GambleAware: More can be done to protect children seeing gambling ads
Exposure to gambling ads has dropped by 25% over the last decade but GambleAware chief claims “gambling adverts are becoming increasingly prominent among the adverts that children see”
The ASA has released statistics that reveal that children’s exposure to both gambling and alcohol advertising has diminished significantly during the 11-year period between 2010 and 2021.
The main highlights of the announcement made by the regulatory body pointed towards two significant points.
Under-16s exposure to TV adverts for gambling was down 25% since 2010 from an average of three adverts a week to 2.2 adverts a week, and exposure to adverts for alcohol had dropped 75% in the comparative time-frame.
The ad exposure and viewing analysis is based on data provided by the Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board (BARB) that also found children’s exposure to adverts of any kind had dropped by 63.5% from 226.7 ads-per-week in 2010 to 82.8 in 2021. This is primarily due to the increase in streaming and on-demand television.
While the figures are pleasing, they do indicate that children’s exposure to gambling adverts is not decreasing at a similar rate to those of alcohol, however does remain at a lower level compared to the peak which occurred in 20213.
The report continued that adults’ exposure to TV ads has also fallen by 16.9% between 2010 and 2021.
Guy Parker, ASA CEO, said: “Our latest report confirms the ongoing decline in children’s exposure to ads for age-restricted products, which is what our rules are designed to achieve. But of course that’s not the full story.
“Later this year, we’ll publish our findings on the ads they are seeing across the internet and social media as part of our zero-tolerance approach to age-restricted ads being served to children,” he added.
Speaking on the back of the report, GambleAware CEO Zoe Osmond said that despite the pleasing results, there was still a long way to go in order to prevent children from being exposed to gambling adverts.
She said: “Whilst it is encouraging to see a drop in the number of gambling adverts viewed by children, there is still much more to be done to prevent children and young people being exposed to these ads.
“Unfortunately, children’s exposure to gambling adverts hasn’t fallen at the same rate as children’s overall TV viewing and overall TV advert exposure, which means that gambling adverts are becoming increasingly prominent among the adverts that children do see on TV.
“By contrast, the much larger reduction in children’s exposure to alcohol adverts shows that reduced exposure is possible. We would welcome further efforts to explore what lessons can be learned from that and applied to gambling advertising,” she added.