Sick of loud ads on Netflix? A proposed California law would turn down the volume

[Jim Feeley]

Like a state-level CALM act, I guess. From CalMatters, a good nonprofit and nonpartisan news org in California. So written for a general audience, but with links to the bill, stuff about MPA's response, etc.

 

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Sick of loud ads on Netflix? A proposed California law would turn down the volume

BY RYAN SABALOW

JULY 11, 2025

 

IN SUMMARY

After his staffer’s baby was woken up by a loud ad on a streaming service, a California senator took action to force streamers to turn down the volume on commercials. The entertainment industry is fighting it.

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Ever been streaming a show or a movie and been jolted out of your entertainment reverie by an ad so loud it felt like it rattled the windows?

 

If California’s lawmakers have their way, those blaring commercials on streaming platforms might soon have the volume turned down.

 

A bill sailing through the Legislature with bipartisan support would prohibit online streaming services like Netflix and Hulu from cranking up the volume during commercials. The proposal would make the platforms comply with the same standards as a 15-year-old federal law that limits how loud traditional television and cable broadcasters can make their advertisements.

 

Senate Bill 576 hasn’t been a very tough sell for its author, Democratic Sen. Tom Umberg of Santa Ana, despite opposition from California’s influential entertainment industry.

 

Rest of the story (no pay wall)

https://calmatters.org/politics/2025/07/california-streaming-service-ad-volume/

 

[The Documentary Sound Guy]

Seems like a no-brainer to me.  Everyone benefits, including advertisers and the entertainment industry.  I have no idea why the MPA is against this; no one wins a loudness war; as long as all ads are equally loud, no one is being disadvantaged even if they can no longer be louder than the program audio.

 

Also, the idea that streamers can't specify a delivery spec for ads for technical reasons (and turn down ads that aren't in spec) is laughable.  That MPA rep is lying her ass off.

[The Immoral Mr Teas]

I'm damn happy that in Europe we don't have senators wielding powers they shouldn't really have telling me, a rerecording mixer doing things by EVERYONE's book, what is too loud for their 'goddamn' BABY!

 

Oh, I'm not in Europe, and I miss Senator,

 

J

[The Documentary Sound Guy]

Fair enough.  How is this proposed legislation different from the loudness specs that are already required by streamers and broadcasters?

I can understand the perspective that this isn't something that needs to be enshrined in legislation, but as a re-recording mixer, aren't you already mixing to a loudness spec already?  Is legislation really going to change things for how you work?

[PMC]

Long ago, very long ago, while working at an NBC affiliate, I made the same complaint of commercial break volume being inordinately loud. The asst. Chief Engineer walked me over to our microwave transmission rack with all it's processing equipment. He told me to watch the program volume vs the commercial break volume. The peaks, modulation and brick wall were the same. 

 

He said the difference is dynamics. The commercials are mixed so that the majority of the audible content lives between -4 and 0 Vu with little or no silences. Program shows are mixed for between -20 and 0 Vu with plenty of quiet pauses. 

 

Commercials then have the 'appearance' of being much louder but in reality aren't. They are simply compressed to always be towards 0 Vu.

 

Now, in the digital age with dialog around -18 dbfs and music and explosions at 0 dbfs it was gotten worse.

 

How in the world does a legislature regulate dynamics?

 

 

[Johnny Karlsson]

LUFS

 

I heard the original reason to bump the loudness of commercials was so that during the break when you get up to get a beverage, or snack in the kitchen, it would be loud enough for you to hear the very important message of the commercial from there.

[The Documentary Sound Guy]

Yup, LUFS is supposed to (and in my opinion mostly does) compensate for that fact.  

[Johnny Karlsson]

Supposed to, perhaps, but if the program is mastered at Broadcast level with ~ let's say -18 LUFS ~ and the commercial is mastered at Death Magnetic levels ~ around -4 LUFS, it will appear much louder, even if the peaks are at the same level.

[PMC]

I vote for tv/monitor and AV amp manufacturers to build user customizable compressor/limiters into their products.

 

Dusted and done.

 

I have a Windows based media server that plays out via VLC. I also have a software EQ/comp/limiter in the chain  that "fixes" what the mastering sound mixer wants into what "I" want. It adds about a 300ms delay to the sound but that is easily corrected in VLC.

 

[The Documentary Sound Guy]

On 7/21/2025 at 7:34 PM, Johnny Karlsson said:

Supposed to, perhaps, but if the program is mastered at Broadcast level with ~ let's say -18 LUFS ~ and the commercial is mastered at Death Magnetic levels ~ around -4 LUFS, it will appear much louder, even if the peaks are at the same level.

 

But that's just it.  If the streamers don't want to enforce a -18LUFS delivery spec for their commercials so it stays in line with the program materials, this legislation feels justified to me IMO.  We absolutely have the tools to keep commercial audio in line.  What's lacking is the institutional gumption.