The ASA has today published a report providing a unique insight into the online supply pathway of ads for alcohol, gambling and other age-restricted ads.

Given concerns about children’s exposure to these ads in media popular with them, the ASA’s five year strategy commits to protecting children and other vulnerable audiences and bringing greater transparency and broader accountability to this and other areas of our online advertising regulation.  

This study uniquely presents the perspectives of advertisers, publishers and ad supply intermediaries on the relatively few cases, identified by our automated monitoring, of age-restricted ads mistargeted to websites and YouTube channels disproportionately popular with children. In doing so, the report delivers fascinating insights that should help to reduce still further children’s exposure to age-restricted ads online.

The study also reveals, across the range of responses we received from parties identified in the report, various and substantial compliance processes in place, and steps taken, to target age-restricted ads away from children in line with CAP Guidance on Age-restricted Ads Online.  

Indeed, the report presents a generally positive picture of how the industry is working to limit children’s exposure to age-restricted ads in these and other online environments. Whilst the findings of our three months’ avatar-based monitoring are not a true representation of children’s and adult’s real-life exposure to these ads, of the 82,657 occasions when an ad was served in the monitored media, 133 (or 0.16%) related to age-restricted ads mistargeted to a child or neutral avatar. Just 50 (0.06% of the total) were served to a child avatar and they related to age-restricted ads from 12 advertisers: two relating to food products high in fat, salt or sugar; six for gambling; two for weight-loss products or treatments; two for e-cigarette products, and none for alcohol.  

Whilst these breaches of the advertising code are few in number, it remains important to examine the circumstances that led to the ads being mistargeted to sites disproportionately popular with children. For example, the report provides specific case study evidence around mis-categorisation of age-restricted ads, which if categorised correctly are likely to have prevented the ad from being served and inadequacies relating to the blocklisting of publications disproportionately popular with children. 

As with our 100 Children Report, TV ad Exposure Reports and other tech-based monitoring projects, a key aim of this report is to inform debate about the effectiveness and the proportionality of the rules that currently restrict ads for alcohol, gambling, foods high in fat, salt or sugar and other age-restricted ads.  

Read the ASA’s full report here and the White Bullet Methodology report here.

---