That jarring volume jump when a streaming ad interrupts your show? In California, it becomes illegal on Wednesday. A new law banning streaming services from playing ads louder than the video content they accompany takes effect July 1.
Existing federal rules already cover broadcast and cable TV commercials. The CALM Act, passed in 2012, forced traditional TV to keep ad volumes in check. But streaming services slipped through the gap — same problem, different delivery method, no regulation.
How will streamers comply? Nobody’s saying. Ars Technica reports that major streaming platforms haven’t shared details about their compliance plans. The technical challenge isn’t trivial: streamers have to manage volume across TVs, tablets, phones, and external speakers, all with different output characteristics. Normalizing volume across that range requires more than a simple volume cap.
California is the first state to act, but it probably won’t be the last. Illinois has a similar bill set to take effect next year. And since streaming platforms are unlikely to build state-specific audio pipelines, any changes deployed for California will likely go broader.
The law’s sponsor, State Senator Thomas Umberg, said he was inspired by “every exhausted parent who’s finally gotten a baby to sleep, only to have a blaring streaming ad undo all that hard work.” Industry groups like the MPAA and the Streaming Innovation Alliance opposed the bill, arguing streamers were already working on the problem voluntarily.
They weren’t working fast enough, apparently. The law goes into effect this week.
