California’s SB 576 forces streaming ads to match program volume, ending jarring spikes.
California has moved to quiet one of modern TV’s most annoying habits: loud commercials that jump up in volume during streaming breaks.
Governor Gavin Newsom this week signed SB 576, a state law that requires ads on streaming platforms to play at the same loudness level as the show or movie viewers were watching. The rule takes effect in July 2026.
The measure targets services such as Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video and YouTube — platforms that until now weren’t covered by the federal Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act that governs traditional broadcasters.
SB 576 was driven by a surprisingly relatable complaint: a state senator’s staffer who said jarringly loud streaming ads woke their newborn. That anecdote became the human spark behind a legal fix aimed at a small but widespread irritation.
SB 576 copies the spirit of the CALM Act by anchoring ad loudness to program loudness, rather than allowing advertisers or platforms to crank levels up during breaks.
Proponents argue the law restores a basic courtesy to viewers — especially parents, shift workers and anyone trying to binge quietly late at night — and, because California sits at the crossroads of the entertainment industry, the new rule could quickly ripple beyond the state’s borders.
Why it matters For most viewers this will feel like a modest but tangible quality-of-life improvement: fewer heart-stopping volume spikes. For the industry, the law creates a new compliance item — platforms will need to measure and control relative loudness across program and ad audio streams.
Technically it’s feasible (broadcasters already do it), but it will require engineering work and operational checks for services that deliver millions of different ad creatives at scale.
What to expect Advertisers will still reach viewers, but their creative mixes may change: producers who leaned on loudness to grab attention will have to rely on smarter targeting, sharper creative, or better storytelling. Streaming companies may roll out tools to ensure uploaded ads meet the new loudness standard before they go live.
And because the rule is statewide, platforms with nationwide footprints will likely adopt the standard everywhere rather than run different systems for different markets — meaning a de facto national standard is probable.
This is a small law with an outsized payoff. It fixes a petty but pervasive annoyance in a way that puts the consumer first without trampling on speech or ad business models. Yes, companies must invest in compliance, and some advertisers will grumble that their ads lose punch.
But the alternative — letting the loudest creatives dominate the viewer experience — has long been a degradation of product quality. California’s move nudges the streaming era toward a calmer, less intrusive viewing experience, which feels overdue.
If platforms want to keep users happy — and avoid the steady churn of annoyed subscribers — listening to this law will be the soundest business decision they can make.
