Gambling ads ban in the UK hurts Sky TV’s revenues

The Comcast-owned company Sky TV has reported that the ban on gambling advertising in the UK has affected revenues.

UK.- Comcast Corporation has released its quarterly results, which include Sky TV’s figures. The company said that a recent ban on gambling advertising in the UK has affected revenues for Sky TV during the three-month period and year-to-date results.

Advertising revenue decreased 13.8% to US$446 million, reflecting an unfavourable impact from a change in legislation related to gambling advertisements in the UK and Italy, as well as overall market weakness, said Comcast.

For the nine months ended September 30, 2019, pro forma Sky revenue decreased 4.1% to US$14.2 billion compared to 2018. Excluding the impact of currency, revenue increased 1.8%, reflecting growth in content and direct-to-consumer revenue, partially offset by lower advertising revenue.

The ban

The ban on gambling advertising during televised sports came into force in late July in the UK. All TV gambling ads are under a ban in the UK during pre-watershed live sports, starting five minutes before the event and ending five minutes after its end.

The changes come after the Industry Group for Responsible Gambling (IGRG) modified its own advertising code. The IGRG decided to come up with this solution after multiple criticisms for the high levels of gambling ads displayed on TV in the UK during the FIFA World Cup that took place in Russia in 2018.

The new code excludes horse and greyhound racing programmes. It includes an end to betting adverts around highlight shows and re-runs. It also features and an end to pre-watershed bookmaker sponsorship of sports programmes.