SBS on Demand users opting out of Gambling ads

90% of SBS on Demand users who have taken up the SBS on Demand functionality to opt out of specific ad groups have chosen to remove Gambling ads.

The remaining 10% requested no Alcohol or QSR (Quick Service Restaurant) advertising.

To opt out of one of the three ad categories, users must request it via an online form. It means, for example, someone watching a show like Addicted Australia to avoid seeing any alcohol or gambling ads.

But so far only around 1300 of some 12 million active subscribers have taken up the option, with SBS looking to do more to make its users aware of the functionality.

“We launched it because we want to provide the utility and allow people to avoid advertising they find harmful or in other ways, not to their tastes. It’s worth noting we’re the first and only media organisation in the country to launch this functionality,” managing director James Taylor told ACT Senator David Pocock at a Senate Estimates committee this week.

“We launched it in February of this year, so not long ago. We wanted to make surethat the technology worked appropriately. Every person that writes to us gets referred to the portal and we will be promoting it more heavily across our user base over the next six months, so that anyone who’s missed the offer has the opportunity.

“I’ve also done radio the views about it and there was quite a bit of publicity around it this year in our Upfronts and last year, when we announced the functionality. But I absolutely acknowledge your point that that we might expect to grow that community over time.”