Double trouble for Virgin and Sky ads

Satdude

Double trouble for Virgin and Sky ads

Bitter rivals Virgin Media and BSkyB have both fallen foul of the advertising watchdog this week.

Virgin Media was rapped for its claims over the speed of its broadband service, after the Advertising Standards Authority received 30 complaints including one from Sky.

Meanwhile, Sky was singled out for advertising its new on-demand service, Sky Anytime, without making it clear it was not available to viewers that subscribed to Sky channels on other platforms.

Complaints about Virgin Media centred on the broadband service, with Sky and others challenging the claims of a "superfast" 10MB download speed.

Virgin responded that its marketing usually qualified broadband speeds with the phrase "up to" but this had not appeared in some versions because of an oversight. The company provided data showing that at least 95% of users could achieve full speed at all times.

The ASA upheld the complaints and ordered Virgin not to repeat the ad without the qualifying statements.

The watchdog also ruled that Virgin was wrong to claim that its broadband was four times faster than its competitors.

Virgin supplied data to show its average speed was four times faster than its competitors' average speeds, but the ASA ruled this was misleading since one of the competitors had an abnormally low speed, bringing down the overall average.

The Sky adjudication focused on a TV ad for Sky Anytime, described as "the new on-demand service that lets you experience Sky on your PC".

The ad stated: "You can choose from hundreds of great films to watch on your PC ... and all at no extra cost from Sky". Text on screen added: "No extra cost for Sky Movies 1 and 2 subscribers. Minimum system and broadband requirements."

The ASA received one complaint from a viewer who said the ad made no mention of the fact that you also had to be a Sky Digital subscriber and that people who subscribed to Sky Movies 1 and 2 through a third party such as Virgin Media could not access the service.

Sky responded that the words "from Sky" and the on-screen text implied the offer was only available to its own customers.

However, the ASA ruled that the statements were ambiguous and the fact that the service was only available to Sky customers was a significant condition that should have been made clear in the ad.

Regards Satdude.