services operating and offering services in finland have to obey local laws, advertising hard liquor or to minors is illegal. Ads or social media posts made by company containing alcohol are also illegal. Pop up and webpage ads are in grey area. I couldn't find any official statements regarding that.

[@SylviaRustyFae]

@@ilili493 On that first point... Advertisers here in USA have to obey local laws too but that still means that streaming services are unregulated bcuz they werent originally included in the laws bcuz they didnt exist then. Thats why i asked about streaming services; was wondering if they had written the language of the law more broadly or if they had expanded the law to include such. Yanno, like how streaming ads are unregulated by this whole loudness issue here in USA bcuz they arent TV broadcasts and the laws only specify for TV broadcasts, not streaming.

[@jd-foo]

I personally take commercials as an insult, is not only because I'm already paying a lot of money for a TV services where 99% content is actually garbage, which makes me believe it should be ad-free, but also the fact most ads nowadays are made for people with an IQ below 80. When I'm watching a show and it goes to commercials I simply switch channels and watch something else until it gets back.

[@lordsiomai]

Ads: *let the people know of the product so they can buy it, but by annoyingly interrupt what your watching to get your attention Also ads: *don't work good enough because annoying Advertisers: let's make them more annoying by making them louder than they already are! People: *just stop watching TV all together Advertisers: **surprised pikachu face*

[@saranghae1saranghae]

I typically boycott products that have commercials that are too disruptive. I actually go out of my way to find off-brands, or alternatives to products that anger me.

[@TC-vg3pr]

I'm fed up with it. Lowering the volume for the loud obnoxious commercials and then have to turn it up again when the program finally returns after sitting thru 15 commercials in a row..

[@ThatFanBoyGuy]

Now can we pass a law that action movies cannot have all their actors whisper the dialog and then crank it up to 11 for the explosions?

[@weakvsfire]

i remember thinking when i was watching Person of Interest and a few other shows that for some reason the tough male lead has to talk like he drinks gravel or basically whisper. It make it really terrible when it was time to turn down the volume for the commercials that were 5x louder than the shows. Incidentally, it's weird for those characters to come off as intimidating when it's hard to hear what they're saying.

[@OfficialSamuelC]

America is a nightmare for adverts (aka commercials). Come to the UK. We have a few, but nothing like the US. Easily tolerable and not filled with horrible medication or fads, they’re banned. Even advertising Tylenol is difficult (but isn’t uncommon). It’s strictly controlled. I can’t think of an advert in my life that was noticeably louder than any other adverts. Again I’m in the UK. Oh we have the BBC as well, which has some of the greatest hits, and they have 0 ads. Ads are banned with BBC one, except for a few second glimpse into a new or upcoming BBC episode. No company, brand, service or anything has ever been advertised on BBC One etc.

[@philkipnis740]

You are spot on! I have to listen to my video via headphones. I can't tell you how many times I've been jolted out of my chair when some dumb commercial comes on. At times I've yanked the headphones off, waking my wife who's sleeping next to me. It seems to be local advertiser's are the worst offenders. Late night and spots following newscasts are the worst offenders. I worked with companies that built stations and sold limiters and other equipment so I know they can modulate what goes out but!!! advertiser's want impact to get you to stop and take notice .since nudity is named, they use sound.

[@JaredStarner]

Saying "it's not louder, it just seems louder" doesn't make any sense. It IS louder, the decibel level will indicate that.

[@Superlazerninja12]

What really sucks is sudden loud ads on websites that aren't even for videos, I have been jumpscared by loud ads several times while using Fantasy Name Generator to name D&D NPCs

[@Kriss_L]

Personally I have not noticed youtube ads to be any louder than the videos themselves. But what I find weird are the commercials that, even after watching the entire ad, I have no idea what they were advertising.

[@ColCurtis]

The TV stations greed has screwed themselves out of the next generation of viewers. TV is on the decline. I'm 36 and haven't watched TV in several years, because I can't stand the constant loud, annoying commercials.

[@montyhansen7726]

They "say" the ads are no louder than the program. but I've seen the ads STARTLE my cat!

[@Physics072]

There is a law against loud commercials but the FCC does not enforce it. You tube and others are breaking the law by doing it. Do not buy products from companies that do loud commercials.

[@lj2265]

Jokes on them, it just made me mute the TV when commercials came on.

[@onyachamp]

I don't mind the KZbin adverts being there. I get it, it's how they make their money to provide the platform. But the loudness of youtube adverts has gotten unbearable in the last few weeks for us. Some ads are like being punched in the ears. Not paying for premium, they can go get stuffed. I also make a point of forming malice towards products and services that have the loudest adverts.

[@Gwarsbane]

Could always have it so that the loudest part of an ad is no louder then the average loudness of the people speaking in TV shows. Because they are never going to be yelling the entire time and mostly just talking that would help lower the volume. Also all Streaming services and any sites that use advertisements with audio should have to follow the same rules.

[@drbettyschueler3235]

I solved the volume problem by disconnecting my cable. Now I only watch streaming shows without commercials.

[@robokill387]

Now they're starting to put ads on those. Even the ones you pay for.

[@Voltaic_Fire]

Commercials? Ah that takes me back.

[@officiallydenise]

Why are advertisers stupid? Their tactic is CLEARLY not working. They’re aggravating people. I hate when commercials come on and the sound is TOO LOUD. What’s the point of their commercials if we all mute them? Well I guess that’s what they get for being annoying.

[@ShawnLH88]

This is the best video host narrator they’ve ever had.

[@khfan4life365]

I noticed this on streaming apps too. A few weeks ago, I was watching Castle on Hulu and the ads during the ad breaks were so loud that I scrambled to grab the remote.

[@squirrelg5135]

I got to the point where if an ad annoys me because of volume, I make it a point to not buy those products

[@ScooterinAB]

NBC's ratings go up when there's less ads. Hmm... It's almost like people don't like paying $100 per month to watch commercials. it's almost like people don't like ads...

[@andyhowlett2231]

The advertisers used to say 'ah, but they are not louder, it's just that the sound is compressed to keep everything in the ad at peak level to make it more attention grabbing'. THAT lie was exposed when someone attached a peak level meter to the speaker on his TV. Guess what - the ads WERE consistently louder, with peak levels higher than the programme content.

[@SeanVedell]

If you’re watching on your TV, AV Receiver or sound bar, just enable DNR, Night Mode, or whatever your system calls dynamic range control. There’s no consistency in the naming but the impact is to compress the sound to a uniform range one last time at the users end. It ruins dynamic range but can work wonders for this problem and for moments like night viewing where you want to hear the dialogue but don’t need to wake the house when the explosions start.

[@kesn8317]

fcc receives 50k complaints about "loudness", and finds nothing in unison in these complaints. next day: Fcc ads on TV

[@soulzero22]

Wait you actually still watch commercials? I haven't seen one outside of sponsorships in years.

[@WerewolfLord]

Yeah, unfortunately ad blockers don't work with the KZbin app, and KZbin in a browser is close to unusable.

[@chrisg1499]

@@WerewolfLord get KZbin Vanced then.... unless you're on an iPhone.

[@jackgerberuae]

I make a mental note to avoid any product that comes blaring at me during ad time. Similarly, I force blinkers to my vision for any intrusive ads like on FB or Twitter. YT is difficult to avoid, so I got Prime. The small fee is worth the mental effort of avoidance.

[@3_up_moon]

This is an example of coercive exploitation.

[@bra24hnt52]

Dude... just get an Adblocker and KZbin-Vanced for Android

[@--Paws--]

I remember there was a video about how sneaky these commercials are at making the even seemingly low volume commercials sound loud. I really thought these commercials were finally at normal volume, these companies just found other ways of getting around it.

[@ToxicFruitSnack]

I hate HATE HATE radio advertisements. They are in fact way worse than TV commercials, maybe KZbin ads are a bit worse than radio ads though. Here’s a list of the most annoying ads in my opinion. 1. KZbin ads 2. Radio ads 3. TV ads

[@rty1955]

I have done some audio analysis on some youtubers, and thier audio is ALL over the place!! They have intros that are super loud, then content volume drops 4-6db, ending with loud outros. Between content providers audio is all over the place as well. KZbin mist force all content providers to conform to a STD. When I worked in broadcast there was a standard for everything, including audio. When audio was recorded the max it could be was 0VU. 0VU followed thru on the entire audio system, right up to the transmitter. All TV stations complied with this, a d viewer experience was the same, no matter which channel toy were watching KZbin is a free for all and getting worse. Intros or outros are not even necessary as the viewer KNOWS which video they are watching via title, description and channel name

[@johngaltline9933]

This is what I don't get. Sure, being louder gets people to pay attention, but for most folks they are too distracted by looking for the remote to lower the volume to pay any attention to the advertisement. Never mind the principled folk who refuse to buy products from assholes.

[@SKOjy113]

I swear, KZbin can read my mind because I was just having this conversation last week how it seems like commercials are loud again.

[@RadarLightwave]

What makes it worse is parents that are losing their hearing. They blare the TV when watching their shows, then this stupid commercial break comes on and blows everyones ear drums out.... Anyone have a ship horn?¿ Wake up a TV executive and make his ears bleed..

[@i_used_adblock_to_watch_this]

Just download your media and you don't need to worry about this.

[@TechGamesAU]

The big question is why are people even still watching legacy TV

[@SnoopyDoofie]

They'll be asking the same question about cars one day: "Why are people still driving gasoline powered vehicles?"

[@32srt32]

ive had commercials be significantly luoder than my shows that are action packed

[@stagnantfox3027]

KZbin ads are annoying as hell for this specific reason. I wouldn't mind ads if they were quiet. I sometimes watch youtube stuff on my phone and I've given up and resorted to using it youtube on a browser instead of the youtube app so that I can use adblockers on my phone. Unless youtube fixes this issue, I will continue to permanently use adblock on all my devices. I have extreme audio sensory sensitivity to the point where I listen to audio on my laptop at 2% volume max. Ads feel like 6 times louder than normal.

[@timberwolfe1645]

Way to go man! I do the same thing

[@notablediscomfort]

It's a shame the overwhelming majority don't notice ads being obnoxiously loud and immediately decide not to buy anything from that company anymore. If we were all like this, they'd knock off that stupid behavior.

[@x-crisis]

I've noticed some KZbinrs seem to do this as well. I've had to turn off some videos because they're so hard to listen to with everything sounding like yelling even when they're just speaking.

[@Artist452]

4:41 It doesn't make me want the product. It make me mad. If I see the product in the store, I remember that annoying commercial.

[@lunayen]

The FCC should update the law to make all ads mute, 1-2 second shorts and ban influencer marketing, long ass sponsorship "commercials", popup ads on websites, permanently disable autoplay on videos and keep product placement to the bare minimum at the far end of shows and movies. And work on market manipulation too, now that they're introducing smells and maybe even hypnosis into the play. Ads have brought this upon themselves. They have made people's lives a literal hell for years and try to find ways to keep messing with people's heads, so screw them.

[@UnrelatedAntonym]

Advertising these days feels like you are being repeatedly punched in the face, being told we will be protected (not really) from those punches if we buy their crap. An auditory racket and something like a broken protection racket for our ears.

[@hungoverpuppy3907]

A loud ad once woke me, my mother, and her dog up in the middle of the night.

[@Exhanguis]

One thing I noticed is that in recent movies music and action sound effects are blasted way higher than conversations. I have to cover my ears when the music starts at the cinema and have to try hard to hear the constant whispering of the characters!