A new law signed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom will outlaw advertisements on streaming platforms that are louder than the content they're sandwiched between.Â
Senate Bill 76, which goes into effect July 1, 2026, outlaws ads set at a louder volume than other content on streaming services such as YouTube, Hulu or Netflix's ad-supported tier. It specifically doesn't affect broadcasters because there's already an existing national law, the CALM Act (Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act) from 2012 that serves the same purpose for that type of programming.
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Playing ads louder than other content is one way to grab viewers' attention. But according to California state senator Tom Umberg, a Democrat from Santa Ana who authored the bill, they're the scourge of parents and many others. Umberg said the bill was inspired by his legislative director, whose newborn baby was woken up by loud ads.
"This bill was inspired by baby Samantha and every exhausted parent who's finally gotten a baby to sleep, only to have a blaring streaming ad undo all that hard work," Umberg said after the bill was passed, as reported by The Guardian.
According to the legislation, the rules will pertain to "a video streaming service, as defined, that serves consumers in the state from transmitting the audio of commercial advertisements louder than the video content the advertisements accompany."
A number of major streaming video services are owned by companies based in California, including Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus, YouTube and HBO Max, owned by Warner Bros Discovery.Â
More streaming platforms, such as Netflix and Disney Plus, have recently added advertising-supported pricing tiers, which may have brought more attention to the issue. Â
What could change for streaming viewers
Apart from getting a permanent break from loud commercial breaks, streaming viewers aren't likely to notice much of a difference, and at least one expert believes the streaming companies aren't likely to try to try to overturn the new law.Â
"They were pushing to self-regulate," said Zachary Rischitelli, owner at Real FiG Advertising + Marketing, who follows the TV advertising industry. "However, after amendments were passed that eliminated the risk of lawsuits from individuals and transferred enforcement only to the California Attorney General's Office, industry resistance subsided."
Some of the initial objections involved the technical challenges of adjusting volume from ads coming from different providers, but as Rischitelli points out, "If broadcasters have been able to do this for the last 15 years, I'm sure the technical team at Hulu can figure it out."