UK’s ASA partially upholds YouView ad complaint by pay TV rivals

The UK Advertising Standards Authority has upheld in part a complaint by Virgin Media about an advertising campaign by public broadcaster-backed connected TV service YouView that claimed its services was “unique” and the “easiest way to watch catch-up TV on your TV”.

The ASA received complaints from both Virgin Media and BSkyB about the campaign, encompassing a TV and, two press ads and a poster. The authority accepted that the use of the words “unique” and “easiest” were misleading but rejected an additional complaint from Virgin Media that a claim that the service was “subscription free” on the grounds that YouView users would need to subscribe to a broadband service.

The ASA said that the ads had included text referencing the need for a broadband connection. It also rejected a complaint from Virgin Media and Sky that YouView’s claim to offer “over 70 digital channels including HD” was misleading and a complaint from Sky that the tagline “Record your favourite shows in HD” misleadingly exaggerated the availability of HD channels on the platform.