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On-demand ads to be pre-screened by regulator as new EU law comes into force


A pre-broadcast advertising regulator has started checking the adverts that appear on Video on Demand (VoD) services ahead of a change in EU law this week. Clearcast said that VoD providers had asked it for its advice.

VOD services are regulated differently to live television, often called linear services in the world of broadcast regulation. The Audio Visual Media Services (AVMS) Directive will come into force on 19 December, bringing VoD services within the remit of regulators.

The AVMS, which is the successor to the Television Without Frontiers Directive, imposes a regulatory regime on VoD services that is similar to the sets of rules faced by linear broadcasting. VoD ads will have to comply with the British Code of Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing (CAP Code), which is similar but not the same as its broadcast equivalent, the BCAP Code.

Clearcast, which vets television ads before they are aired, has said that it will check ads for its shareholder membership to check compliance with the Code.

"VoD ads will be subject to the CAP Code and are not required to be cleared in the same way as linear ads," said a Clearcast statement. "Clearcast’s shareholder VoD providers have, however, decided to maintain the high level of viewer confidence in these ads by asking Clearcast to give advice on the acceptability of VoD ads and to help them to meet their responsibilities as set out in the AVMS [Directive]."

The areas controlled by that Directive in relation to VoD services include advertising to children alcohol advertising, and discrimination, it said.

The inclusion of online and on-demand video in the AVMS Directive was controversial as observers feared that the European Commission was attempting to extend media regulation to the whole internet and to user-generated videos such as those that users post to YouTube.

The Directive only applies, though, to mass market television-like services, and was designed to ensure that content that is increasingly consumed on non-TV devices does not escape regulation.

Clearcast said that while the CAP Code was broadly similar to the BCAP Code that linear broadcasters had to follow, there were some differences.

VoD advertisers had a slightly less onerous evidence burden, for example, and while they must be able to substantiate claims made in ads they will not be formally required to hold evidence as the companies behind linear ads are.

There is also a different regime for the classification of adverts to ensure that inappropriate material is not shown to children or young people.

"Because of the nature of VoD, timing restrictions currently assigned to linear ads cannot be carried across to VoD ads," said the Clearcast statement. "To help VoD providers decide where to appropriately place VoD ads, Clearcast will assign levels to ads."

"These levels indicate whether there is violence, nudity, or potential harm or offence in an ad .The degree will be indicated on a level of 1 to 5, with 5 being the strictest," it said.

Level one will be equivalent to ads broadcastable at any time, including before and after children's programmes, level two to those only showable after 7.30pm, level three to those only broadcastable after 9pm, and level four to those only to be shown after 10pm

Many adverts shown on VoD platforms are likely to be those shown on normal linear services. These will need no extra clearance. "Ads that are intended to run both on linear TV and VoD will be cleared under the BCAP Code alone, while unique VoD ads will be considered under the CAP Code," said Clearcast.

Clearcast said that the AVMS regulation applied only to those ads shown as part of the programmes. "Any display advertisements or audio-visual ads the viewer will see before selecting a programme will not be covered by the directive and is therefore outside of Clearcast’s remit," it said.

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