New California Law Tells Loud Ads on Streaming Services to Pipe Down

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. 

Senate Bill 76, which goes into effect July 1, 2026, outlaws ads that are 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 that are louder than other content is one way to draw attention from viewers. 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 text of 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.