Research has revealed for the first time the extent gambling messages saturate UK media coverage and social media during the opening weekend of the English Premier League football season.
The rapid assessment, carried out by the University of Bristol in collaboration with Channel 5 last month, monitored live televised coverage, sports news programming, sports news radio, and social media over the weekend of 11-14 August.
They found that a total of 10,999 gambling messages were identified during the weekend across various media channels and 6,966 gambling messages were recorded during the six live match broadcasts.
92% out of 391 content marketing ads sent by major gambling brands, were not clearly identifiable as advertising – and therefore breaching a key advertising regulation while less than a quarter (20.6%) included gambling harm reduction messages and only 18.7% featured age warnings – leaving the majority without any warnings.
There was at least one gambling ad during any commercial break on TalkSport Radio and 600 gambling messages during two hours of Sky Sports News and 1,902 gambling ads on social media, generating a total of 34 million impressions
Gambling messages refers to the number of identical messages or references (such as logos) which were exposed to the audience during the weekend and content marketing aims to engage current and potential consumer bases through content that may not be directly related to the promoted product or brand.
Co-lead researcher Dr Raffaello Rossi, Lecturer in Marketing at the University of Bristol Business School, said: “Our research shows gambling marketing during Premier League weekends is inescapable. Football fans are bombarded with gambling marketing through various channels, making it a normal part of football consumption.
“Our study highlights a serious issue with social media gambling marketing – especially content marketing. A staggering 92% of content marketing ads are not clearly identifiable as advertising, breaching key advertising regulations. We urgently need to strengthen those regulations to protect consumers – in particular children, who are especially vulnerable to sneaky advertising.”
