Economics Pt 1 - Marketing for Dummies | 73 comments (73 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

What is evident (none / 0)

The commercial ads in the newly prescribed American digital TeeVee are in fact 20 decibels louder than the progammed material said peasants are attempting to watch. This is further compounded by the proliferation of the push to emulate elite society scumbags through the possiblilty of your peasant possetion of such things as surround sound systems. Yeah it might be wonderful except for the simple fact that all of the 900 channels of Satanically inspired socially destructive programming is routinely interrupted by commercial ads which do exhibit a 50 decibel volume increase over the programming said peasant proles are attempting to watch. Such things prompt me to forgo the purchase of more electronic crap which only benefits the coporate elite who screwed me out of my 401K. Actually not, I was and have been karmically connected enough as to have never invested in a 401. Instead I bought fun toys to enhance my spiritual being and this has extended to the ones who love me.

by Lasthorseman on Mon Jan 12th, 2009 at 10:19:39 PM EST

Re: What is evident (none / 0)

I doubt that's intentional, and if so, it won't last, unfortunately: If ads are consistently 20db louder than programs, then it becomes entirely trivial to filter out all the ads shown on a TV channel, automatically and perfectly.

--
$E(X_t|F_s) = X_s,\quad t > s$

by martingale on Mon Jan 12th, 2009 at 10:32:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: What is evident (none / 0)

ROFL!

Most economists teach a theoretical framework that has been shown to be fundamentally useless. -- James K. Galbraith

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Jan 13th, 2009 at 02:32:57 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: What is evident (none / 1)

Boxes to do that already exist, and show a sad side of commercials: when given the choice between them and a black screen, people prefer the commercials

by GreatZamfir on Tue Jan 13th, 2009 at 03:09:23 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: What is evident (none / 0)

Or, if they prerecord the shows and filter out the ads, then they don't get black screens at all :)

--
$E(X_t|F_s) = X_s,\quad t > s$

by martingale on Tue Jan 13th, 2009 at 03:31:04 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: What is evident (none / 0)

Of course, but skipping the commercials in recordings is something people are already perfectly capable of. The slight benefit of having it done automatically is probably lost if the filter also accidentally blocks some parts of the regular show.

But now that hard-disk recording is on the rise, and you can watch ashow that is still getting taped, software ad blockers might become popular. Then again, hwo many people do you know that install ad blockers on their browser?

by GreatZamfir on Tue Jan 13th, 2009 at 04:09:45 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: What is evident (none / 0)

That's why a consistent ad volume increase can't last, as it lowers the likelihood of software misidentifying ad sections (although there are many tricks used to identify ads, and obviously this won't affect filters which don't use volume as a heuristic).

If they want to beat statistical classifiers, what advertisers really need in the long run is for their ads to blend seamlessly into the show, and that really only works if they can match both the statistics of the soundtrack and the colour statistics of the video. That's pretty much hopeless for general purpose ads - they really would have to be built with a particular show (series) in mind, maybe have the same actors plug the products like in the 50s.

All the people I know use ad blockers, except me. I've been using a text browser (w3m) for years, and have never needed one.

--
$E(X_t|F_s) = X_s,\quad t > s$

by martingale on Tue Jan 13th, 2009 at 04:41:07 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: What is evident (none / 1)

Many, if not most, point-and-click browsers have ad-blocking features enabled by default. Turning them off can be an enlightening, if unpleasant, experience...

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.

by JakeS (JangoSierra 'at' gmail 'dot' com) on Tue Jan 13th, 2009 at 06:39:20 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Slight fact check (none / 1)

3 dB = doubling in volume. 6 dB is the average increase in apparent volume used by TV ads that have been processed using a plug-in such as Ultramaximiser. It uses look-ahead brickwall peak limiting and level maximization (an algorythmic type of compression). At around 9dB the compression has audibly removed the dynamics of the track.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Tue Jan 13th, 2009 at 03:46:33 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Slight fact check (4.00 / 3)

3dB is a doubling in the pressure differential in the sound wave. The human hearing system is equipped with logarithmic compression, which increases dynamic range. The effect of this is that each doubling in pressure, and therefore energy, is perceived as a step in a linear scale. A 3dB increase in not heard as a doubling in volume. Pitch (sound frequency) works there same way. An octave shift is a doubling (or halfing) in frequency, but each octave is heard as a step in a linear scale.

by someone (s0me1smail(a)gmail(d)com) on Tue Jan 13th, 2009 at 04:18:40 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Slight fact check (none / 0)

Ahrghg. 3dB is a doubling of sound pressure differential squared (proportional to sound energy as we would expect). Thus 3dB is a factor of √¯2(1.414...) in pressure.

by someone (s0me1smail(a)gmail(d)com) on Tue Jan 13th, 2009 at 09:04:44 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Slight fact check (none / 0)

i know, I know ;-)

All I know is how to use and misuse the damn things.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Tue Jan 13th, 2009 at 10:46:33 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Economics Pt 1 - Marketing for Dummies | 73 comments (73 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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