After a complaint questioned if a radio advertisement for Betfair’s “Prize Pinball” free-to-play promotion had been “inappropriately” broadcast at a time when minors may hear it, the UK’s Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) cleared the company today, December 11.
Due to the Betfair advertisement that aired on Radio X on September 3, one complainant got in touch with the ASA. This centered on the advertisement’s time and whether or not youngsters may have heard it.
The Befair advertisement was aimed at those over 25
PPB Entertainment, the division of Flutter Entertainment that manages Betfair, responded to the lawsuit by refuting the allegations. It stated that before airing, the advertisement was approved by Radiocentre, the trade association for commercial radio.
Radio stations targeting under-18s should not broadcast gambling advertisements, according to Radiocentre guidelines. According to third-party data, 88% of Radio X’s audience is above 25, hence it does not fall under this category.
Additionally, according to PPB Entertainment, the advertisement aired on “The Chris Moyles Show” on a weekday morning. Given that Moyles had previously hosted the same program on BBC Radio 1, PPB predicted that his listeners, many of whom were over 18, would have followed him to Radio X.
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Furthermore, according to PPB, the advertisement was programmatically targeted to listeners who were 25 years of age or older. This was accomplished by focusing on listeners who had their mobile phone or other device registered as 25 or older. Linear radio did not air the advertisement. This was supported by Radio Joint Audience Research (RAJAR) data for the time frame during which the advertisements were aired.
Additionally, PPB stated that Radiocentre’s scheduling guidance cleared the Betfair advertisement. In order to make sure the advertisement complied with the necessary regulations, PPB supplied a script in advance.
ASA supports Betfair and PPB
The ASA took this response into consideration while evaluating it. The UK Code of Broadcast Advertising (BCAP Code), which mandates that advertisements that might endanger children must have scheduling limits, was also taken into consideration. One of the topics in this area is internet gambling.
The ASA emphasized that the complaint used a smart speaker to hear the advertisement. This indicates that the targeted advertisement would have reached them as they would have registered as being older than 25.
However, because it was a weekday morning before school, the ASA stated that individuals under the age of 18 could have also been listening at the time. Therefore, we felt that evaluating the RAJAR numbers for this time frame was essential.
Inspection of RAJAR data revealed that, at the time, a small percentage of listeners were in the under-18 demographic. 88% of them were above 25, while only 6% were younger than 18. As a result, it concurred that Radiocentre’s scheduling recommendations were suitable.
As a result, the ASA decided that the advertisement did not violate BCAP Code Rules 32.3 for scheduling or 1.2 for social responsibility. It exonerated Betfair and PPB of any misconduct in the case.
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