More bookies’ ads shown on Match of the Day than Sky

MATCH of the Day screens more gambling promotions than Sky’s live football broadcasts, a study found.

The BBC’s flagship football show – broadcast on Saturday night and repeated on Sunday morning – is ‘saturated with gambling and other risky product advertising’ through shirt and billboard promotions, Goldsmiths University in London said.

Researchers compared three Match of the Day programmes with three full match broadcasts on Sky Sports, finding 764 instances of gambling advertising on the BBC, compared with 524 on Sky – despite the Corporation’s shows being hours shorter.

Professor Rebecca Cassidy who led the study published last year, said: ‘There was more advertising of gambling, alcohol and hyperpalatable foods during sporting highlights broadcasts on the BBC.

‘These results indicate that the exclusion of produced commercials from public service broadcasts does not prevent audiences from being exposed to large volumes of advertising.’