SACRAMENTO, California — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday signed a law banning excessively loud advertisements on streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime that could become a de facto national standard.
The new California law is aimed at addressing what the Federal Communications Commission has called a “troubling jump” in TV ad noise complaints, fueled by streamers airing commercials louder than the shows and movies they accompany. It’s modeled off a federal law passed in 2010 that caps ad volumes on cable and broadcast TV, but doesn’t apply to streaming services.
Given the Golden State’s massive sway in the entertainment industry, the new law may strong-arm streamers into shushing commercials nationwide.
“We heard Californians loud and clear, and what’s clear is that they don’t want commercials at a volume any louder than the level at which they were previously enjoying a program,” Newsom said in a statement. “California is dialing down this inconvenience across streaming platforms.”
State Sen. Tom Umberg, the Orange County Democrat who authored SB 576, said the idea was inspired by his legislative director, Zach Keller, who complained that loud streaming commercials were waking up his infant daughter, Samantha.
“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 in a statement.
Umberg’s bill faced resistance from Hollywood giants this summer. The Motion Picture Association and Streaming Innovators Alliance, which together represent entertainment conglomerates including Disney, Paramount, Amazon and Netflix, initially opposed the law, arguing that streaming ads come from multiple different sources and are hard to control.
The MPA claimed in-house audio engineers were already working on a fix and needed time to solve the issue without facing legal threats.
However, the group dropped its opposition after Umberg added legal provisions shielding streamers from lawsuits brought by private parties, leaving enforcement up to the state attorney general’s office. The amended bill passed California’s state Legislature with overwhelming support from Democrats and Republicans.
Streamers must comply with the new volume limits by July 2026.
