Here’s a great reminder from Jeffrey Ulrich at Television Broadcast mag. He’s written an article that discusses taking into account the 16:9 “stretcherâ€? and “zoomerâ€? users out there.

There is no magic bullet solution, besides simply being aware of the different ways your footage will be viewed (and abused) by the widescreen television viewer. Having a 16:9 capable television in the studio should be a priority, so you can QA your titles and content to ensure the sensitive and important stuff isn’t invisible to the “zoomers”, or distorted to illegibility by the “stretchers.”

To illustrate the impact this issue may have on your market, here’s a few quoted statistics:
“If you think this doesn’t affect your advertisers’ commercials, think again: The Consumer Electronics Association estimates that over 10 million digital TVs (the majority being widescreen models) have been shipped in the U.S. Furthermore, it’s not just commercials that get cropped, it’s your station’s news ticker…your lower third Chyron supers…and the time and temperature bug during your morning news broadcasts, too.”

He goes on to recommend that you keep the “call to action” and critical elements like telephone numbers and URLs out of the top and bottom 10% of the frame, as that is the area that might be chopped by “zoomers.” Obviously it’s not a hard and fast rule, but as a content producer, it’s something to keep in mind. Good advice, and a good article.