Aussie media braces for less gambling advertising

Plans to engage with sports betting companies on advertising going into 2019 have reportedly increasingly occupied the minds of media executives following the imposition of tighter gambling advert regulations in the past year, according to Australian media reports Monday.

Peter Costello, chairman of the Nine network, revealed that his company will strive to become less dependent on sports betting advertising to ensure the public interest is protected, acknowledging that the issue is a legitimate community concern.

Nine CEO Hugh Marks agrees with Costello, noting that the network is also beginning to pull back on the amount of gambling advertising it accepts as a result of its recent sports rights swap with Seven, which saw the network take over the broadcast rights to the Australian Open.

“It’s been important for us over the last year, and a big part of our decision to switch out of our long-term cricket contract and into tennis. As a result, we have actually decreased our exposure to sports revenue over the year,” Marks said.

“As a company, we are decreasing our reliance on that particular sports betting revenue category by decreasing our exposure.

“We are really adapting to this new environment and a better position going into the future with less reliance on gambling advertising.”

Seven chairman Kerry Stokes, appears to take a more pragmatic view, and commented that [licensed] sports betting activity is currently legal. “As long as they are legal they should be entitled to advertise their products,” Stokes opined.

“If the government changes the agenda to a point where it is no longer legal, then that becomes a separate issue but as long as it remains a legal commodity, I expect that we will seek to get our share of it.”

The Australian marketing and advertising publication AdNews reports that gambling adspend has grown by 26 percent y-o-y to A$140 million between January and end July this year in spite of tougher restrictions on TV and online betting ads.

Betting firms spent 15 percent more in television adverts in the calendar year to July than in the same period a year ago.

Australian media houses are apparently becoming increasingly resigned to the prospect that advertising revenues from sports betting are under pressure and are likely to decline as a result of government restrictions, mirroring concerns in the UK gambling industry that media and political resistance is building to the sheer volume of gambling advertising and its impact on society, especially that promoting sports betting.

Our readers will recall that both the UK Gambling Commission and certain large betting companies have cautioned about the high levels of betting advertising, warning that if companies continue to ignore the public signals, decisions regarding the volume of advertising may be made for them by the authorities.

Earlier this month, Sky network in the UK announced plans to develop Adsmart technology to enable users to block gambling adverts starting June 2020.

The company has also undertaken to reduce the number of gambling adverts it broadcasts to one per commercial break – including during live sport – as of the start of the next Premier League season (see previous report).

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