Children’s (under-16s) exposure to TV ads for alcohol has decreased by 75% since 2010, while exposure to gambling ads has fallen by 25%.
An Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) report released today has revealed that far fewer children are watching advertisements for age-restricted products.
While in 2010 children across the UK reportedly watched around 226.7 ads per week, the report revealed that in 2021 children were watching an average of 82.8 ads a week. They also saw fewer TV ads than adults, around one ad for every four seen by adults.
Additionally, child alcohol ad views fell from an average of 3.2 ads a week in 2010 to 0.8 ads a week in 2021. The ASA claimed that this was a faster rate of decline than children’s exposure to all TV ads.
Gambling ads were also viewed less in 2021, with children being exposed to 2.2 ads per week. According to the authority, this exposure to gambling ads relative to adults’ has fallen year-on-year, from 36.0% in 2010 to 15.4% in 2021.
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“As part of our commitment to protecting vulnerable audiences from potential harms, we conduct regular monitoring of ads, in particular those for age-restricted products, to help identify trends and ensure our tough scheduling restrictions are working to limit appropriately, in this case children’s, exposure to them,” the ASA said.
Under 16s in Scotland saw the most TV advertisements overall, despite the rate falling dramatically from 225.1 ads on average per week in 2013, to 132.3 ads per week in 2021.
“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,” ASA chief executive Guy Parker said.
“But of course that’s not the full story. Children’s media consumption habits are changing significantly, which is why we’re also focussed on protecting them online.
“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.”
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