Reviewing specs and I noticed this for YouTube. They are now requesting -24LKFS and they are adjusting anything that isn’t. I recall we had a discussion about this a while back, but now it seems to be official. It would be interesting to see if any of the other web based platforms are doing this.
Do you have a link to where you saw this? I’d like to read more.
i think thats been there forever?
Interesting that they’re going for 24, generally considered for entertainment content, when most other online content is mixed for 16….
We’ve had clients within the last 6 months complain that their YouTube audio seemed low. We did a deep dive. There was nothing in the specs that indicated the audio levels had to be -24, but we speculated that they were dropping the levels on the -14 track. There are other streaming platforms, usually affiliated with broadcast networks like Hulu and Peacock, that requested -24, and it’s also part of the VAST spec. So far Meta and Amazon have not followed suit.
I believe it is a trend that will spill over into the remaining platforms that allow -14. For all I know, they’re dropping it to -24 without making mention of it in their specs.
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I think they are looking for consistency. They probably get a mixed bag of levels. By default, anything trafficed through ER is -24. In-house traffic probably sent -14. I’ll be happy if I don’t need to keep two audio tracks for every fucking spot.
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I always felt -16 way too loud. But it was probably appropriate for the YT teenage generation. Now that YT is replacing TV increasingly, it makes sense that they would pivot to the loudness level adults find more manageable.
California also just passed a law that basically brings the CALM act to streaming services. This may be a reaction to that?
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Hopefully the other platforms will follow. I personally couldn’t care less how loud the track is. I just don’t want the headaches that go with two versions.
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