Starting July 1, streaming services in California will have to keep their ads from blasting louder than the content they accompany. It’s a rule that might sound like a no-brainer, but the streaming industry has largely ignored the loudness standards that broadcast and cable TV have followed for years.
The law, passed in 2025, was inspired by what State Senator Thomas Umberg called “every exhausted parent who’s finally gotten a baby to sleep, only to have a blaring streaming ad undo all that hard work.” That’s a vivid image, and honestly, anyone who’s ever watched a quiet dramatic scene followed by an advertisement that feels like a punch to the eardrums can relate.
As Ars Technica reported, streaming services haven’t exactly been forthcoming about how they plan to comply with the new rules. That’s not surprising. The technical challenge isn’t trivial, since streaming apps need to work across TVs, tablets, phones, and all sorts of other devices. Each of those outputs handles volume differently.
The industry pushed back hard when the bill was moving through the legislature. The Motion Picture Association of America and the Streaming Innovation Alliance argued that streamers were already working on the problem and that the law was unnecessary. It’s a fair point, in theory. But here’s the thing: “working on it” and actually solving it are two different things. If the industry had made meaningful progress, would lawmakers in two states have felt compelled to step in?
What makes this interesting is the broader implications. California is rarely the only state that adopts something like this, and the source material notes that Illinois has a similar law coming in 2027. When California sneezes, the rest of the country often catches a cold, especially when it comes to consumer protection standards. Most streaming services would rather roll out one uniform approach than try to maintain different compliance levels across states.
So what happens now? Viewers in California should start noticing a difference, at least when watching legally licensed content through major platforms. Whether that means smoother transitions between program and ad volume, or just quieter ads overall, remains to be seen. The real test will be whether this actually gets enforced and whether the experience feels any different when you’re curled up on the couch at 11 p.m.
One thing’s clear: the days of being jolted awake by a commercial that’s twice as loud as the show you were watching might finally be numbered.
