Flyby quickie question: is the title-safe zone dead?

[HelsinkiZim]

I am asking what it says on the tin/box... do you need/ use them anymore in the digital distribution era?

 

[Geoff CB]

I still think they should be followed. It's not good for fonts to be near the edge of the frame, it draws the viewers eye to the edge itself. You can get closer than you did before, but you still want some padding.

[Hans Punk]

As a general rule - title safe zone for digital distribution is not a law that if broken, will result in death.

In the digital distribution realm there are few hard restrictions regarding titles or text on screen (but there perhaps should be!) Newer considerations are things like placement for banner or click button overlays on YouTube videos - or keeping an area clear for a watermark that will be overlaid during streaming etc. For movies or TV-style content it is recommended to adhere to the traditional broadcast standards because more 'online' or 'digital distribution' long-form content is now being streamed to consumer TV displays. If submitting to Netflix or other streaming service - they will have their own standards and guidelines to follow...most probably along the same lines as terrestrial TV broadcast, but with 4k resolution as the delivery standard (to ensure longevity for archive and for 4k streaming services).

For terrestrial TV broadcast there are still plenty of standards and rules about text size and placement, onscreen duration for legibility etc (often referencing title-safe for legal placement). A few years back when both 16x9 and 4:3 broadcasts were switching aspects on an almost programme by programme basis...having a 4:3 title safe area ensured that 16x9 text content could seen within the 4:3 frame of older 4:3 TV's. But now that 4:3 TV's are virtually extinct, the most restrictive title safe area to keep safe for has pretty much been killed. Now that 99% of viewers are watching wafer-thin bezel framed OLED or LCD screens (with standardised 16x9 digital broadcast signal) - the importance of action safe is also less of a consideration.

However, it is still important to maintain the 16x9 title-safe zone whenever possible for digital distribution, as it does give a recognised standard to reference too and also helps ensure legibility and unified placement for titles/subtitles and descriptive text. Following the guides for lower third graphics and text will always be best to have within title-safe, as it's not only a broadcast requirement...it aesthetically works better for legibility and recognition.

[pablogrollan]

In my experience -for  broadcast- the 80% safe zone is used less and less... instead the 90% frame is now considered both action safe and title safe. Most TV station bugs are now placed in the 90% safe zone, but as Hans Punk pointed in those cases you just adhere to whatever rules and guidelines each broadcaster has. As for "social media" or any direct to web content, I believe it's better to follow the same rules (including loudness normalization, not just safe colours and titles) to keep a standard, and even just because it is aesthetically more pleasing.