Alcohol Advertising in Sport and Non-Sport TV in Australia, during Children's Viewing Times

PLoS One. 2015 Aug 11;10(8):e0134889. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0134889. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Estimate the amount of alcohol advertising in sport vs. non-sport programming in Australian free-to-air TV and identify children's viewing audience composition at different times of the day. Alcohol advertising and TV viewing audience data were purchased for free-to-air sport and non-sport TV in Australia for 2012. We counted alcohol advertisements in sport and non-sport TV in daytime (6 am-8.29 pm) and evening periods (8.30 pm-11.59 pm) and estimated viewing audiences for children and young adults (0-4 years, 5-13 years, 14-17 years, 18-29 years). During the daytime, most of the alcohol advertising (87%) was on sport TV. In the evening, most alcohol advertising (86%) was in non-sport TV. There was little difference in the mean number of children (0-17 years) viewing TV in the evening (N = 273,989), compared with the daytime (N = 235,233). In programs containing alcohol advertising, sport TV had a greater mean number of alcohol adverts per hour (mean 1.74, SD = 1.1) than non-sport TV (mean 1.35, SD = .94). Alcohol advertising during the daytime, when large numbers of children are watching TV, is predominantly in free-to-air sport TV. By permitting day-time advertising in sport programs and in any programs from 8.30 pm when many children are still watching TV, current regulations are not protecting children from exposure to alcohol advertising.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Advertising*
  • Alcoholic Beverages*
  • Australia
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Humans
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Television*
  • Young Adult

Grants and funding

The research was supported by grant funding from the Australian Research Council (LP120100689), VicHealth, Australian Drug Foundation, and the Australian National Preventive Health Agency (460BR2011). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.