California Law Forces Netflix, Hulu To Turn Down Ad Volumes

Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a law banning excessively loud advertisements on streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime that could become a de facto national standard. From a report: 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."

At least ...

[PPH]

... turn down the volume on all those hearing aid ads.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

It’s already illegal. Just like being a pedo is still illegal (for now) https://www.newsweek.com/rober... [newsweek.com]

Re:

[saloomy]

Unless you can get on a plane to Israel

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

Link to bill

[ISayWeOnlyToBePolite]

I think linking to the original source is a good idea: https://leginfo.legislature.ca... [ca.gov]

Music and sound effects

[Anonymous Coward]

We need this for music and sound effects too.
More and more I have to constantly adjust the volume between too loud music/effects and too quiet dialogs... only to get screwed when they have dialogs over music/effect (actually, it's really music/effect over dialogs)

Re:Music and sound effects

[nightflameauto]

We need this for music and sound effects too. More and more I have to constantly adjust the volume between too loud music/effects and too quiet dialogs... only to get screwed when they have dialogs over music/effect (actually, it's really music/effect over dialogs)

Whispered dialog, turn up to hear, EXPLOSIONS, GUNSHOTS, SCREAMING, try to turn down, back to whispered dialog. I'd like to know what directors are listening to during the mixing phase that makes them think any of that shit is OK. I've even got a decent surround system that should sound theater like, and it's still stupid.

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[poptix]

Christopher fucking Nolan. I hate that man, I refuse to ever watch another of his movies.

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[thegarbz]

The system is mixed to offer theatre level performance and rely on *YOU* the end user to use their equipment to perform dynamic range compression. It's literally a requirement of some certifications (THX, not sure if it's a Dolby Atmos cert requirement too).

I don't have loud explosions followed by whispers, I have normal volume whispers followed by normal volume explosions. You almost certainly can too, just RTFM.

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[registrations_suck]

Sometimes we just turned the sound off and depend on subtitles.

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[hawk]

Music & Sound effects shouldn't even be on the same channel as voice!

Adding channels on a digital distribution isn't as complicated as what it takes to broadcast & decode stereo audio, whether AM or FM.

And then add a "relative volume" slider so that regular volume controls both (or even let the user choose a curve so that music doesn't increase as much as speech [or more, if the user prefers])

Turn off the ads?

[SirSpanksALot]

I for one, don't see this as an issue... I pay for a small handful of services at an ad-free tier (Youtube, netflix), and all the rest of the content I watch is in Plex - also ad free. Fuck ads - your time is worth more than that.

Re: Turn off the ads?

[mhajicek]

I use the Brave browser to turn off ads for free.

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[immanentize]

If you don't encounter the issue you wouldn't see it as an issue... would you?

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[cmdr_klarg]

If you don't encounter the issue you wouldn't see it as an issue... would you?

I'm pretty sure that SirSpanksALot DOES see it as an issue. Exactly why they (and I) take steps to block that nonsense. Cheers!

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[Tony Isaac]

That option might work for now. But streamers are finding ways to show "some" ads, even on ad-free subscription plans. All they have to do, is tweak the fine print, and "ad free" suddenly becomes "a few less ads."

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[SirSpanksALot]

Yeah, that's a problem... SponsorBlock works on the browser for YouTube though.

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[cmdr_klarg]

No mod points, otherwise I'd be upvoting.

My preferred method is Firefox with NoScript, uBlock Origin, Privacy Badger, and "I still don't care about cookies" add ons.

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[SirSpanksALot]

That's great for browsing - what do you do on your TV though

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[SirSpanksALot]

Also - How the hell do people get mod points these days. I used to get them all the time, and haven't gotten any in years now.

Pump Up the Volume

[jfdavis668]

Pump Up the Volume, Pump Up the Volume, dance, dance...

virtue

[groobly]

Haha. They will never be able to enforce it.

Re:

[kurkosdr]

This won't completely eliminate the problem due to something called dynamic range compression: The ads will have the same average volume as the shows, but due to dynamic range compression (of the kind that makes the quiet parts louder, not of the kind that makes the loud parts quieter obviosuly), the ads will still sound louder than the shows (at the expense of sound quality, but sound quality isn't important in ads).

Still, since streaming advertisers can have both higher average volume and dynamic range

Re:

[spitzak]

Most laws like this require the average sound level to match, not the peak sound level. For precisely the reason you are talking about.

Captain Obvious here

[devslash0]

I'm being Captain Obvious here, but for those who are not aware, the ads are louder so that the advertisers can still reach you even if you walk away from the screen to get a snack from the kitchen, or go to the toilet. They don't want to risk you not hearing the ads.

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[hawk]

they need to go further.

As I drive off to dutifully buy the wondrous stuff from the last commercial, the current commercial should jump to my phone so I don't miss it!

Ding Dong, it's a doorbell commercial.

[Fly Swatter]

For a time they had actually stopped stupid stunts like doorbells or crying babies at the beginning of commercials. Didn't last long.

A few years ago commercials discovered they can thump the subwoofer channel and apparently regulators didn't notice.

Fuck commercials. Growing up in the 80s I hate paying to watch things but I hate commercials more.

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[AmiMoJo]

I've become super sensitive to ads now, thanks to always blocking them online. Any service that doesn't let me block the ads (and I don't mind paying for that if it's worth it) just doesn't get used.

what about an center channel boost choice?

[Joe_Dragon]

what about an center channel boost choice?
I want to hear people talking and not be blown away by sound FX

Re:

[CommunityMember]

what about an center channel boost choice? I want to hear people talking and not be blown away by sound FX

Some AVR's do have various boosting choices (including dialog enhancement(s)). The home theater forums have long threads about the issue and what is considered best. And some people just turn on closed captioning.

never mind balance will be mainted

[Growlley]

Florida or another one of the usual suspects will turn it up to 11,

Queue the lawsuits

[djp2204]

Compromising our ad volumes infringes our free speech rights

I mute all commercials

[Kwelstr]

For years I have been muting commercials, I never listen to them and I don't even have to think to hit the mute button, it's automatic for me at this point.