Sky UK CEO slams proposed ‘whistle-to-whistle’ ad ban
Stephen van Rooyen says proposed ban will force advertising online where customers are even less protected
Sky UK CEO Stephen van Rooyen has denounced the gambling industry’s proposed ‘whistle-to-whistle’ ban on betting ads, suggesting it will not help protect problem gamblers.
Writing in an opinion piece for The Times, van Rooyen said operators would simply divert their ad spend into the “largely unregulated online world”.
“If the RGA and gambling companies are serious about protecting vulnerable gamblers, then they should start by looking at where they spend the most money, what has the least level of regulation and where there is most evidence of harm: the online world,” van Rooyen said.
The exec highlighted recent figures from GambleAware which showed more than 80% of the gambling industry’s advertising goes online, with online ad spend more than five times TV spend.
“These aren’t the views of a broadcaster scared of losing TV ad revenue,” van Rooyen added. “Quite the opposite…. there will of course be some financial impact to Sky, but a proportionate and responsible limit to gambling advertising is the right thing to do.”
He pointed to recent moves from the broadcaster which included a limit on gambling ads of one per break and the introduction of AdSmart technology to let people to block gambling advertising.
Van Rooyern concluded: “This deprives British TV broadcasters of revenue that helps make high-quality programming that people love to watch. Instead, this money is funnelled offshore and the UK loses out. What this has shown is that yet again there is a disparity of regulation between TV and online platforms and that there are bigger issues at stake that affect us all.”
Sky was highlighted last week as one of the biggest losers from the proposed self-regulation on ads with industry execs pointing out the whistle to whistle ban prevents the “bidding war” that Sky’s one-advert-per-break policy would have fostered.