The ASA report is out: is radio top of the class or on the naughty step?

The ASA’s latest annual report is out and it’s good news, not just for commercial radio stations and the Radiocentre Clearance team, but also (and most importantly) for our listeners.

The overall number of individual complaints received about radio ads was similar to last year (980 complaints in 2024 vs. 966 in 2023) but the number of cases the ASA decided to investigate was down by 8% (522 investigations in 2024 vs 566 in 2023). This is reassuring, given the ASA’s recent ad campaigns (including radio ads) which is likely to have contributed to an increase in listeners’ awareness of the regulator and therefore increase the number of complaints overall.

Even more encouraging is the fact that only six radio ads were upheld and found to have breached the rules, out of the 36,476 scripts reviewed by Radiocentre Clearance in 2024.

What does this mean for our members and our listeners? Well, it proves that proactive self-regulation works. Listeners can trust the ads they hear on Radiocentre member audio services, and they can trust that we’re working together with regulators to ensure that this remains the case as the advertising environment evolves to keep pace with product and AI innovation.

The report also outlines the ASA’s steps to progress its aim of becoming a more proactive and preventative regulator, using AI tools to closely monitor sectors and subjects where listeners are especially vulnerable. These sectors include areas such as financial marketing, gambling advertising, environmental claims and the illegal promotion of prescription only medicines.

Last year the ASA ruled to amend or withdraw nearly 34,000 ads across all media, 94% of which cases originated from the ASA’s active ad monitoring.