It’s a bane of the modern television viewing experience – those blaring streaming service advertisements that override your preferred volume settings and bombard you with obnoxious jingles that have you desperately reaching for the remote.
It’s particularly bad if you’re watching telly next to a sleeping partner or child and the unwanted increase in the decibel level rouses them from their slumber. It’s downright anti-social behaviour. Well, if you need another reason to move to California, a new law coming into effect next year might be the casting vote. The US state is enacting a law that would ban the practice of playing advertisements louder than the content users are tuning in for.
From July 1 2026, the practice will be illegal in the stage. A new bill passed in the Golden State states: “A video streaming service that serves consumers residing in the state shall not transmit the audio of commercial advertisements louder than the video content the advertisements accompany.”
And hallelujah for that. Hopefully for US residents, with the change in the law pertaining to the Business and Professions Code, streaming companies don’t mess around having a specific restriction for California and just spare viewers everywhere as an act of convenience.
Personally speaking, it’s always a struggle when I’m home in the UK when the adverts come on – even though in 2007 the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice passed a rule stating “advertisements must not be excessively noisy or strident. The maximum subjective loudness of advertisements must be consistent and in line with the maximum loudness of programmes and junction material.”
Presumably, they’re not paying attention during Emmerdale on a Tuesday night.
In the US, there’s already an FCC law prohibiting broadcast stations, cable operators from blasting ads. It’s called the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act. The goal of California’s law it to bring the streaming giants into line.
