Responsible advertising

ITV has a long history of supporting high standards in the advertising it broadcasts. We fully support the Broadcast Committee on Advertising Practice (BCAP) television Code and the arrangements to assist advertisers in complying with it.

The majority of ITV’s revenue still comes from advertising and it is essential that we protect the value of our airtime. Maintaining viewers’ trust in advertisements on ITV is an important factor in this. Our viewers should be confident that the content of advertisements is accurate and does not cause unnecessary offence.

It is also important to us that our audience finds the quantity and scheduling of advertisements acceptable and that they do not perceive any influence by advertisers on programme content.

Maintaining high advertising standards

ITV together with the other major commercial broadcasters established Clearcast, an independent company, in January 2008 to help advertisers ensure that their TV commercials comply with the BCAP television Code. The Code has detailed rules that require advertisements not to mislead, or cause serious or widespread offence.

Clearcast reviews scripts and storyboards for television adverts before they are filmed and provides pre-transmission clearance of finished commercials for the major UK broadcasters. The advertiser or advertising agency is alerted to any potential infringements of the Code and asked to substantiate any claims made about products or services.

Particular attention is given to sensitive categories such as advertising appealing to children and advertising of alcohol, food and gambling. Clearcast continues to work on improving services to the advertising industry and to raise awareness of its services within the advertising community. A number of initiatives have been taken to ensure that the structure, processes and turnaround times for scripts and commercials are transparent and performance regularly publicised. The most important intiative taken in 2009 was the launch of Clearcast’s Training Programme.

For more information see www.clearcast.co.uk.

During 2009 Clearcast reviewed 29,500 scripts for adverts and considered almost 55,000 finished commercials. Complaints from individual viewers, from organisations or from competitor companies are investigated by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). A very small proportion of all commercials broadcast cause complaints upheld by the ASA.

The table shows the total number of complaints, the number of adverts causing complaint and the number judged to have breached the BCAP Code for all television broadcast advertising in the UK (not only on ITV). The very low proportion of adverts being found in breach is evidence that the system is continuing to function well.

Video on demand

There were nearly 63 million ‘catch-up’ views on ITV Player during the year (more than double the number in 2008), with over two million unique users of the service each month. In 2009 the EU Audiovisual Media Services Directive was implemented into UK law, and related regulations came into force in December. The Directive extends television regulation to video content on the internet or on-demand networks.

To help video on demand (VoD) providers ensure that advertisements are compliant with the Code, Clearcast launched a new service, VoD Advice, in December 2009. ITV supports and encourages advertisers to make use of the Clearcast VoD Copy Advice Service for all advertisements broadcast on ITV.com in VoD programmes.

Currently the vast majority (95%) of ads on VoD services are the same as those that have been cleared by Clearcast for television broadcast.

The amount and distribution of advertising

The amount and frequency of advertising is regulated by Ofcom. Ofcom licences limit the amount of advertising ITV1 can broadcast to seven minutes-per-hour averaged over a day. In any particular hour the precise amount may vary and during peak viewing times (6.00 pm to 11.00 pm) the average is eight minutes. The maximum amount of advertising allowed in any one hour of ITV1 programming is 12 minutes.

Programme independence

The Ofcom Broadcasting Code requires broadcasters to maintain the independence of editorial control over programme content and to ensure that advertising and programme elements are kept separate.

Programmes may have some or all of their costs met by a sponsor who receives a credit on screen. A sponsor may not influence the content or scheduling of a programme and the sponsorship must be transparent to viewers. News and current affairs programmes cannot be sponsored. To minimise risk of confusion between adverts and programmes, adverts featuring a well-known personality are separated from television programmes in which they appear. This rule will be relaxed from 1^st September 2010 when a revised BCAP code comes into force, although it will remain in force for children’s programmes.

Undue prominence of products in programmes is not permitted, including the presence of or references to a product or brand where there is no editorial justification.

Consultation over new regulations

The EU Audio-Visual Media Services Directive was adopted in December 2007 and implemented in Member States in December 2009. The Directive introduced a number of changes to current practice in UK television advertising which Ofcom is in the final stages of implementing.

Product placement in certain programmes is permitted under the Directive, and has not previously been allowed on UK television. ITV supports a relaxation of the ban on product placement and believes that the regulatory framework in the Directive will adequately safeguard the interests of viewers and ensure that any programmes are not influenced by the advertiser.

The Directive allows for up to 12 minutes of advertising per hour – more than the current average seven minutes permitted on ITV1. Ofcom has recently announced a review of the minutage rules for commercial public service broadcasters which is due to begin in April or May 2010 with a view to any new rules being in place by 1 January 2011.