18 Feb 10

ITV Advert Noise

A mystery stretching out for many years has finally been solved. No, not the Pink Panther or the Valley of Fear but of how long commercial TV broadcasters can keep increasing the volume of commercials before being found out.

Last week ITV was rapped for the sound volume of advertisement slots during Sherlock Holmes shown on ITV3. The advertisements were deemed so loud that they breached sound level regulations and the ads were also excessively loud compared with the actual Sherlock Holmes programme itself.

This isn’t the first time the Adverting Standards Agency has received complaints. In 2007 they received 100 complaints about perceived sound imbalances between programmes and advertisements.

An Adverting Standards Agency spokesperson said;

"We noted that the programme had a wide dynamic range, with periods of quiet suspense punctuated by short, louder bursts and that the maximum subjective loudness of ads was consistent with other ads during the break, but that it was not well matched to the overall sound levels of the programme, making the ads seem loud in comparison. Whilst we recognised that commercial breaks sometimes occurred during especially quiet parts of a programme, we nevertheless concluded that the ads were excessively strident and breached the code."

This leaves me with but two questions; what other ways then can advertisers engage the audience in TV advertisements? And why is it they can increase the sound in advertisements but not turn down the sound permanently on X Factor?

The ASA are basically confirming something every household in the UK knew, that TV stations increase the sound of advertisements to engage interest during breaks.

With this tool out of favour, advertisers and TV channels must work to push the bar further in audience engagement. Other forms of TV advertisement out with the allocated breaks are in the pipeline such as product placements to beat the message battered consumer and sneak in the backdoor of audience realisation.

In many ways the solution to the problem is both in a creative and delivery remedy. If both elements work harder to engage the audience there would be little need for underhand tactics…Elementary, my dear Watson.