Study on the exposure of minors to alcohol advertising on linear and non-linear audio-visual media services and other online services, including a content analysis : final report.
Date: 2015-12-08
Institutions: Directorate-General for the Information Society and Media
Subjects: Internet, advertising, alcohol, alcoholic beverage, audiovisual industry, audiovisual production, broadcasting, child protection, impact of advertising, provision of services, television, young person

FR 

Study on the exposure of 
minors to alcohol 
advertising on linear and 
non-linear audio-visual 
media services and other 
online services, including a 
content analysis 
Final Report 

FINAL REPORT 

A study prepared for the European Commission 
DG Communications Networks, Content & Technology by:  

Digital 

Agenda for 

Europe 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
This study was carried out for the European Commission by 

Consortium partners 

Subcontractors 

Internal identification 
Contract number: specific contract No 30-CE-0639369/00-87  
SMART number: SMART2013/0080 

DISCLAIMER 

By  the  European  Commission,  Directorate-General  of  Communications  Networks,  Content  & 
Technology.  

The  information  and  views  set  out  in  this  publication  are  those  of  the  author(s)  and  do  not 
necessarily reflect the official opinion of the Commission. The Commission does not guarantee the 
accuracy of the data included in this study. Neither the Commission nor any person acting on the 
Commission’s  behalf  may  be  held  responsible  for  the  use  which  may  be  made  of  the  information 
contained therein. 

ISBN 978-92-79-52798-2 

doi:10.2759/597114 

© European Union, 2015. All rights reserved. Certain parts are licensed under conditions to the EU.  

Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged.  

Study on the exposure of minors to alcohol advertising on linear and non-linear audio-visual media services and 

other online services, including a content analysis  

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Table of Contents 
1. 
Introduction 

2. 

3. 

4. 

1.1. 
1.2. 
1.3. 

Approach and methodology 

2.1. 
2.2. 
2.3. 
2.4. 
2.5. 
2.6. 

Background 
Purpose of the study 
Reading guide 

Scope of the study 
Literature review 
Approach for Research Question 1 
Approach for Research Question 2 
Approach for Research Question 3 
Stakeholder review 

17 
17 
18 
19 
21 
22 
24 
25 
32 
38 
44 
47 
Overview of studies on the exposure of minors to alcohol advertising on linear 
47 
and non-linear audio-visual media services and other online services 
55 
Overview of studies to support the development of the analysis grid 
59 
60 
62 
72 

4.1. 
4.2. 
4.3. 
4.4.  Exposure to alcohol advertising - 9 selected Member States (GfK/Dentsu Aegis 

Summary of main findings 
Viewing patterns 
Exposure to alcohol advertising – WFA/Ebiquity data 

Exposure to alcohol advertising on linear audio-visual media services 

Literature review 

3.1. 

3.2. 

4.5. 
4.6. 

5. 

data) 

Daily average alcohol impacts weighted by viewing ratings 
Main limitations of the approach and methodology 

84 
101 
103 
 Exposure to alcohol advertising on non-linear audio-visual media services and other 
105 
online services - perspective of the advertisers 
105 

Summary of main findings 
Policies to restrict exposure to alcohol advertising on a selection of online 
services 
Perspective of the industry 
Online data capture 
Main limitations of the approach and methodology 

107 
110 
114 
117 
Exposure to alcohol advertising on non-linear audio-visual media services and other 
119 
online services - perspective of the viewers 
119 
120 
121 
139 
144 
147 
147 
150 
150 
167 
170 
173 
177 

Analysis grid 
Summary of main findings 
Advertisements on linear AV media services 
Advertising on non-linear AV media services and other online services 
Results per beverage types 
Level of protection by the AVMSD 

Summary of main findings 
Sample description 
Survey results 
Cross-tables and relationships 
Main limitations of the approach and methodology 

Conclusions and recommendations 

Content analysis 

5.1. 
5.2. 

5.3. 
5.4. 
5.5. 

6.1. 
6.2. 
6.3. 
6.4. 
6.5. 

7.1. 
7.2. 
7.3. 
7.4. 
7.5. 
7.6. 

6. 

7. 

8. 

8.1. 

Research Question 1: How much alcohol advertising does an average minor 
watching linear audio-visual media services in the EU see? 

177 

Study on the exposure of minors to alcohol advertising on linear and non-linear audio-visual media services and 

other online services, including a content analysis  

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8.2. 

8.3. 

8.4. 

Research Question 2: How much alcohol advertising does an average minor 
see on non-linear audio-visual media services and other online services in the 
179 
EU? 
Research Question 3: For audio-visual media services (both linear and non-
linear) and other online services, what type of alcohol advertising does an 
average minor see in the EU? Are minors specifically targeted by alcohol 
advertising? In how far is alcohol advertising appealing to minors and how? In 
particular, in how far do the provisions of the AVMSD and their application 
afford the required level of protection? 
Limitations and recommendations for further research 

181 
182 

Study on the exposure of minors to alcohol advertising on linear and non-linear audio-visual media services and 

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List of abbreviations 

AT 
AV 
AVMSD 
BARB   
BE 
BG 
CAWI   
CZ 
DE 
DGP 
DK 
EAHF   
EASA   
EC 
EE 
EL 
ES 
EU 
FI 
GRP 
GDP 
HR 
HU 
IARD   
IE 
IT 
IP 
LPA  
LT 
LV 
NL 
PBS 
PL 
PT 
Rat 
RMP 
RO 
SI 
SK 
SRO 
TV 
TWFD   
UK 
URL 
WFA 

Austria 
Audio-visual 
Audio-visual Media Services Directive 
British Audience Research Bureau 
Belgium 
Bulgaria 
Computer Assisted Web Interviewing 
Czech Republic 
Germany 
Digital Guiding Principles 
Denmark 
European Alcohol and Health Forum 
European Advertising Standards Alliance 
European Commission 
Estonia 
Greece 
Spain 
European Union 
Finland 
Gross Rating Points 
Gross Domestic Product 
Croatia 
Hungary 
International Alliance for Responsible Drinking 
Ireland 
Italy 
Internet Protocol  
Legal Purchasing Age 
Lithuania 
Latvia 
The Netherlands 
Public Broadcasting Service 
Poland 
Portugal 
Rating  
Responsible Marketing Pact 
Romania 
Slovenia 
Slovakia 
Self-regulatory Organisation 
Television 
Television Without Frontiers Directive  
The United Kingdom 
Uniform Resource Locator 
World Federation of Advertisers 

Study on the exposure of minors to alcohol advertising on linear and non-linear audio-visual media services and 

other online services, including a content analysis  

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Study on the exposure of minors to alcohol advertising on linear and non-linear audio-visual media services and 

other online services, including a content analysis  

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Glossary 

Age-gating 
Age-gating allows brands to restrict access to their content and/or profile specific online 
services in such a way that only people who are over the legal purchasing age can view 
that content or follow their profiles. 

Alcohol advertising  
Commercial communications that are controlled by alcohol brand advertisers. This 
means that, by definition, user-generated content was not considered alcohol 
advertising for the purpose of this study. 

Alcopop 
An alcopop is a (often sweet) flavoured alcoholic beverages with a low alcoholic content 
which may be premixed or composed from distilled alcohol with added ingredients such 
as fruit juices or other flavourings1. 

Children channel  
A television channel broadcasting programmes that are mainly targeted at children. 

Cookies 
Cookies are small files designed to hold specific data to a particular client and website 
which allows the server to deliver a page tailored to that client2. 

Forward advice notice 
A Forward Advice Notice is a note clearly stating that content should not be forwarded to 
anyone to whom this content is not (legally) appropriate. 

General channel 
A television channel broadcasting programmes that are not mainly targeted at children.  

GfK/Dentsu Aegis data 
The GFK/Dentsu Aegis data consisted of: 
  general viewing pattern data (by hourly timeslot); and 
 

spotlist data measuring advertising impacts. 

Both the general viewing pattern data and the spotlists were collected for each of the 
nine selected Member States in this study and cover the full 24 hours during the full 
year 2013. 

Gross Rating Points (GRP) 
GRP can be interpreted as the total number of times an advertising spot was seen in 
either absolute terms (GRP(000)) or as a percentage of the target group (GRP%). 
Hence, GRP measure the exposure to alcohol advertising, which is referred to as ‘alcohol 
impacts’ throughout this report. 

1   http://www.encyclo.nl/begrip/Alcopop. 
2   http://www.whatarecookies.com/. 

Study on the exposure of minors to alcohol advertising on linear and non-linear audio-visual media services and 

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Hashtag 
A hashtag is a word or phrase prefixed by a ‘#’ and is used on social media sites. The 
combination of the word/phrase and the hash sign help to easily identify messages on a 
specific topic. 

(Alcohol) impact 
Impact is a measure of how often a spot is viewed: it yields the absolute number of 
times a spot was seen over a given timeframe. This is also referred to as the number of 
impressions. 

Linear audio-visual media services3 
Television broadcasting, that is, “an audio-visual media service provided by a media 
service provider for simultaneous viewing of programmes on the basis of a programme 
schedule”. 

Minor 
An individual below 18 years of age. 

Mid-roll 
Mid-rolls are short advertisement clips, usually not longer than 60 seconds, which are 
shown during the viewing of a YouTube video. 

Non-linear audio-visual media services4 
On-demand audio-visual media services, that is, “an audio-visual media service provided 
by a media service provider for the viewing of programmes at the moment chosen by 
the user and at his individual request on the basis of a catalogue of programmes 
selected by the media service provider.” 

Online-participation 
The encouragement that someone actively engages in a marketed and recommended 
associated website displayed in the advertisement. 

Other online service 
Those online services that are currently not covered by the AVMSD, such as social media 
and websites. 

Pre-roll  
Pre-rolls are advertisement clips, varying from 10 seconds to multiple minutes, which 
are shown at the start of viewing a YouTube video. If the pre-roll is longer than 60 
second, users can skip the advertisement after a certain time. 

3   Definition as provided in the Directive 2010/13/EU of the European Parliament and the Council of 10 March 
2010 on the coordination of certain provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative action in 
Member States concerning the provision of audio-visual media services (Audio-visual Media Services 
Directive). 

4   Definition as provided in the Directive 2010/13/EU of the European Parliament and the Council of 10 March 
2010 on the coordination of certain provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative action in 
Member States concerning the provision of audio-visual media services (Audio-visual Media Services 
Directive). 

Study on the exposure of minors to alcohol advertising on linear and non-linear audio-visual media services and 

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First, second and third recall 
The results of the survey that was conducted as part of this study, include information 
on what we refer to as first, second and third recall:  

First recall refers to the latest alcohol advertisement a minor recalled to have 
seen online and was able to describe. 

Second recall refers the second advertisement a minor recalled to have seen 
online and was able to describe. 

Third recall refers to the third advertisement a minor to recall to have seen online 
and was able to describe. 

Rating (rat) 
The rating is a metric used in viewing data and can be interpreted as the audience in 
absolute terms (rat000) or as percentage of the target group (rat%) during a specific 
timeslot (in this study, per hourly timeslot). 

Rolling banner 
Rolling banners are rectangle (300x60 pixels) advertisement banners on YouTube 
overlaying the video that appear for a certain amount of time. 

(Alcohol) spot 
The insertion of an (alcohol) advertisement.  

Universe 
Universe is defined as the number of people in a specific target group. 

WFA/Ebquity data 
The WFA/Ebiquity dataset was compiled by the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) 
and audited by Ebiquity. It contained information on global advertising impacts for 23 
Member States for 2013. 

Study on the exposure of minors to alcohol advertising on linear and non-linear audio-visual media services and 

other online services, including a content analysis  

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Study on the exposure of minors to alcohol advertising on linear and non-linear audio-visual media services and 

other online services, including a content analysis  

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Executive summary 

The first report on the application of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD)5 
was published on 4 May 2012. This report indicated that, with regard to alcohol 
advertising, further investigations were necessary to assess, amongst other things, the 
exposure of minors to commercial communications for alcoholic beverages. Against this 
background, the purpose of this study was to answer three research questions:  
1.  How much alcohol advertising does an average minor6 watching linear audio-visual 
media services (i.e. television broadcasting) in the European Union (EU) see?  

2.  How much alcohol advertising does an average minor see on non-linear audio-visual 

media services (i.e. on-demand audio-visual media services) and other online 
services in the EU? 

3.  For audio-visual media services (both linear and non-linear) and other online 

services, what type of alcohol advertising does an average minor see in the EU? Are 
minors specifically targeted by alcohol advertising? In how far is alcohol advertising 
appealing to minors and how? In particular, in how far do the provisions of the 
AVMSD and their application afford the required level of protection?  

These research questions, and therefore the study, go beyond the AVMSD. For example, 
this study covered online services (Research Question 2) that are not currently covered 
by the Directive (e.g. websites and social media). In addition, the content analysis 
(Research Question 3) not only assessed whether advertisements are specifically aimed 
at minors, but also looked more broadly at what was actually shown in the 
advertisement and if this, from a broader perspective, could be considered appealing to 
minors.  

To answer these questions, we used a combination of research methods.  All research 
activities have been conducted in the period from January to December 2015.  

Research Question 1: How much alcohol advertising does an average minor 
watching linear audio-visual media services in the EU see?  
The analysis for Research Question 1 was based on two datasets7:  

1.  The GfK/Dentsu Aegis dataset, which consists of data on general viewing patterns 
and alcohol advertising impacts8 for nine Member States (MS) selected for in-
depth analysis in this study (Austria, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Italy, the 
Netherlands, Romania, Spain, United Kingdom) in 2013; and  

2.  the WFA/Ebiquity dataset, provided by the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) 
and audited by Ebiquity, which consists of data on global advertising impacts, 
both for the total market and for the subset of alcohol brands, for 23 MS in 2013. 

For both datasets we analysed the global breakdown of the number of insertions of 
alcohol advertisements (i.e. the number of alcohol spots) and how often these were 

5   Report from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social 

Committee and the Committee of the Regions. First Report from the Commission to the European 
Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions 
on the application of Directive 2010/13/EU "Audiovisual Media Service Directive" Audiovisual Media 
Services and Connected Devices: Past and Future Perspectives, /* COM/2012/0203 final */. 

6   For the purpose of this study, a minor is defined as an individual below the age of 18. 
7   For more information on these datasets, please see Chapter 2 of this report.  
8  

Impact is a measure of how often an insertion of an (alcohol) advertisement is viewed: it yields the 
absolute number of times a spot was seen over a given timeframe. 

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viewed (i.e. the number of alcohol impacts) in 2013. Although there were a few 
differences between the two datasets in terms of the definition of age groups, the 
findings are consistent. In addition, the findings indicate that the nine selected MS for 
this study are a representative sample.  

Based on the data in the WFA/Ebiquity dataset, we found that the percentage of alcohol 
impacts of total market impacts was on average 1.8% for minors and 2.2% for adults.  

Moreover, the analysis of both the WFA/Ebiquity dataset and the GfK/Dentsu Aegis 
dataset revealed that, on average, approximately 7.3% of the total number of alcohol 
impacts seen in the EU on linear audio-visual (AV) media services in 2013 were seen by 
minors. For the nine selected MS this ranges from 5.0% to 9.0%. In absolute numbers 
this means that, on average, a minor in the EU saw 200 alcohol impacts in 2013, while 
an adult saw over 450 in the same period. Similar results were seen for each MS.  

The findings with regard to the breakdown by sector revealed that in the vast majority 
of MS the sector ‘beer’ had the highest share of both the number of spots and the 
number of impacts seen.  

The analysis of the viewing data for the nine MS revealed that the viewing patterns of 
adults and minors differed. In order to analyse if this difference in viewing habits may 
partly explain the difference in the level of exposure to alcohol advertising between 
minors and adults, we weighted the absolute daily average alcohol impacts by the 
average daily viewing rates per age group. We found that after applying this weighting, 
the difference between the exposure of minors and the exposure of adults to alcohol 
advertising on linear AV media services was reduced. We also applied a weighting based 
on the average viewing rates per age group for a subset of channels, namely those 
channels that include alcohol advertising. The results showed that applying this 
weighting further reduced the difference in exposure between minors and adults. In 
several of the nine selected MS, this weighted value was even higher for minors than for 
adults. Hence, the difference in the level of exposure to alcohol advertising between 
minors and adults may be partly explained by the differences in their viewing habits, 
both in terms of how often they watch television, and which channels they watch.  

As part of the in-depth analysis, we looked at several detailed breakdowns of the alcohol 
spots and their impacts. One of these analyses was focused on the type of channel on 
which a spot was aired. We found that in all MS, the majority of both alcohol spots and 
alcohol impacts were seen on commercial channels, but that the average impact per 
spot appeared to be higher on public channels. Moreover, the results indicated that while 
in most MS the majority of spots were aired on generalist (i.e., not topic-specific) 
channels or on ‘Entertainment, Series, Movies’ channels, the majority of impacts were 
seen on generalist channels only. This may be explained by the relatively high viewing 
rates for these channels.  

When looking at differences in terms of the occurrence of alcohol impacts throughout the 
day, we found that for the adults, the peak day part was between 21:00 and 23:59 in all 
MS. With the exception of one MS, this was also the peak day part for alcohol impacts 
among the 15-17 year olds. For the 4-14 year olds, the peak  occurred  between 17:00 
and 20:59 in four MS and between 21:00 and 23:50 in five MS. Comparing these results 
with the peak day parts in terms of viewing patterns, we saw that for all age groups in 

Study on the exposure of minors to alcohol advertising on linear and non-linear audio-visual media services and 

other online services, including a content analysis  

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each of the nine MS, the peak day part in terms of alcohol impacts was either the same 
as for viewing patterns or one day part later.  

With regard to hourly timeslots, we found that in each selected MS the alcohol impacts 
for all age groups followed a rather similar pattern and peaked in the evening. In four of 
the nine selected MS, the peak hourly timeslot in terms of alcohol impacts was the same 
across age groups.  

Finally, the results showed that there is substantial variation across MS in terms of the 
weekday with the highest number of alcohol impacts seen. Moreover, within MS, 
differences between age groups were observed, but in the majority of MS all age groups 
saw on average the most alcohol impacts on the same weekday. 

Research Question 2: How much alcohol advertising does an average minor see 
on non-linear audio-visual media services and other online services in the EU? 
The exposure of minors to alcohol advertising on non-linear AV media services and other 
online services has been analysed from both the perspective of the advertisers and the 
perspective of the viewers.  

Perspective of the advertisers 
To include the perspective of the advertisers we conducted desk research and surveyed 
selected online services and industry members as well as trade organisations. We also 
collected online data captures for selected YouTube channels and websites. Initially, the 
plan was to include Facebook, Instagram and Twitter in the online data capture. We 
sought formal approval from these online services, but Facebook and Twitter informed 
us that they were unable to approve the creation of fake profiles as this breaches their 
terms and conditions. 

The results indicated that from the perspective of the advertisers, the level of exposure 
of minors to alcohol advertising on non-linear AV media services and other online 
services is supposed to be limited, because of (1) the measures that online services 
have in place to help advertisers to advertise their products responsibly and in 
compliance with all applicable laws and regulations and thereby, to restrict, or even 
prevent the exposure of minors to alcohol advertising; (2) the choice of advertisers for 
online services that offer age-gating/age verification and/or for which there is availability 
of audience data demonstrating that at least 70% of the likely audience is above the 
Legal Purchasing Age; and (3) the numerous self-regulation initiatives that are in place 
at the company, sector, industry, and national level.  

This view was partially confirmed by the results of the online data capture9: of the 1,319 
screen captures for YouTube and the 950 screen captures for websites (each website 
capture containing visits to up to 5 URLs on that website), only four unique 
advertisements10 for alcohol brands were found. Of these four, two were served in pre-
rolls on YouTube and two on websites in the form of banners. One of the pre-rolls 
advertised a non-alcoholic drink and was only served on the profile of an adult. The 
other pre-roll was captured three times for a minor’s profile and three times for an 
adult’s profile (both male). The two banners were served on both minors’ and adults’ 

9   The online data capture was conducted for a period of two months (May and June 2015).  
10   The analysis of the online data captures focused on advertisements in the forms of pre-rolls, mid-rolls and 

(rolling) banners. Product placement in the YouTube videos was not analysed.  

Study on the exposure of minors to alcohol advertising on linear and non-linear audio-visual media services and 

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profiles, where one was captured twice on profiles for both minors and adults and the 
other was captured once on a minor’s profile and four times on an adult’s  profile. 

Perspective of the viewers 
To analyse the exposure from the perspective of viewers, we conducted a one-time 
survey amongst minors aged 4-17 in each of the nine selected MS (n=900 per MS). The 
results indicated that viewers perceived quite a substantial amount of exposure: 
although alcohol advertisements are the least recalled type of advertisement by minors 
aged 9-1711 in the nine selected MS, 23.9% of these minors recalled having seen an 
alcohol advertisement online in the last month. The results also indicated that the recall, 
and thus the perceived awareness of alcohol advertising, increases both with age and 
online activity. The respondents aged 9-17 were additionally asked if they were able to 
describe an alcohol advertisement to which they were recently exposed and 23.6% of 
these minors answered ‘yes’. In addition, on average, 80% of these respondents 
indicated that they recalled the brand of the advertisement. The results showed that 
both the memory for having seen alcohol advertising as well as active brand recall also 
increased with age and online activity. The finding that recall increases with age and the 
amount of exposures is consistent with literature on advertisement recall among minors 
in general.  

Combining the results from the two perspectives 
The results from the two perspectives diverge and this may be the result of different 
factors, including: 
  Over-estimation of self-reported exposure because of methodological limitations of the 
survey: First, the survey relies on self-reporting measures of exposure by asking recall 
questions, which induces the risk of recall-bias. Hence, where minors indicated that 
they recall having seen (alcohol) advertisements, it does not necessarily mean that 
the (alcohol) advertisement was actually provided. Second, no strict definition of 
advertisement was provided in the survey and therefore the reported exposure to 
alcohol advertising is subject to interpretation of what is perceived as ‘alcohol 
advertising’ by minors. For example, minors may have indicated that they recalled 
seeing an advertisement, whereas  in reality, they saw user-generated content rather 
than commercial communications produced by advertisers.  

  Over-estimation of exposure based on online data capture: in real life, people may use 
ad block software and/or nanny-tags in their browsers, and as a result not see any 
(alcohol) advertisement during their online activity. 

  Under-estimation of exposure based on online data capture because of several caveats 

in the methodology: For example, cookies were generated during two months of 
online activity, whereas minors will typically have a richer browser history than the 
profiles that were generated for the purpose of this study. In addition, the data 
capture had a limited focus and only generated activity on a computer, whereas 
minors typically use different devices to go online. Also, there was no spill-over 
between profiles, whereas in reality minors may share a device with adults; 

  Limited scope of the online data capture: as this part of the methodology was limited 
to a selection of YouTube channels and websites, it was difficult to draw conclusions 
with regard to the exposure on other popular online services, including Facebook, 
Instagram and Twitter. 

11   For ethical reasons, minors in the age group 4-8 were not asked questions on alcohol advertising, but 

rather on advertising in general and their online activity.  

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Because of the discrepancies in the results, it is difficult to draw overall conclusions with 
regard to the level of exposure of minors to alcohol advertising on non-linear AV media 
services and other online services. It can, however, be concluded that that self-reported 
exposure to alcohol advertising increases with age and online activity and that both the 
online services and the industry aim to ensure minimal exposure through the 
implementation of measures and self-regulation.  

Research Question 3: For audio-visual media services (both linear and non-
linear) and other online services, what type of alcohol advertising does an 
average minor see in the EU? Are minors specifically targeted by alcohol 
advertising? In how far is alcohol advertising appealing to minors and how? In 
particular, in how far do the provisions of the AVMSD and their application 
afford the required level of protection? 
The content analysis that has been conducted in order to answer Research Question 3 
started with the development of an analysis grid, containing two types of assessment 
criteria: the first being elements directly derived from article 22 of the AVMSD, and the 
second being criteria, which have been developed on the basis of literature reviews, to 
assess whether advertisements, in a more general sense, can be considered to be 
appealing to minors. One of the difficulties in defining these criteria is that most of the 
elements of advertising have general appeal, that is, they are likely to stimulate 
reactions in wider audiences, not only in one target group. On the basis of previous 
research on minors’ perceptions of alcohol advertising, it is possible to say that minors 
are likely to be appealed by, for instance, advertisements that utilise humour and music. 
However, these elements also attract adult viewers, and they are therefore widely used 
in advertising. This means that the content analysis, the grid and its subcategories are 
based on elements that - according to the existing research - are appealing to minors, 
but they are not necessarily specifically appealing to only minors. This being said, we 
included elements in the analysis grid that are relevant for minors in relation to alcohol. 

After pilot testing and peer reviewing the analysis grid, we applied the grid to a sample 
of 123 alcohol advertisements, of which 90 aired on television (short film inserts and 
sponsorship messages shown in relation to television programmes) and 33 online (in the 
form of banners) in the nine selected MS in 2013.  

It appeared that there is a wide variety of themes employed in the advertisements, the 
most typical ones being the association of alcohol with sociability and depicting drinking 
with humorous tone. The analysis revealed that 87% of the television advertisements 
and 63% of the online advertisements (banners) contained at least one element that can 
be considered to be appealing to minors. Despite the fact that the majority of the 
advertisements in the sample contained at least one element appealing to minors, this 
does not, as explained before, indicate that minors were specifically targeted.  

Existing literature shows that for minors, the most important context of using alcohol is 
partying and celebration, but only 17% of the advertisements in the sample portrayed 
this context. Animal characters – most likely to attract minors – were shown in 4% of 
the advertisements.  

Associations of social and sexual success, popularity, sociability and enjoyment with 
alcohol consumption are part of wider cultural representations of what drinking is about 
and these were also the most central themes in the advertisements. The advertisements 

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in the sample created a strong link between enjoyable social occasions, on the one 
hand, and alcohol, on the other, corresponding with general cultural representations of 
drinking with respect to adults and minors alike. Considering the role of sociability in the 
advertisements, and the high relevance of social relations and belonging to minors, it is 
plausible to say that alcohol advertising is likely to be appealing to under aged 
audiences.  

In addition, we found that 25% of the full sample of advertisements (37% of the 
television advertisements and none of the online advertisements) reflect at least one of 
the criteria described in AVMSD, although this does not necessarily constitute an 
infringement in itself. The provisions in the Directive refer to causal links between the 
product and its effects, which are, for the most part, the kinds of simple storylines that 
are mostly avoided in advertisement contents. The advertisements rarely suggested 
positive outcomes caused by the products. Rather, they were focused on associations 
that are possible to create within a few seconds (for example by portraying drinking 
among young, trendy people) and without highlighting causality (being attractive and 
socially successful is caused by consuming the product).  

The results of the content analysis are based on 123 linear and non-linear alcohol 
advertisements from nine EU MS. This is a small sample considering the total amount of 
advertisements appearing in all AV media services in the EU. In addition, the sample for 
non-linear and other online services was limited to online banners. As such, the results 
are not generalizable to all alcohol advertisements. However, the results are applicable 
for assessing the variety of themes and elements utilised by alcohol advertising and 
whether the marketing regulations and codes are clear enough to be followed. 

Recommendations for further research 
In order to gain more insight into the exposure of minors to alcohol advertising and to 
overcome several of the identified caveats, we recommend further research to: 
include other forms of advertising in the scope of the study, such as product 
 
placement; 

  analyse exposure over time through longitudinal studies. This could also be a way to 

 

analyse the effectiveness of newly introduced (self-) regulation; 
include viewing data for a larger sample of channels to allow for more detailed 
relative analyses, weighting average daily alcohol impacts by viewing ratings; 

  search for other ways to monitor the exposure on online services; e.g. by recruiting 

minors in MS and asking for their permission to monitor their activity on online 
services; 

  use focus groups or individual interviews rather than an online survey to study the 

perspective of viewers. This will help to overcome some of the limitations related to 
the method for measuring self-reported exposure. This is, however, a resource-
demanding approach; 
include adults in the sample that is surveyed in order to facilitate a comparison 
between self-reported exposure by minors and adults; 

 

  conduct a reception study involving minors in order to define the criteria for the 

content analysis in more detail. The analysis of minors’ perceptions of ambiguous 
contents of advertisements would help to determine, for instance, what they see as 
representations of social and sexual success. 

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1. Introduction 

This document contains the final report of the Study on the exposure of minors to 
alcohol advertising on linear and non-linear audio-visual media services and other online 
services, including a content analysis (SMART2013/0080). The research was 
commissioned by the European Commission, Directorate-General for Communications 
Networks, Content and Technology (DG Connect), in the context of the Framework 
Contract EAHC/2013/Health/01 – Lot 1 “Health Reports”. The research was conducted 
during January – December 2015 by the Consortium partners Ecorys and THL in close 
collaboration with the following subcontractors: CentERdata, GfK Belgium and individual 
experts in the field (Prof. Peter Anderson and Prof. David Jernigan). 

1.1.  Background 

Today’s media environment is very different from even less than a generation ago. The 
current generation of minors (i.e. individuals aged below 18) is sometimes referred to as 
the ‘digital generation’. In their use of audio-visual (AV) media services, both linear and 
non-linear as well as other online services, minors are exposed to commercial 
communications for a variety of goods and services, among which, alcoholic beverages.  

The relationship between alcohol marketing and youth drinking is receiving attention in 
research, prevention and policy. Since alcohol consumption by minors is an increasing 
concern in the world and in Europe in particular, specific attention is paid to the 
advertising and marketing of alcohol and its effects on under-aged drinking. 

In 2006 the European Union (EU) Alcohol Strategy was launched where, in order to 
reduce under-aged drinking and hazardous and harmful drinking, protection of minors 
was set to be a priority. A year later, the European Alcohol and Health Forum (EAHF) 
was established with two specific task forces: Task Force on Youth-Specific aspects of 
Alcohol and Task Force Marketing Communication. 

The Science Committee of the EAHF concluded in 2009 that ‘alcohol marketing increases 

the likelihood that adolescents will start to use alcohol and to drink more if they are 
already using alcohol’12.  

Protection of minors on audio-visual media services 
The need for the protection of minors on AV media services in the EU was already 
recognized and reflected in the 1989 Television Without Frontiers Directive13 (TWFD). 
The idea behind this Directive was to set up a Single Market for television broadcasting 
in Europe. Since then, the regulatory framework was revised and amended to take into 
account the technological changes at the same time upholding many of the previous 
regulations.  

12   Scientific Opinion of the Science Group of the European Alcohol and Health Forum (2009), Does marketing 
communication impact on the volume and patterns of consumption of alcoholic beverages, especially by 
young people? - a review of longitudinal studies, p.2. 

13   Council Directive 89/552/EEC of 3 October 1989 on the coordination of certain provisions laid down by 

Law, Regulation or Administrative Action in Member States concerning the pursuit of television 
broadcasting activities, 1989 OJ L 298, p. 23–30.  

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In 2007 the TWFD was renamed to Audiovisual Media Services Directive14 (AVMSD) and 
afterwards codified in 2010. Within the AVMSD, which should be transposed into the 
national regulation of the EU Member States, a particular issue of vulnerability of minors 
and their susceptibility to commercial announcements is addressed (see Box 1.1).  

Box 1.1 Provisions of the AVMSD regarding the protection of minors 

Article 9 (1) (e)  

Member States shall ensure that audiovisual commercial communications provided by 

media service providers under their jurisdiction comply with the following requirements: 

(…)  

(e) Audiovisual commercial communications for alcoholic beverages shall not be aimed 

specifically at minors and shall not encourage immoderate consumption of such 

beverages. 

Article 22  

Television advertising and teleshopping for alcoholic beverages shall comply with the 

following criteria: 

(a) it may not be aimed specifically at minors or, in particular, depict minors consuming 

these beverages;… 

The AVMSD makes a distinction between linear and non-linear AV media services: 

“…It is necessary, in order to avoid distortions of competition, improve legal certainty, help 

complete the internal market and facilitate the emergence of a single information area, 

that at least a basic tier of coordinated rules apply to all audiovisual media services, both 

television broadcasting (i.e. linear audiovisual media services) and on-demand 
audiovisual media services (i.e. non-linear audiovisual media services).”15 

Next to the EU regulatory framework and the national transpositions of the AVMSD, 
there is additional regulation on alcohol-related marketing and the protection of minors 
in place at the Member State level, as well as self-regulation at the company, sector, 
and industry level16.  

1.2.  Purpose of the study 

The first report on the application of the AVMSD17 was published on 4 May 2012. This 
report indicated that with regard to alcohol advertising, further investigations were 
necessary to assess, amongst other things, the exposure of minors to commercial 
communications for alcoholic beverages.  

14   Directive 2010/13/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 March 2010 on the coordination 
of certain provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative action in Member States concerning the 
provision of audiovisual media services (Audiovisual Media Services Directive), 2010 OJ L 95, p. 1–24.  
15   Directive 2010/13/EU of the European Parliament and the Council of 10 March 2010 on the coordination of 
certain provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative action in Member States concerning the 
provision of audio-visual media services (Audio-visual Media Services Directive), 2010 OJ L 95, p. 1–24.  

16   Chapter 5 provides more information on self-regulation.  
17   REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN 
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS First Report from the 
Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and 
the Committee of the Regions on the application of Directive 2010/13/EU "Audiovisual Media Service 
Directive" Audiovisual Media Services and Connected Devices: Past and Future Perspectives, /* 
COM/2012/0203 final */. 

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Against this background, the purpose of this study was to answer three research 
questions:  
1.  How much alcohol advertising does an average minor watching linear audio-visual 

media services in the EU see?  

2.  How much alcohol advertising does an average minor see on non-linear audio-visual 

media services and other online services in the EU? 

3.  For audio-visual media services (both linear and non-linear) and other online 

services, what type of alcohol advertising does an average minor see in the EU? Are 
minors specifically targeted by alcohol advertising? In how far is alcohol advertising 
appealing to minors and how? In particular, in how far do the provisions of the 
AVMSD and their application afford the required level of protection?  

The research questions, and therefore the study, go beyond the AVMSD. For example, 
this study covered online services (Research Question 2) that are not currently covered 
by the Directive (e.g. websites and social media). In addition, the content analysis 
(Research Question 3) did not only assess whether advertisements are specifically aimed 
at minors, but rather, it looked more broadly at what was actually shown in the 
advertisement and if this, from a broader perspective, could be considered appealing to 
minors.  

Finally, policy recommendations are not formulated as part of this study. It is at the 
discretion of both EU and national policy makers to translate the findings of the study 
into recommendations for policy and/or practice.  

1.3.  Reading guide 

Chapter 2 of this report provides an overview of the general approach, including a 
description of the scope of the study and the methodologies used to answer each 
research question. In Chapter 3 we present the results of the literature review on the 
exposure of minors to alcohol advertising on linear and non-linear AV media services 
and other online services. The findings with regard to the exposure of minors to alcohol 
advertising on linear AV media services (Research Question 1) are presented in Chapter 
4. Chapter 5 and 6 provide the results regarding the exposure of minors on non-linear 
AV media services and other online services from respectively the perspective of the 
advertisers and the perspective of the viewers (Research Question 2). The results of the 
content analysis (Research Question 3) are presented in Chapter 7. Finally, Chapter 8 
provides the main conclusions of the study and recommendation for further research.  

The annexes are presented in a separate document and include the following:  
  Annex A: Search strategy, inclusion criteria, and full references used in the 

literature review; 

  Annex B: Tabular overviews of the relevant literature; 
  Annex C: Country reports – analysis of GfK/Dentsu Aegis data;  
  Annex D: Channel list for the GfK/Dentsu Aegis spotlist data; 
  Annex E: Overview of the selected YouTube channels and websites for the online 

data capture; 

  Annex F: Questionnaires used in the survey;  
  Annex G: Survey results;  
  Annex H: Overview of the (sub)categories in the analysis grid; 

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  Annex I: Summary of the main points raised by the peer review panel; 
  Annex J: List of all advertisements included in the content analysis; 
  Annex K: List of organisations that participated in the stakeholder review;  
  Annex L: Summary of the main comments provided during the stakeholder review. 

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2. Approach and methodology 

In order to answer the three research questions, the following activities were conducted:  
  Literature review, with the aim to establish an overview of existing literature on the 

exposure of minors to alcohol advertising on linear and non-linear AV media services 
and other online services; 

  Development of the analysis grid for the content analysis based on 

o  Literature review; 
o  Pilot testing; and 
o  Validation by a peer review panel.  

  Data collection: 

o  WFA/Ebiquity data on global advertising impacts in 2013 for 23 Member 

States; 

o  GfK/Dentsu Aegis data, consisting of both viewing data and spotlists for 

alcohol advertising in 2013 for nine selected Member States; 
o  Online data capture on selected YouTube channels and websites; 
o  Desk research and enquiries to industry and online services; 
o  Survey among minors in nine selected Member States; and 
o  Selection of advertisements for the content analysis (advertisements on both 

linear and non linear AV media services and other online services).  

  Data analysis:  

o  Analysis of general viewing patterns in nine selected Member States in 2013;  
o  Analysis of the exposure of minors to alcohol advertising on linear AV media 

services in 2013: 

  Global breakdown of alcohol advertising spots and impacts for 23 

Member States; and 

  Detailed breakdown of alcohol advertising spots and impacts for nine 

selected Member States.  

o  Analysis of the exposure of minors to alcohol advertising on non-linear AV 

media services from the perspective of advertisers; 

o  Analysis of the exposure of minors to alcohol advertising on non-linear AV 

media services from the perspective of viewers; and 

o  Application of the analysis grid.  

  Stakeholder review, with the aim to receive feedback from relevant stakeholders on 

the preliminary findings. 

Figure 2.1 illustrates how the different activities are interlinked and which research 
questions they address.  

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Figure 2.1 Activities conducted 

Research Question 1
Linear AV media services

Research Question 2
Non-linear AV media services and other 
online services

Research Question 3
Content analysis

Literature review

Development + peer 
review of analysis grid 

WFA/Ebiquity 
dataset

GfK/Dentsu Aegis 
dataset

Perspective of 
advertisers

Perspective of 
viewers

Linear media 
services

Online services

Data 
collection

Data on global 
advertising 
impacts 
(2013, 
23 MS)

General 
viewing 
pattern data 
+alcohol 
advertising 
spotlist 
(2013, 
9 selected MS)

Online data 
capture +
Desk research + 
Enquiries to 
industry and 
online services

Survey among 
minors in 9 
selected MS

10 
advertisements 
per MS 
(2013, 9 
selected MS)

3 online 
banners per 
MS 
(2013, 
9 selected MS)

Data 
analysis

General 
viewing 
patterns

Exposure of 
minors to 
alcohol 
advertising

Exposure of 
minors to 
alcohol 
advertising –
perspective 
advertisers

Exposure of 
minors to 
alcohol 
advertising –
perspective 
viewers

Application of 
the analysis 
grid (including 
peer review)

Stakeholder review

Reporting

Note: MS = Member States.  

In the next sections of this Chapter we describe the scope of the study as well as the 
approach and methodology for each of the activities conducted.  

2.1.  Scope of the study 

Before outlining our approach per research question, it is important to define the scope 
of the study. To that end, this section provides the definitions used and makes clear that 
this study was focussed on the level of exposure rather than on the link between alcohol 
marketing and under-aged drinking. In addition, we outline the selection of Member 
States for the in-depth analysis and the years for which data were collected.  

Definitions 
Linear and non-linear AV media services and other online services 
For this study we used the definitions as provided in the AVMSD: 

“(e) ‘television broadcasting’ or ‘television broadcast’ (i.e. a linear audiovisual media service) 

means an audiovisual media service provided by a media service provider for simultaneous 

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viewing of programmes on the basis of a programme schedule; 

….. 

(g) ‘on-demand audiovisual media service’ (i.e. a non-linear audiovisual media service) means 

an audiovisual media service provided by a media service provider for the viewing of 

programmes at the moment chosen by the user and at his individual request on the basis of a 
catalogue of programmes selected by the media service provider.” 18 

For the purpose of this study, we defined ‘other online services’ as those online services 
that are currently not covered by the AVMSD, such as social media and websites.  

Minors 
For the purpose of this study, ‘minors’ were defined as ‘individuals aged below 18’. The 
AVMSD does not provide a clear definition of ‘minors’ and to facilitate comparison across 
Member States, it was decided to choose a uniform definition, that reflects the age of 
majority in most of the EU Member States.  

Alcohol advertising 
In this study, alcohol advertising was defined as commercial communications that are 
controlled by alcohol brand advertisers. This means that, by definition, user-generated 
content was not considered alcohol advertising for the purpose of this study.  

In the analysis of exposure to alcohol advertising on linear AV media services (Research 
Question 1), the following types of alcohol advertisements were included: 
  Television (TV) commercials for alcohol brands; and 
  TV sponsorship messages for alcohol brands.  

In the analysis of exposure to alcohol advertising on non-linear AV media services and 
other online services (Research Question 2), the following types of alcohol 
advertisements were included: 
  Banners; and 
  Advertising clips (e.g. pre-rolls and mid-rolls).  

Product placement is also a common form of advertising, both on linear and non-linear 
AV media services and other online services, but is beyond the scope this study. 

Focus on exposure to alcohol advertising 
The study was focused on the exposure of minors to alcohol advertising, that is, we 
investigated how much alcohol advertising minors saw on AV media services (Research 
Question 1 and Research Question 2) and the content of alcohol advertising (Research 
Question 3). The study did not aim to evaluate the effectiveness of the legislation and 
regulation related to the exposure.  

In addition, the relationship between the level of exposure and under-aged drinking is 
beyond the scope of the study. In the literature review, we included several studies 
investigating this relationship, but only if the study also measured exposure.  

18   Directive 2010/13/EU of the European Parliament and the Council of 10 March 2010 on the coordination of 
certain provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative action in Member States concerning the 
provision of audio-visual media services (Audio-visual Media Services Directive). 

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Focus on a selection of nine Member States 
The in-depth analysis in this study was focussed on nine Member States19. These 
Member States were selected on the basis of the following criteria:  
1.  Population size; 
2.  Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita; 
3.  The number of self- and co-regulations in place regarding alcohol marketing; 
4.  Forecasted advertising spending in 2014 as compared to 2013; 
5.  Confirmed data availability required for all tasks; 
6.  Geographic balance. 

First, we established a list containing Members States that were either in 
the top- or the bottom three for criteria 1-4 (e.g., the three Member 
States with the highest and the three Member States with the lowest 
number of inhabitants were included in this list). 

Thereafter, criteria 5 and 6 were used to reduce the list to a 
selection of nine Member States (marked dark blue on the 
map): 
  Austria (AT); 
  Czech Republic (CZ); 
  Finland (FI); 
  Germany (DE); 
Italy (IT); 
 
  Netherlands (NL); 
  Romania (RO); 
  Spain (ES); 
  United Kingdom (UK).  

Period for data collection 
The data for Research Question 1 and advertisements for Research Question 3 were 
collected for the year 2013. The reason is that at the time of the data collection for 
Research Question 1, data on 2014 was not yet available and for consistency reasons, 
the data collection period for research question 3 was also set at 2013.  

The data for Research Question 2 is collected through written enquiries, online data 
capture and a survey in the period May-September 2015.  

2.2.  Literature review 

The literature was carefully reviewed with the objective to establish an overview of the 
relevant studies that have been conducted and their findings with regard to the 
exposure of minors to alcohol advertising on linear and non-linear audio-visual media 
services and other online services.  

In addition, the literature review focused on identifying which features make alcohol 

19   One part of the analysis has a broader (geographical) scope: the WFA/Ebiquity dataset contains data for a 
total of 23 Member States (including the nine selected Members States) and hence the analysis of that 
dataset covers 23 Member State. See section 2.4.2. for more information on this. 

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advertising appealing to minors (input for Research Question 3)20.  

Selection of studies 
To identify relevant publications, we used a structured search strategy and inclusion 
criteria. The search strategy and inclusion criteria were validated by the experts in our 
project team (Prof. Peter Anderson and Prof. David Jernigan). Relevant articles were 
identified by means of a search of the bibliographical databases PubMed and Google 
Scholar. First, PubMed was searched using MeSH terms and thereafter two reviewers 
independently scanned the titles and abstracts of the identified publications. Relevant 
publications were first selected for light reading, after which full texts were obtained. In 
addition, a search using key words was conducted in Google Scholar and the titles and 
abstracts for the publications on the first four pages of results were scanned. After 
removing duplicates, relevant publications were selected for light reading.  

In Annex A (separate document) we provide our full search strategy, the inclusion 
criteria used, and the full references of the publications that were included in the review. 

Presenting the results of the review 
For each part of the review, we made an overview table of relevant studies that were 
identified. These tabular overviews are presented in Annex B (separate document) and 
include information on: 
  the geographical zone where the study was conducted; 
  the purpose of the study; 
  the methodology used; 
  the main findings with regard to:  

o  exposure of minors to alcohol advertising; and 
o 
o  what appeals to minors in alcohol advertising.  

the effect(s) of exposure to alcohol advertising on youth drinking; or 

  Declared interests and funding.  

In Chapter 3 we present a summary of the main results of the literature review. 

2.3.  Approach for Research Question 1 

Research Question 1: How much alcohol advertising does an average minor 
watching linear audio-visual media services in the EU see? 

For Research Question 1 we collected data from two sources: 
  GfK/Dentsu Aegis data, consisting of both viewing data and spotlists for alcohol 

advertising for the nine selected Member States for 2013; and 

  The WFA/Ebiquity dataset, which contains information on global advertising impacts21 

for 23 Member States for 2013.  

In the next sections we describe these datasets in more detail as well as the analysis 
conducted. 

20   One of the activities conducted in developing the analysis grid for the content analysis was a broader 

review of the literature. The publications to support the development of the analysis grid are discussed in 
Annex H (separate document). 

21   Impact is a measure of how often a spot is viewed: it yields the absolute number of times a spot was seen 

over a given timeframe. This is also referred to as the number of impressions. 

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2.3.1.  GfK/Dentsu Aegis data 
The GFK/Dentsu Aegis data consisted of: 
  general viewing pattern data (by hourly timeslot); and 
 

spotlist data measuring advertising impacts. 

Both the general viewing pattern data and the spotlists were collected for each of the 
nine selected Member States and cover the full 24 hours during the full year 2013. 

The data have been collected as follows. In each of the selected Member States there is 
an audience panel, which is a representative sample of the population. This panel owns 
a box that is connected to their TV and records all activities related to the use of the TV 
screen. When a person wants to watch TV, he or she must first describe himself with a 
special remote. This allows the box to know who is watching TV. The box will then 
record which channels, programs, advertising spots, etcetera, the person is watching. It 
also records when and how long the viewer watches TV. All the data are then collected 
by an independent organisation. Every night, the data are checked and extrapolated to 
the total population and after that, it is sent to media agencies and TV sales houses.  

For the purpose of this study, agencies in all selected Member States were asked to fill 
in a template with local figures. For some Member States these templates were filled in 
automatically and for others manually. The presentation of the figures differed across 
Member States and GfK therefore reorganised the data, such that it was all structured in 
a similar way.  

Description of the data 
Age groups 
To allow for comparisons between minors and adults, both the viewing data and the 
spotlists provided a breakdown by age group. The category of minors was split into two 
age groups: 4-14 year olds and 15-17 year olds. These age groups were chosen to 
ensure representativeness of the age groups within the sample of collected data for 
2013. Next to the two age groups for minors, the data also provided a breakdown for 
adults. Hence, the GfK/Dentsu Aegis data was analysed for three age groups:  
  4-14 year olds; 
  15-17 year olds; 
  18+. 

Table 2.1 lists the universes per age group, that is, the total number of people per age 
group, in the GfK/Dentsu Aegis data. 

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Table 2.1 Universes per age group, GfK/Dentsu Aegis data 

4 – 14 universe 

15 – 17 universe 

18+ universe 

(*1,000) 

(*1,000) 

(*1,000) 

Austria 

885 

Czech Republic  1,098 

Finland 

Germany 

Italy 

Netherlands 

Romania 

Spain 

United 

Kingdom 

723 

7,167 

6,185 

2,202 

2,194 

4,975 

7,731 

298 

278 

178 

2,593 

1,706 

615 

579 

1,344 

2,219 

6,669 

8,428 

4,247 

61,468 

49,958 

12,738 

16,196 

37,027 

46,387 

Sample of channels 
The general viewing pattern data covers a selected sample of channels in each Member 
State, including at least one channel specifically targeted at children. The samples of 
channels have a coverage of at least 70% monthly reach, which means that in each 
Member State, these channels were viewed by at least 70% of the population a month in 
2013. Because the cumulative audience shares of the samples differ between Member 
States, cross-country comparisons should be made with caution22.  

The spotlists include a more extensive selection of channels compared to the general 
viewing pattern data. Channels that do not include alcohol advertising are not included 
in this selection23.   

Metrics 
The general viewing pattern data reports the rating per hourly timeslot expressed in 
both thousands and in percentages. The rating was calculated as follows:  
 

in thousands (rat000): the reach (that is, the proportion of the target group who was 
viewing) weighted by the Average Time Spent (that is, the amount of time watched 
per individual); and 
in percentages (rat%): the rat000 for a specific target group divided by the universe 
of that target group. 

 

The rating per hourly timeslot can be interpreted as the audience in absolute terms 
(rat000) or as percentage of the target group (rat%) during that hour. 

The GfK/Dentsu Aegis spotlist data measure alcohol advertising impacts in Gross Rating 
Points (GRP), both in thousands and in percentages. The GRP were calculated as follows:  
 

in thousands (GRP(000)): the absolute number of times an advertising spot was 
seen, which is also referred to as the ‘gross impressions’ of an advertising spot24; and 
in percentages (GRP%): the gross impressions of an advertising spot in a specific 
target group divided by the universe of that target group. 

 

22   The cumulative audience shares of the samples of channels for the full year 2013 are reported in the 

country reports in Annex C (separate document).  

23   For a complete overview of the channels included in the spotlist dataset, please refer to Annex D (separate 

document).  

24   It is called ‘gross impressions’ as it includes multiple exposures for some or all of the people that are 

exposed to an advertising spot. For example, if five people see an advertising spot two times, this counts 
as 10 gross impressions.  

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The GRP can be interpreted as the total number of times an advertising spot was seen in 
either absolute terms (GRP(000)) or as a percentage of the target group (GRP%). 
Hence, GRP measure the exposure to alcohol advertising, which is referred to as ‘alcohol 
impacts’ throughout this report.  

Analysis 
The aim of the analysis of the GfK/Dentsu Aegis data was to provide: 
  an overview of general viewing patterns broken down by age, time slots and channel 

(categories); and  

  a global and detailed breakdown of advertising impacts by age groups and channel 

(categories). 

To that end, the following analyses were conducted: 
  For the general viewing pattern data, per age group: 

o  Breakdown by day part; 
o  Breakdown by hourly timeslots; 
o  Breakdown by channel categories: 

  Type of channel: public or commercial; 
  Channel’s target group: children or general. 

o  Breakdown by individual channels.  

  For the spotlist data: 

o  Breakdown of the number of advertising spots by: 

  Sector; 
  Channel categories: 

  Genre (e.g. generalist, music, news, sports); and 
  Type of channel: public or commercial.  

 

Individual channels. 

o  Global breakdown of alcohol advertising impacts by: 

  Sector; 
  Channel categories: 

  Genre (e.g. generalist, music, news, sports); and 
  Type of channel: public or commercial.  

Individual channels;  

 
  Age groups. 

  Detailed breakdown of the number of alcohol advertising impacts per age group by:  

o  Day part (total impact per day part); 
o  Hourly timeslot; 
o  Weekday; 
o  Sector; 
o  Channel category. 

The results of the literature review indicate that the proposed breakdowns are in line 
with those used in other studies that analyse similar data.  

Next, we analysed if differences in viewing patterns may explain the difference in the 
level of exposure to alcohol advertising between minors and adults. To that end, we 
weighted the absolute daily average alcohol impacts by the average daily viewing rates 
per age group. We also applied a weighting based on the average viewing rates per age 
group for a subset of channels, namely those channels that include alcohol advertising. 
To facilitate the weighting, this part of the analysis was conducted only for the channels 

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included in the viewing data sample.  

All analyses were conducted for the individual Member States and, where possible and 
relevant, for all selected Member States together. The analyses were performed in Stata 
(version 13.1).  

In sections 4.2 and 4.3 (Chapter 4) we report the preliminary results of the analysis of 
the GfK/Dentsu Aegis data, while more detailed per Member State results are available 
in Annex C (separate document).  

2.3.2.  WFA/Ebiquity dataset 
Description of the data 
The WFA/Ebiquity dataset was compiled by the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) 
and audited by Ebiquity. The sources of this data set are the standard currency national 
TV audience data as collected by third party research agencies appointed by local Joint 
Industry Committees or TV Associations. 

Next to the nine Member States selected for this study (marked dark 
blue on the map), the data set covers an additional 14 Member 
States (marked light blue on the map): 
  Belgium (BE); 
  Bulgaria (BG); 
  Croatia (HR); 
  Denmark (DK); 
  Estonia (EE); 
  Greece (EL); 
  Hungary (HU); 
Ireland (IE); 
 
  Latvia (LV); 
  Lithuania (LT); 
  Poland (PL); 
  Portugal (PT); 
  Slovakia (SK); 
  Slovenia (SI). 

The WFA/Ebiquity dataset provides information on:  

  Total national alcohol advertising impacts25 for people of or older than the Legal 
Purchasing Age (LPA)26 and sub-totals for certain alcohol categories as locally 
defined; 

  Total national alcohol advertising Impacts for under-LPA, and subtotals for the 

categories mentioned above; 

  Total national impacts for people of or older than the LPA; 
  Total national impacts for under-LPA. 

The data covers the full year 2013.  

Table 2.2 lists the LPA and under-LPA universes, that is, the total number of people per 
target group, for the WFA/Ebiquity dataset.  

25   Impact is measured as total 30 second exposures. 
26   The LPA that was applicable on 1 January 2013. 

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Table 2.2 Under-LPA and LPA universes in WFA/Ebiquity dataset 

Member State 

Under-LPA universe (*1,000) 

LPA universe (*1,000) 

Austria 

Belgium 

Bulgaria 

Croatia 

1,182 

1,725 

828 

622 

Czech Republic 

1,466 

Denmark  

Estonia 

Finland 

Germany 

Greece 

Hungary 

Ireland 

Italy 

Latvia 

Lithuania 

Netherlands 

Poland 

Portugal * 

Romania 

Slovakia  

Slovenia 

Spain 

861 

200 

834 

9,757 

1,454 

1,322 

873 

7,908 

302 

438 

2,857 

5,431 

1,121 

2,794 

815 

250 

6,413 

6,669 

8,616 

6,128 

3,468 

8,632 

4,464 

1,078 

4,297 

61,470 

8,669 

7,858 

3,229 

49,973 

1,711 

2,444 

12,929 

30,314 

8,564 

16,228 

4,275 

1,704 

37,582 

UK 
10,029 
Data source: WFA/Ebiquity dataset. 
* Note in dataset: for Portugal only the age breaks 4-14 and 15 years+ are available due to market sample 
size restrictions.  

47,747 

Next to the data, we also received a document with information on the channels that 
were monitored in each Member State 27.  

Differences between GfK/Dentsu Aegis data and WFA/Ebiquity data 
There are some differences between the GfK/Dentsu Aegis data and the WFA/Ebiquity 
data that need to be taken into account when comparing the findings based on these 
datasets. The differences concern the breakdown in age groups, the definition of sectors, 
and the included TV channels.  

The main difference between the datasets is that where the GfK/Dentsu Aegis dataset 
reports the results for three different age groups that are uniform across Member States 
(4-14, 15-17, 18+), the WFA/Ebiquity dataset distinguishes between two groups based 
on the LPA, which results in differences in age brackets between Member States (and 
sometimes between sectors within a Member State). Table 2.3 provides an overview of 
the LPA in 2013 in each of the Member States in the WFA/Ebiquity dataset.  

27   IP Network data (2014). “European Union TV Landscapes & Audience Shares”. 

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Table 2.3 LPA in 2013 in the 23 Member States included in the WFA/Ebiquity dataset 

Member State 

Beer and wine 

Austria* 

Belgium 

Bulgaria 

Croatia 

Czech Republic 

Denmark ** 

Estonia 

Finland*** 

Germany 

Greece 

Hungary 

Ireland 

Italy 

Latvia 

Lithuania 

Netherlands 

Poland 

Portugal  

Romania 

Slovakia  

Slovenia 

Spain**** 

16 

16 

18 

18 

18 

16/18 

18 

18 

16 

18 

18 

18 

18 

18 

18 

16 

18 

16 

18 

18 

18 

Spirits 

16/18 

18 

18 

18 

18 

18 

18 

20/18 

18 

18 

18 

18 

18 

18 

18 

18 

18 

18 

18 

18 

18 

16/18 

16/18 

UK 
*For spirits, the LPA differs between regions, ** For beer and wine, the LPA off premises is 16 and the LPA on 
premises is 18. 
*** For spirits, the LPA off premises is 20 and the LPA on premises is 18, ****Some autonomous regions have 
a LPA of 16 years. 
Source: European Alcohol Policy Alliance (2014), Alcohol Purchase Age Limits in Europe, page 11.  

18 

18 

Next to the differences in the age groups, there are minor differences in the definition of 
what is included in each of the sectors (i.e. beer, wine, spirits, other). The definitions of 
the sectors as used per Member State in the GfK/Dentsu Aegis data are reported in the 
country reports in Annex C (separate document).  

Finally, the channels that are included in the datasets differ: the WFA/Ebiquity dataset 
covers slightly more channels than the GfK/Dentsu Aegis data.  

Analysis 
The aim of the analysis of the WFA/Ebiquity dataset was to assess the exposure of 
minors to alcohol advertising and to compare this to:  
 
 

the exposure of adults (LPA audience) to alcohol advertising; and to 
the exposure of minors (under-LPA audience) to total advertising. 

Before analysing the advertising impacts, the number of spots was considered in order 
to assess: 
 
 

the number of total market spots per Member States; 
the number of alcohol spots per Member State; 

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 

 

the number of alcohol spots as a proportion of the number of total market spots per 
Member State; 
the number of alcohol spots per sector, per Member State. 

Next, the exposure of both minors and adults to advertising was analysed, by assessing:  
  With regard to total market exposure: 
o  Exposure per audience group; 
o  Exposure of minors (under-LPA audience) as a percentage of total exposure. 

  With regard to exposure to alcohol advertising: 

o  Exposure per average individual per audience group;  
o  Exposure to alcohol brands as a percentage of total market exposure, by age 

group; 

o  Exposure of minors (under-LPA audience) as a percentage of total exposure to 

alcohol brands; 

o  Shares of exposure to alcohol brands by sector (beer, wine, spirits, other), 

both for the total universe and per age group.  

Because of the aggregated nature of the data provided, we could only analyse a global 
breakdown of (alcohol) impacts.   

The results of the analysis of the WFA/Ebiquity dataset are presented in section 4.3 
(Chapter 4).  

2.4.  Approach for Research Question 2 

Research Question 2: How much alcohol advertising does an average minor 
see on non-linear audio-visual media services and other online services in 
the EU? 

In answering Research Question 2 we were asked to consider both the perspective of the 
advertisers as well as the perspective of the viewers. Below, we present our approach 
for each perspective.  

2.4.1.  Perspective of the advertisers 
In order to establish an overview of the (potential for) online exposure of minors to 
alcohol advertising from the perspective of the advertisers, data and information was 
collected through a combination of desk research, enquiries to selected online services, 
enquiries to the industry, and online data captures for selected YouTube channels and 
websites. The qualitative approach focussed mainly on online services for which users 
need to log-in, while the online data capture focussed on situations where users are not 
logged-in, and thus age cannot be verified.  

Initially, the plan was to also include Facebook, Instagram and Twitter in the online data 
capture. However, after further review of Facebook’s and Twitter’s Terms and 
Conditions, it turned out that prior permission was needed. It was therefore decided that 
before starting the online data capture on these channels, formal approval needed to be 
sought from these online services. The requests for approval of the suggested approach 
were submitted to Facebook and Twitter. Both Twitter and Facebook replied that they 

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were unable to grant approval for this approach, because the creation of fake profiles 
breaches their terms and conditions. Therefore we used a more qualitative approach, 
based on desk research and enquiries to online services, to analysing the risks for 
exposure of minors to alcohol advertising on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter . 

Desk research and enquiries to selected online services 
Based on the desk research and enquiries to selected online services we created an 
overview of the measures that online services have in place to help advertisers to 
advertise their products responsibly and in compliance with all applicable laws and 
regulations and thereby, to restrict the exposure of minors to alcohol advertising. This 
overview includes the age-mechanisms (including age-registration and age-verification) 
and advertising policies of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.  

Enquiries to the industry 
A short questionnaire was sent out to 12 industry members and three trade associations 
in order to gain a better understanding of: 
  why certain online services are used more for advertising purposes than others; and  
  which self-regulation initiatives industry members apply to protect minors from the 

exposure to alcohol advertising online. 

The first part of the questionnaire focussed on the use of online services for advertising 
purposes. To that end, the industry members were asked to fill in the following table:  

Table 2.4 Enquiries to the industry – question on the relative use of online services 

Online service 

Relative use  

Explanation 

(1=“most used”, 2=“second most used”, etc.)  

Facebook 

Twitter 

YouTube 

Instagram 

Pinterest 

Tumblr 

Online gaming 

platforms 

Other, namely … 

In addition, respondents were asked if they would like to provide any additional 
information with regard to their use of online marketing channels as well as the self-
regulation initiatives that they apply to protect minors from the exposure to alcohol 
advertising online.  

In Section 5.3 (Chapter 5) we present a summary of the responses to this questionnaire.  

Online data capture on selected YouTube channels and websites 
To assess what type of advertisements are served to specific audiences, data captures 
on YouTube and websites were conducted for profiles of minors (male and female) and 
adults (male and female) in all nine selected Member States.  

The channels and websites were selected to present a mix of genres (music, beauty, 
games, etc.) and online activities (e.g. video streaming, playing games, sending e-mails, 

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etcetera28). For a complete overview of the YouTube channels and websites that have 
been monitored, we refer to Annex E (separate document).  

In the next subsections we outline the approach for the data capture on YouTube and 
selected websites and the preparation of the data files. The results of the capture are 
presented in section 5.4 (Chapter 5).  

YouTube data capture 
A list of popular YouTube channels was compiled for each selected Member State, 
gender and age category using information collected from sites such as SocialBlade and 
TrendsDashboard29.  

This information was then fed in to the data capture tool “EcoSim”. Over a period of two 
months (May and June 2015), the EcoSim tool was used to automate the activity of 
visiting and viewing YouTube videos. This resulted in the production of 1,319 screen 
capture videos, containing approximately 109 hours of video footage. The data capture 
footage mainly included short clips (averaging five minutes) allowing us to capture 
advertising content that appeared at the start of a video (pre-rolls), however the footage 
also included longer clips (up to 20 minutes) allowing us to capture mid-rolls. 

The scheduling facility within the EcoSim tool enabled varying the times of the data 
capture ensuring a good mix of time slots (weekdays, weekends, mornings, afternoons, 
evenings and overnight). 

During the early stages of testing, it was observed that when attempting to monitor 
Youtube channels in a different Member State then the Member State where the actual 
monitoring took place (i.e. the UK), the profile was automatically re-directed to the UK 
version of YouTube. This was due to YouTube’s geolocation detection where YouTube 
attempts to direct you to appropriate language/country part of its site based on the 
geographic location of your Internet Protocol (IP) address. In order to overcome this, 
subscriptions for two commercial proxy providers (FoxyProxy and HideMyAss) were 
purchased. This solution allowed for simulation of internet browsing from all nine 
selected Member States. 

Functionality was built into EcoSim tool in order facilitate profile selection within Chrome 
and Firefox before starting each data capture. This was to guard against the risk of 
“spillovers” between profiles, where results from one profile were influenced by 
remaining cookies or other tracking tools from another profile30. This technique enabled 
the building of a rich browsing history for a particular profile type (e.g. UK, girl, aged 

28   The categories of online activities are the same as those used in the survey amongst minors, that has 

been conducted as part of this study. 

29   Full list of sources: 

http://socialblade.com/youtube/top/country/GB/mostsubscribed; 
https://www.youtube.com/trendsdashboard; 
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/blog/12-best-youtube-channels-for-kids-and-teens; 
http://vidstatsx.com/; 
http://quib.ly/qu/should-we-be-worried-about-the-minecraft-videos-our-kids-watch; 
http://www.buzzfeed.com/alanwhite/how-the-slow-mo-guys-took-over-youtube#.ddm964j7G; 
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/blog/the-10-best-kid-friendly-minecraft-channels-on-youtube. 
30   Although in reality there may be spillovers between browsing histories of different people (because devices 
are shared with others) this possibility was eliminated from the used approach as this part of the study 
concerns the perspective of advertisers and therefore the aim was to see what advertisements are served 
when it can be inferred that the user is a minor.  

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14), increasing the likelihood of advertising content targeting this particular profile type. 

Website data capture 
A list of popular websites was compiled for each selected Member State, gender and age 
category using information collected from sites such as SimilarWeb and Quantcast. 

Next, for each website a list was compiled of up to five popular Uniform Resource 
Locators (URLs) that could be visited during the data capture31. This information was 
then fed in to the data capture tool “EcoSim”. Over a period of two months (May and 
June 2015), the EcoSim tool was used to automate the activity of visiting and interacting 
with a website. A web automation tool (Selenium) was used to simulate the user 
scrolling up and down on a webpage. This resulted in the production of 950 screen 
capture videos, containing approximately 47 hours of video footage. 

The scheduling facility within the EcoSim tool enabled the varying of the times of the 
data capture ensuring a good mix of time slots (weekdays, weekends, mornings, 
afternoons, evenings and overnight). 

Prior to the second month of data capture, the selection of website lists was further 
refined, removing sites which did not feature advertising content during the first month 
of monitoring and, where data was available, replaced these removed websites with 
other websites. 

Preparation of data files 
Data files collected from the YouTube and Website data captures were checked and 
validated and then uploaded to a Microsoft OneDrive cloud storage area for review. For 
each batch of files uploaded an accompanying worksheet was created containing key 
information about each data capture file (i.e. Member State, platform, age category, 
genre, website URL/name of YouTube channel, date and time of capture, length of video, 
etc.).  

Review of the online data capture files 
The data files from the YouTube and Website data captures were reviewed and coded by 
one researcher, to ensure consistency in coding. This reviewing has been done in 
separate batches for each platform, in each month, per Member State.  

As mentioned, each batch of data files was accompanied by a worksheet containing a 
separate record for each individual data capture. All these worksheets have been 
combined in one analysis worksheet with boxes separating the different Member States 
and analysed platforms. In the analysis sheets, columns were added to count the 
number of pre-rolls, mid-rolls and banners in each capture32. Only these three types of 
advertisements were coded: the contents of the YouTube clips were not analysed for 
other types of marketing such as product placement.  

31   For example: http://www.dailymotion.com/gb/channel/fun, 

http://www.dailymotion.com/gb/channel/shortfilms, http://www.dailymotion.com/gb/channel/news, 
http://www.dailymotion.com/gb/channel/sport). 

32   These different types of advertisement are elaborated on in Chapter 5.  

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2.4.2.  Perspective of the viewers 
For analysis from the perspective of the viewers, data was collected through a one-time 
survey amongst minors in each selected Member State. The sample of minors for the 
survey was drawn from members of GfK’s online panels in each of these Member States. 
The survey employed a Computer Assisted Web Interviewing (CAWI) methodology33. All 
questionnaires complied with ESOMAR codes and guidelines on interviewing minors34.  

The fieldwork took place between mid-June and mid-July 2015.  

Age groups 
The following age groups were used for this part of the study: 
  4 - 8 years; 
  9 - 13 years; 
  14 - 17 years. 

Quota 
The quota for this survey was set for 900 minors in each of the nine Member States 
(quota for total sample = 8,100 minors). The sample quota within each Member State 
was set for all three age groups in proportion of minors in the population in each of 
these groups35. In addition, the quota per Member State was also set on gender to 
ensure a balance in respondents.  

Developing the questionnaires 
Due to the large differences in the ability of 4-17 year olds to answer question items, 
two different questionnaires were developed: one targeting the youngest age group and 
one targeting the older two age groups. Certain (simple) questions regarding the online 
activity of the respondents are asked in both questionnaires giving us data that covers 
all ages. Other question items are targeted at the specific age groups according to their 
differing abilities. In addition, because of ethical concerns, it was decided that the 
questionnaire for the youngest age groups should not include questions on alcohol 
advertising36. Rather, the exposure of the 4-8 year olds to alcohol online advertisement 
from the perspective of viewers was estimated using a qualitative approach, based on 
the results for the older groups on the relationship between online activity and 
(perceived) exposure (see also the subsection ‘Analysis’). 

The youngest age group were questioned via their parents. At the end of the 
questionnaire they were asked to indicate if the parent filled in the questionnaire 
together with their child or by themselves on behalf of their child. For the oldest two age 
groups we expected the minors to fill in the questionnaire themselves. At the end of the 
questionnaire they were asked to indicate if they received help and from whom. This 
allowed us to take the help minors received into account in the analysis.  

33   The CAWI methodology is an Internet surveying technique. 
34   See: http://www.esomar.org/uploads/public/knowledge-and-standards/codes-and-

guidelines/ESOMAR_Codes-and-Guidelines_Interviewing-Children-and-Young-People.pdf.  
ESOMAR defines a “child” as “aged 13 or under”, and a “young person” as “aged 14-17”. 

35   Figures on population size per age group obtained from Eurostat. 
36   However, a question on advertising in general was included.  

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The questionnaire consisted of four ‘chapters’ of questions that are in line with those 
used in other studies: 
  Online activity (all age groups); 
  Details on online activity (partly for all age groups, partly only for age groups 9-13 

and 14-17);  

  Awareness of (alcohol) advertising37 (full chapter for age groups 9-13 and 14-17 and 

one question on advertising in general for the youngest age group); 

  Memory for alcohol advertising (asking minors if they can describe the latest alcohol 

advertisement(s) they saw online) (age groups 9-13, 14-17).  

No actual alcohol advertisements were shown in the questionnaires.  

After the questionnaires were scripted, they were tested by the project team. As a result 
of this testing, several final changes were made and after that, the survey was 
launched.  

The final versions of the questionnaires are presented in Annex F (separate document).  

Analysis 
The analysis of the survey results was conducted for the total sample as well as for the 
individual Member States. Results per question are presented both in total and split by 
age group.  

The analysis was performed in Stata (version 13.1) and focussed on descriptives of the 
survey results as well as testing the relationship between online activity and alcohol 
advertisement recall. In reporting the results in Chapter 6, the findings on (detailed) 
online activity are used to set the scene for the analysis of self-reported exposure of 
minors to alcohol advertising online and serve as an input for testing the relation 
between online activity and  self-reported exposure.   

In order to estimate the exposure to alcohol advertising of the youngest age group from 
the perspective of viewers, we considered conducting a quantitative extrapolation of the 
results of the older age groups. However, in the end we decided to use a qualitative 
rather than a quantitative approach for this for the following reasons: 
  In a quantitative extrapolation we would predict the outcome (memory for alcohol 

advertising) for the youngest age group based on only two observations (relationship 
between online activity and memory for alcohol advertising among minors aged 9-13 
[observation 1] and among minors aged 14-17 [observation 2]). This number of 
observations is clearly insufficient for a robust quantitative extrapolation; 

  The predicted memory level for alcohol advertising among the youngest age group will 

not be very reliable, because it will be based on the very strong (and incorrect) 
assumption that these age groups are in fact fully comparable. In particular, 
extrapolation would assume that if the three groups would be exposed to the exact 
same advertisement (on the same site/app), the probability that they will recall it 
afterwards is the same across the three groups. This assumption should be considered 
unlikely to hold true.  

37   Minors were not given a detailed definition of what was considered advertising in these questions, hence 

the results refer to what is perceived as advertisement.  

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2.5.  Approach for Research Question 3 

Research Question 3: For audio-visual media services (both linear and non-
linear) and other online services, what type of alcohol advertising does an 
average minor see in the EU? Are minors specifically targeted by alcohol 
advertising? In how far is alcohol advertising appealing to minors and how? 
In particular, in how far do the provisions of the AVMSD and their application 
afford the required level of protection? 

Research Question 3 focusses on the content of alcohol advertising on AV media services 
(both linear and non-linear) and other online services, in the nine selected EU Member 
States. More specifically, it considers what type of alcohol advertising an average minor 
sees, if minors are specifically targeted by alcohol advertising and to what extent alcohol 
advertising is appealing to minors and in what way. Hence, the analysis not only 
considered if the advertisements were specifically aimed at minors, but takes a broader 
perspective and analysed what is actually shown in the advertisements, and if this can 
be considered appealing to minors. This does not reflect any judgement on the presence 
of certain elements, but rather describes the content of the analysed advertisements.  

For the purpose of the content analysis, the following activities have been undertaken: 
  Development and validation of the analysis grid; 
  Collecting advertisement for the content analysis; 
  Application of the analysis grid. 

2.5.1.  Development of the analysis grid 
In order to perform the content analysis, we developed an analysis grid based on: 
 
 
 
 
  pilot testing.  

the previously used grid by GfK AUDIMETRIE; 
the articles 9 (1) and 22 a-f AVMSD;  
review literature on marketing, public health and under-aged drinking38; 
theoretical and methodological discussions among the project team; and 

The analysis grid has been validated by a peer review panel. 

The analysis grid is a tool for assessing:  
  whether the content of alcohol advertising reflects the above-mentioned articles of 

the AVMSD; and 

  whether advertisements, in a more general sense, can be considered to be appealing 

to minors.  

According to the Article 9(1) e AVMSD, the Member States shall ensure that AV 
communications in media comply with following requirements: 

(e) Audio-visual commercial communications for alcoholic beverages shall not be 
aimed specifically at minors and shall not encourage of immoderate consumption 
of such beverages. 

38   For an overview of the results of the review of this literature, please refer to Annex H (seperate document).  

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According to the Article 22 AVMSD, television advertising and teleshopping for alcoholic 
beverages shall comply with the following criteria: 

(a) it may not be aimed specifically at minors or, in particular, depict minors 
consuming these beverages; 
(b) it shall not link the consumption of alcohol to enhanced physical performance 
or to driving; 
(c) it shall not create the impression that the consumption of alcohol contributes 
towards social or sexual success; 
(d) it shall not claim that alcohol has therapeutic qualities or that it is a 
stimulant, a sedative or a means of resolving personal conflicts; 
(e) it shall not encourage immoderate consumption of alcohol or present 
abstinence or moderation in a negative light; 
(f) it shall not place emphasis on high alcoholic content as being a positive quality 
of the beverages. 

The starting point of our work was the analysis grid developed by GfK AUDIMETRIE for 
the purpose of assessing whether the rules of the AVMSD had been able to sustain the 
required level of protection. As our study not only considers the provisions of the 
AVMSD, but also aims to evaluate the ways in which the advertisements are appealing 
to minors, existing research on marketing, communication and under-aged drinking was 
used extensively to identify the elements that have been shown to attract minors in 
advertising and, more generally, in substance use. In Annex H (separate document) we 
provide a description of these elements, supported by references to relevant literature 
on this topic.  

The analysis grid is a theoretical model; it is not based on an inductive analysis of actual 
contents of alcohol advertisements, but rather, it points out elements that reflect the 
AVMSD criteria, or would potentially be appealing to minors according to existing 
scientific literature. The grid was thus established prior to the analysis, although alcohol 
advertisements were actively utilised during its development.  

Pilot testing 
The grid has been piloted twice. First, one (cider) advertisement was evaluated in-depth 
using the analysis grid. On the basis of this pilot, the basic theoretical stances were 
discussed thoroughly. The sub-categories were defined accordingly and made more 
precise. In the second test eight advertisements (six for beer and two for cider) were 
evaluated by project team members, including those who were to conduct the actual 
coding. All these team members coded the advertisements independently and after that 
discussed the sub-categories in order to reach a consensus. The outcome was that the 
sub-categories and descriptions were again further refined. 

Peer review 
The analysis grid has been reviewed and validated by a peer review panel of five 
members: Dr. Mark Grindle (University of Stirling), Professor Juan Miguel Rey Pino 
(University of Granada), Professor Karine Gallopel-Morvan (School of Public Health 
(EHESP), Professor Martin Stafström (Lund University) and Professor Bas van den Putte 
(University of Amsterdam). The panel received the full report on the analysis grid, 
including the description of the task and the development process, and the justification 
for the criteria. In addition, the panel members received an assessment form with 
specific questions regarding the analysis grid and supporting material. The overall 

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response by the reviewers was positive, but several concerns were raised especially 
relating to the ways in which minors are actually targeted in advertisements and how 
the age of key protagonists should be assessed. The comments and suggestions made 
were discussed within the project team and were taken into account as accurately as 
possible when preparing the new version of the grid. For a summary of the main points 
raised by the peer review panel, please see Annex I (separate document).  

Categories and subcategories 
Tables 2.5 and 2.6 provide an overview of the categories and subcategories of the 
analysis grid, including a description. The subcategories are partly derived from the 
AVMSD (coloured boxes) and partly based on the literature review to identify additional 
key characteristics of contents that minors are likely to find appealing (non-coloured 
boxes). For a more elaborate discussion of these subcategories, please see Annex H 
(separate document).  

Table 2.5 Overview of analysis grid categories and subcategories, part 1: content aimed 
specifically at minors 
Categories  

Description  

Subcategories 

Aimed specifically at minors 

Appearance of the age of 

How old does the protagonist/s look like?  

protagonist(s) >18/<18 

(22a) 

Protagonist(s) as a primary 

Protagonist(s) represent(s) a group which the young recipients can 

group or reference group 

associate themselves with, for example a youth sub-cultural group or 

for minors 

youth related lifestyles. 

Young people’s partying as 

The context of the advertisement is young people’s partying scene 

a context of alcohol use 

(including celebration, bar, disco, clubbing, home party). 

Humour 

Use of humorous mannerisms, satire, sarcasm, physical humour 

Celebrities 

Animals 

(e.g., slapstick), jokes, irony, spoofs, parody, illogical or improbable 

situations. 

The advertisement portrays celebrities. 

Advertisement utilizes animal characters, real or animated. 

Online-participation 

Is there anything in the ad that suggests the minor could or should 

participate with the content or the brand or its products online 

Note: The subcategories that are derived from the AVMSD are coloured (brown). 

further? 

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Table 2.6 Overview of analysis grid categories and subcategories, part 2: assessing 
AVMSD criteria and themes appealing to minors in advertisement  
Description  
Categories  

Subcategories 

Physical performance 

Alcohol as an enhancement 

The advertisement suggests that alcohol improves performance in 

of physical performance 

physical activities, such as sports activities or dancing  

(22b) 

Connection to driving a 

The advertisement associates drinking with driving a vehicle.  

vehicle (22b) 

Representation of athletic 

The advertisement contains athletic bodies. 

bodies 

Presence of sport activities 

The brand and the product are associated with watching or 

participating in sports liked by teens (e.g. football, basketball, 

basketball, hockey, racing, snowboarding, skateboarding, cycling). 

Alcohol as a reward after 

Alcohol is used as a means to reward oneself after physical activities. 

exercise 

Adventurous or risky 

Alcohol is associated with challenging and/or competitive activities 

setting 

such as mountain climbing or rafting or other risky settings aiming at 

impressing others. 

Alcohol as an enhancement 

Alcohol is shown as improving physical performance located in youth 

of physical performance in 

setting (such as party, disco, skateboard park, play)  

youth setting  

Social success 

Alcohol is associated with 

The protagonist in the advertisement is shown to be popular and 

and/or is shown as 

socially successful or is attracting positive attention. The 

contributing towards social 

advertisement suggests that drinking alcohol makes a person more 

success (22c) 

popular and socially attractive. Product use is associated with 

increased personal confidence and ease in a social setting. Social 

success can be interpreted not only as the positive attention given to 

a person, but also, and more age-relevantly, as belonging and 

inclusion to a group. 

Tokens of wealth 

The advertisement utilizes fancy products or known indicators of 

wealth and success: electronics, boats, jewellery, cars, luxury 

clothing and accessories etc. 

Alcohol enhances or 

The advertisement suggests that alcohol helps in bonding with other 

sustains social interaction 

people and contributes to the emergence of positive and pleasant 

atmosphere in a social situation. An example of this is that there 

appears to be a change in the atmosphere and setting after the 

product and brand is introduced. Also, the advertisement may just 

associate the good atmosphere with drinking, implying that alcohol 

caused the good mood.  

Sexual success 

Alcohol is associated with 

The advertisement associates the product with persons who are 

and/or is shown as 

portrayed as attracting sexual attention, and/or suggests that 

contributing towards 

drinking alcohol makes a person more sexually attractive and/or 

sexual success (22c) 

helps in finding a sexual partner.  

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Categories  

Description  

Subcategories 

Enhanced sexual 

The advertisement suggests that alcohol contributes to a better 

performance or enjoyment 

performance in sexual act or increases sexual pleasure.  

(22c) 

Male/female sexualized 

Male or female body is portrayed as a sexualized object. 

body as attention grabber 

Mood-altering effects 

Therapeutic, stimulating or 

The advertisement suggests that alcohol can be used as a means of 

sedative effects of alcohol 

altering one’s state of mind, for example to calm oneself or 

(22d) 

stimulation. The change in the state of mind is portrayed. 

Alcohol transforms and/or 

The advertisement suggests that alcohol caused the good mood of 

helps to sustain the mood 

the setting, or there is a significant change in the general mood or 

of the setting 

atmosphere after introducing the alcoholic product. 

Alcohol is associated with 

The advertisement portrays alcohol in a relaxing setting indicating 

relaxation 

holiday or free-time leisure. 

Enhancement of agency 

Alcohol portrayed as a 

The advertisement gives alcohol a positive role in solving and 

solution to a personal 

mitigating personal conflicts or tensions.  

problem (22d) 

Protagonist portrayed as 

The advertisement portrays a protagonist who is able to master all 

extraordinary competent 

sorts of situations as an independent agent. The protagonist’s 

autonomous agent 

identity position differs from the ordinary and (s)he does not need to 

conform to conventional norms or authorities.  

Enhancement of 

The advertisement associates drinking with fulfilling and mastering 

competence related to 

masculine or feminine gender roles, or with emancipatory aims at 

gender roles 

opposing traditional gender roles. 

Immoderate consumption, abstinence and moderation 

Positive portrayal of 

The advertisement portrays immoderate drinking in a positive light. 

immoderate consumption 

(22e) 

Occasions and settings 

The setting implies immoderate consumption, such as heavy 

indicative of immoderate 

partying. 

consumption (22e) 

Cautious attitudes, 

Moderation, abstinence and/or a cautious attitude towards drinking 

moderation or abstinence 

or other activities in the setting are seen in a negative light.  

in a negative light (22e) 

Presence of abstinent 

The advertisement portrays person/persons who do not drink and are 

person as an outsider  

not part of the in-group. 

Downplaying the risks of 

The advertisement implies that drinking alcohol is not risky, or risk-

alcohol 

aversive attitude is being ridiculed. 

High alcoholic content 

Positive price/content 

The advertisement implies that the product is reasonably priced, 

message (22f) 

though the alcoholic content is high. 

High-content ingredient of 

The advertisement portrays strong alcohol content in a mixed 

a mixed drink highlighted 

product as a positive quality, not only as product information. 

(22f) 
Note: The subcategories that are derived from the AVMSD are coloured (brown). 

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2.5.2.  Collecting advertisements for the content analysis 
We collected a sample of alcohol advertisements for each of the nine selected Member 
States. 

Advertisements on linear AV media services 
The advertisement for the linear AV media services were purchased from Ebiquity, who 
provided us with lists of all alcohol advertisements that aired in 2013 in the selected 
Member States. These lists provided information on, among other things, the title of the 
advertisement, the brand, the sector, a summary of the story line of the advertisement 
and its duration. From these lists, 50 advertisements per Member State could be 
selected, from which a final section of 10 advertisements could be made. For this final 
selection, verbatim translations to English were provided.  

Selecting the advertisements 
The first step in the selection of 50 advertisements per Member State was based on a 
categorisation per sector (beverage type). Using the information on national impacts per 
sector in WFA/Ebiquity dataset (used in the analysis for Research Question 1), the 
shares of the different sectors in the selection of 50 advertisements was determined. For 
example, when the shares of the impacts per sector were 60% beer, 30% spirits and 
10% wine, we set the quota for the selection as follows: 30 beer ads, 15 spirits ads and 
five wine ads.  

Secondly, we set quotas for selection within a sector by brand, based on additional data 
we received from Ebiquity regarding the number of insertions per brand per Member 
State in 2013. Building on the previous example: say 30% of all insertions in the beer 
sector in a Member State were for Brand X, the quota for selecting Brand X ads would be 
set at nine.  

As a third step, we selected individual advertisements per brand. This was done based 
on a short description of the content of the advertisement to ensure that per brand not 
only advertisements from the same campaign were selected.  

Next, the 450 advertisements in total, consisting of 50 advertisements per selected 
Member State, were made available to the project team through the online portal of 
Ebiquity. Out of these 50 advertisements per Member State, 10 advertisements per 
Member State were selected, using the same approach as before (spilt per sector, spilt 
per brand, selection of individual advertisement). In Annex J (separate document) we 
list the final selection of advertisements.  

Advertisement on non-linear audio-visual media services and other online 
services 
For the online advertisements, three advertisements per Member State have been 
selected based on most frequent occurrence of the overall campaign on the Internet.  

Initially, the idea was to include advertisements on non-linear AV services and other 
online services that would be collected through the online data capture that is part of the 
approach for Research Question 2. However, as during the online data capture only a 
very limited number of advertisements was encountered, an alternative approach had to 
be explored. It was decided to purchase up to three online advertisements per Member 
State from Ebiquity. Ebiquity provided for each Member State the banners with the 

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highest number of ‘advert events’ by campaign in 2013. Because of limitations in the 
availability of online advertisements, the sample only includes banners.  

2.5.3.  Application of the analysis grid 
Figure 2.2 illustrates the approach used in the content analysis of the selected 
advertisements. 

Figure 2.2 Approach for the content analysis 

Trial coding 

The project team coded independently 10 advertisements. The discrepancies 

were discussed and the coding instructions were further specified. 

A team of two researchers coded the material together according to the analysis 

grid and the coding instructions. 10 advertisements and their coding were again 

Coding 

Review 

The expert panel reviewed and commented on the coding of five advertisements. 

The advertisements for the review were chosen based on the ambiguities in the 

advertisements’ content, and/or containing typical features of the material. 

The coding was revised considering reviewers’ comments. Each advertisement 

coded with some of the sub-categories of Aimed specifically at minors was re-

Revision 

The spread sheet of the coding was converted into SPSS (version 22) data file. 

Frequency tables and cross-tabulations were used as methods of analysis.  

Analysis 

Reporting 

All findings and conclusions in this study only relate to the specific advertisements that 
were reviewed, that is, these results cannot be extrapolated to draw conclusions on 
alcohol advertisements on AV media services (both linear and non-linear) and on other 
online services in general.  

2.6.  Stakeholder review 

A stakeholder review was organised as part of this study. The aim of the review was to 
get feedback from key stakeholders on the preliminary findings through: 

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  Written comments on the preliminary draft study report; and/or  
  The stakeholder review meeting that was held in Brussels on 7 September 2015.  

Relevant stakeholders were approached to ask if they would be willing to participate in 
the review. Invitations were sent out by email and followed up both by email and phone. 
The stakeholders that expressed their willingness to participate received: 
  The preliminary draft study report, presenting the preliminary findings of the study; 

and 

  A questionnaire for providing feedback on the report.  

Stakeholders were invited to submit a first draft of their written comments prior to the 
stakeholder meeting. 

Representatives from 26 stakeholders participated in the meeting in Brussels. During the 
meeting, the preliminary findings of the study were presented and the main comments 
of the stakeholders were discussed.  

After the meeting, final versions of the written comments could be submitted. All 
comments were carefully considered in drafting the final report.  

In total, 35 stakeholders participated in the stakeholder review via written comments 
and/or participation in the stakeholder review meeting. For a list of stakeholders that 
participated, please see Annex K (separate document). For a summary of the main 
comments raised during the stakeholder review, please see Annex L (separate 
document).  

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3. Literature review 

3.1.  Overview of studies on the exposure of minors to alcohol advertising on 

linear and non-linear audio-visual media services and other online services 

The first part of the review aimed to identify the relevant studies that have been 
conducted on the online exposure of minors to alcohol-related advertising on linear and 
non-linear AV media services and other online services.  

3.1.1.  Selection of publications 
In Figure 3.1, we illustrate the selection process of the publications for this part of the 
review. 

Figure 3.1 Process of searching and selecting publications 

PubMed was searched using MeSH terms. Two reviewers independently scanned the 
titles and abstracts of 149 identified publications, after which 50 were selected for light 
reading. In addition, a search was conducted in Google Scholar. Four additional 
publications were selected for light reading.  

For the resulting 54 publications full texts were obtained and after light reading by the 
two reviewers and eliminating individual publications that were part of a selected 

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(systematic) review, 24 publications were selected. Subsequently, the experts in our 
team (Prof. Peter Anderson and Prof. David Jernigan) reviewed the reference list to 
check whether it was complete and a stakeholder review of the preliminary study report 
was conducted. As a result, nine additional relevant publications (meeting the inclusion 
criteria) were identified and added to the selection. This led to a final selection of 33 
publications. The experts also informed us on several relevant forthcoming publications. 
As these publications are not yet in the public domain, we have not included them in the 
review.  

3.1.2.  Summary of the results  
Table 3.1 presents the authors and year of publication of the 33 selected publications.  

Table 3.1 Overview of selected publications 

No.  Author(s) 

No.  Author(s) (year) 

No.  Author(s) (year) 

(year) 

1 

Anderson et al. 

12  McClure et al. (2013) 

23  Martin et al. (2002) 

(2009) 

(Proceedings of a symposium: 2001 

Research Society on Alcoholism 

symposium) 

2 

Nelson (2010) 

13  Morgenstern et al. 

24 

RAND Europe (2012) 

(2011a) 

3 

Smith and 

14 

Pettigrew et al. (2012) 

25 

Ross et al. (2013) 

Foxcroft (2008) 

4 

Austin and Hust 

15 

Ringel et al. (2006) 

26  Ofcom (2013) 

(2005) 

5 

Chung et al. 

16 

Tucker et al. (2013) 

27  De Bruijn (AMPOHORA) (2013) 

(2010) 

6 

Collins et al. 

17 

Unger et al. (2003)  

28  De Bruijn et al. (AMPHORA) (2012) 

(2005) 

7 

Fielder et al. 

18  Winpenny et al. (2013) 

29  De Bruijn et al. (AMMIE) (2012) 

(2009) 

8 

Grenard et al. 

19  Winter et al. (2008) 

30  Gordon et al. (2011) 

(2013) 

9 

Jernigan et al. 

20 

Centre for Disease 

31 

Scharf et al. (2013) 

(2005) 

Control and Prevention 

(2013) 

10 

Jernigan and 

21  Davoren et al. (2012) 

32  Morgenstern et al. (2011b) 

Rushman 

(2014) 

(Letters) 

11 

Jones and 

22 

Jernigan (2006) 

33  Morgenstern et al. (2015) 

Magee (2011) 

(Editorial) 

Of the 33 studies included in the review, 24 are scientific (peer-reviewed) publications 
[numbers 1 – 19, 25, 30 – 33 in Table 3.1] and 9 publications can be considered grey 
literature [numbers 20 – 24, 26 – 29 in Table 3.1]. Three of the 24 scientific publications 
are (systematic) reviews [numbers 1 - 3 in Table 3.1].  

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Geographical zone 
In the three (systematic) reviews, the majority of the studies included (70-77%) are 
conducted in the United States.  

This also holds for the individual scientific publications included in this review: 
  United States: 12 [4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 16, 17, 31, 33]; 
  Australia: 4 [7, 11, 14, 19]; 
  Germany: 2 [13, 32]; 
  United Kingdom: 2 [18, 30]; 
  The Netherlands: 1 [25].  

Out of the publications that can be considered grey literature, three studies were 
conducted in the United States [20, 22, 23], one in Australia [21], one in the United 
Kingdom, the Netherlands and Germany [24], two in the United Kingdom [26], two in 
Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland [27, 28] and one in Bulgaria, Denmark, 
Germany, Italy and the Netherlands [29].  

Although the majority of scientific publications are from the US, the majority of the grey 
literature included is based on studies conducted in the EU. The experts in our team 
informed us that there are several forthcoming studies (amongst others from the 
AMPHORA project) that are also conducted in the EU and show similar results as the 
studies conducted in the US.  

Purpose of the study 
The studies differ in their purpose in relation to measuring exposure of minors to alcohol 
advertising and/or the effect of this exposure on youth drinking: 
  18 of the studies focus on (methodologies for) measuring exposure; and  
  15 of the studies focus on (methodologies for) examining the relationship between 

exposure and youth drinking.  

Type of media services 
Of the 30 individual scientific- and grey- publications, 18 focus on the exposure of 
minors to alcohol advertising on television [5, 6, 7, 8, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 
23, 25, 26, 29, 32, 33]. 

Two of the 30 individual studies focus specifically on social media [10, 18] and ten 
studies examine multiple media services, including TV [4, 9, 11, 12, 16, 24, 27, 28, 30, 
31]. Except for one study [4], these studies also covered exposure on the Internet.  

Methodologies 
The 33 selected studies use different methodologies including: 
 

(Systematic) review of studies:  

(Systematic) review of longitudinal studies: 2 [1, 2];  
o 
o  Systematic review of prospective cohort studies: 1 [3];  

  Recording or purchasing of aired TV ads: 3 [4, 14, 33];  
  Analysis of viewing and/or advertising impact/occurrence data: 10 [5, 7, 9, 15, 19, 

20, 21, 24, 26, 29];  

  Analysis of online data/monitoring of online activity: 2 [10, 18];  
  Survey: 11 [6, 8, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 27, 28, 30, 32]; 
  Simulation model: 1 [25]; 

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  Analysis of exposure using Ecological Momentary Assessment: 1 [31]. 

In addition, one of the included publications is an editorial [22] and one publication 
contains the proceedings of a symposium [23].  

Systematic review of longitudinal studies (n=2) 
One study conducted a systematic review of 16 publications that report on 13 
longitudinal studies, which followed up a total of 38,000 young people in the period of 
1990 tot 2008. Participants of the studies were youngsters below the age of 18 years or 
below the legal drinking age of the country of origin of the study (whichever was the 
higher). Each of the studies included assessed: the exposure of individuals (below the 
legal drinking age) to commercial communications and media; alcohol drinking 
behaviour at baseline and alcohol drinking behaviour at follow-up [1]. Another study 
reviewed 20 longitudinal studies, each including a baseline and follow-up sample(s) of 
youth or young adults. All studies used one or more drinking behaviours as outcomes; 
one or more advertising marketing, promotional, brand recognition or receptivity 
measures as covariates; and multivariate statistical procedures [2].  

Systematic review of prospective cohort studies (n=1) 
One study conducted a systematic review of 9 publications reporting on 7 cohort 
(longitudinal) studies that followed up 13,255 young people aged 10-26 years old. The 
studies evaluated exposure to advertising or marketing or alcohol portrayals and 
drinking at baseline and assessed drinking behaviour at follow-up in young people. 
Studies were identified in October 2006 by searches of electronic databases, with no 
date restriction [3]. 

Recording or purchasing of aired TV ads (n=3) 
The three studies using this methodology examined the amount of video-based 
advertisements on television in the US [4, 33] and Australia [14]. All three studies 
looked into the frequency as well as the content of alcohol advertisements. In the 
studies the advertisements were coded on the basis of the type of products promoted, 
the used themes and (potential) appealing elements to minors. In addition, Pettigrew et 
al. and Morgenstern et al. coded the airing times and the latter also considered the 
channel placement. All the studies made a comparison between exposure to alcohol and 
non-alcohol advertisements. 

Analysis of viewing and/or advertising impact/occurrence data (n=10) 
Nine of these ten studies analyse data on advertising occurrence and viewership [5, 7, 
9, 15, 19, 20, 22, 26, 29]. One study analyses exposure to alcohol advertising during a 
specific broadcast (the 2008 broadcast of the Bathurst V8 car race) by combining the 
results of measuring on-screen time of alcohol sponsorship combined with viewing data 
for that broadcast [21]. 

The studies differ in their measure for reporting exposure: 
  Two studies report Incidence rate ratios (IRRs), which indicates the amount by which 
alcohol ad intensity is multiplied for a given age category, relative to a reference 
category [5,22]; 

  One study used Nielsen Media to report characteristics of the data like, exposure of 

certain age groups and the adherence to the audience thresholds [29]; 

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  Two studies report Target Audience Ration Point (TARPs), which is calculated from the 
number of target audience individuals exposed to the advertisement as a proportion 
of the total target audience, multiplied by 100 [7,19]; 

  Four studies use data that is similar to the data that is analysed in this study for 

Question 1: 

o  One study reports gross impressions, which indicate the total number of times 
that all members of a specific audience are exposed to the advertising [20]; 

o  Two studies report Gross Rating Points (GRPs), which are calculated as the 
gross impressions divided by the relevant population, multiplied by 100 
[9,15]; 

o  One study measured viewing trends using audience data from the British 
Audience Research Bureau (BARB) by two measures: the volume of spot 
advertising (number of commercials aired on television) and advertising 
expenditure. In addition, impact data was analysed [26]. 

Studies also differed in the age groups they used:  
  12-20 years [9, 20]; 
  2-11 years, 12-20 years, 21-24 years, 25+ years [5]; 
  0-12 years, 13-17 years, 18-24 years, and 25+ years [7, 19]; 
  6 -11 years, 12-17 years [15]; 
  13-17 years, 18-24 years [21]; 
  2-9 years, 10-15 years, 16-24 years, 25+ years (for 2 countries) and 6-12 years, 13-

19 years, 20+ years (one country) [22]; 

  4-15 years, 4-9 years, 10-15 years, 16-24 years, 16-17 years [26]; 
  13-17 years, 18+ years [29]. 

Hence, except for one study, all use a reference group above the LPA in their analysis, 
such that exposure of minors can be compared to the exposure of adults. This is also 
done in our analysis for Research Question 1. 

Next to age, some studies reported difference in exposure based on gender, 
race/ethnicity, demographic group and/or household income. In addition, several studies 
reported difference between the types of alcohol products (e.g. beer, wine, spirits). This 
breakdown is also considered in our analysis for Research Question 1.  

The studies were conducted using data for the following periods:  
  September 1998 – February 2002 [15]; 
  2001-2006 [5]; 
  2001-2003 [9]; 
  November 2005 – October 2006 [7]; 
  March 2005 – February 2006 [19]; 
  2008 [21]; 
  2010 [20]; and 
  December 2010 – May 2011 [22]; 
  2007 – 2011 [26]; 
  May – October 2010 [29]. 

Hence, one study considered one broadcast [21], two studies analysed data for half a 
year [22, 29], three studies for a full year [7, 19, 20], one study for 3 years [9], one for 
3,5 years [15], one for 5 years [26], and one study for 6 years [5].  

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Survey (n=11) 
Ten of the studies conducted in-school surveys amongst: 
1,996 fourth graders and 1,525 ninth graders [6]; 
 
  3,890 seventh to tenth graders [8]; 
  2,130 sixth to eighth graders (mean age 12.2 years) [32]; 
  3,415 sixth to eighth graders (mean age 12.5 years) [13]; 
  2,321 students (mean age 12.6 years) [16];  
  591 eighth and tenth graders (mean age 14.3 years) [17]; 
  9,032 students (mean age 14.05 years) [27]; 
  6,651 students (mean age 13.95 years) [28]; 
  920 second year pupils (mean age 13 years) [30]. 

Two cross-sectional surveys were conducted amongst:  
  1,113 adolescents aged 12 – 17 years [11]; and  
  1,734 underage drinkers from 15- to 20-year-old [12].  

The studies used different measures of exposure, including: 
  General television exposure/TV time [12,17]; 
  General online exposure/Internet time [12]; 
  Self-reported frequency of alcohol- or other drug-related media exposure [16, 27, 

28]; 

  Self-reported frequency of alcohol advertising exposure (on different media) [8, 11, 

17, 27, 28]; 

  Self-reported frequency of exposure to specific ads [13]; 
  Self-reported exposure to alcohol brand in movies [12]; 
  Exposure to alcohol advertising on popular shows (combining self-reported viewing 

time with data on frequency of alcohol ads on these shows) [8]; 

  Advertisement recognition/cued recall [6, 8, 9, 13, 17]; 
  Self-reported exposure to alcohol advertising and recall of brand names [30, 32]; 
  Recall of brand names/brand naming [6, 13,17]; 
  Product naming [6]; 
  Liking of alcohol advertisements [6, 8, 17]; 
  Favourite alcohol ad [12]; and 
  Ownership of alcohol branded merchandise [12]. 

The survey that is conducted as part of this study for Research Question 2 focusses on 
exposure on non-linear audio-visual media services and other online services. Measures 
of exposure that were included are general online exposure/Internet time, self-reported 
exposure, memory for alcohol advertising and recall of brand names.  

Ten of the studies using a survey methodology examined the relationship between 
exposure to alcohol advertising and drinking alcohol [8, 11, 12, 13, 16,17, 27, 28, 31, 
32]. Two of these studies did not only consider on alcohol advertising, but also alcohol- 
or other drug-related media exposure in general [16] or advertising for non-alcohol 
products [13].  

Analysis of online data/monitoring of online activity (n=2) 
Both studies examined brand activity and user engagement. Brand activity was 
measured in terms of posts by the brand and user engagement in the forms of posting, 
liking and sharing. One study focussed on Facebook and used the CrowdTangle 

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Discovery App that automates monitoring of Facebook activity [10]. The other study also 
included Twitter and YouTube next to Facebook. In this study, brand activity was 
measured by following the brand on each of these three online services and user 
engagement was analysed by age (6 –14 years; 15 –24 years) and gender, the reach 
(proportion of Internet users who used the site in each month) and impressions (number 
of individual pages viewed on the site in each month) from alcohol brands for Facebook, 
YouTube and Twitter using Ebiquity data [18].  

Simulation model (n=1) 
One study used a simulation model to determine if time restrictions on alcohol 
advertisements on television and radio reduce youth exposure to alcohol ads. The model 
used advertising data from the USA and validated this with data from an actual time 
restriction policy implemented in the Netherlands.  

Analysis of exposure using Ecological Momentary Assessment (n=1) 
One study assesses the feasibility of using Ecological Momentary Assessment to measure 
adolescents’ exposure to alcohol (and smoking-related) media. This assessment allows 
for precise measurement of the specific characteristics and context of individual alcohol-
related media exposures via collection of data on smartphones.  

Findings regarding the exposure of minors to alcohol advertising 
Studies that examine the exposure of minors to alcohol advertising use a range of 
different measures. The longitudinal studies included in the systematic review by 
Anderson et al. (2009) for example include ‘estimates of volume of media and 
advertising exposure’; ‘ownership of branded merchandise’; ‘recall and receptivity’; 
‘expenditure on advertisements’. In the systematic review of prospective cohort studies 
by Smith and Foxcroft (2008), all studies included self-reported measures of exposure 
(including questionnaires and interviews). Unger et al. (2003) investigated correlations 
among alcohol advertising exposure measures (including ‘TV viewing’, ‘exposure to sport 
events’, ‘self-reported frequency of seeing commercials’, ‘cued recall’, ‘brand recall’) and 
found that such correlations are small to moderate. 

Austin and Hust (2005) report that ads for alcohol beverages aired more frequently than 
for non-alcohol beverages and that the majority of these ads were for beer. Pettigrew et 
al. (2012) found that one in ten beverage advertisements in Australia during the period 
of monitoring were an alcohol advertisement.  

The awareness of exposure to alcohol advertising appears to be significant. That is, 
through self-reported measures of exposure, people indicate that they are aware of their 
exposure to alcohol advertisement. For example, Jones and Magee (2011) asked 
respondents to indicate their level of exposure on eight different media (including TV 
and Internet). The results show that the majority of respondents indicated to have been 
exposed to alcohol advertising on these media. Collins et al. (2005) conclude that 
exposure to advertisements appear to result in higher levels of beer advertising 
awareness. According to Gordon et al. (2011), the awareness of alcohol exposure is 
highest for TV advertising, followed by branded clothing, sport sponsorship and price 
promotions. 

The literature indicates that minors are not only aware of their exposure to alcohol 
advertising, but they also recall the advertising and/or the brand. Morgenstern et al. 

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(2011a/b) for example, asked a sample of German adolescents to indicate brand recall 
and contact frequency for nine alcohol and eight non-alcohol TV ads few students (less 
than 2% of the sample) answered never to have seen any of the presented alcohol 
advertisements (for non-alcoholic ads this percentage was around 0.5%).  

The studies included in this review indicate that exposure levels differ between age 
groups, gender and race. For example, two studies conducted in Australia [7, 19] 
indicate that adults are more exposed to alcohol advertising. More specifically, these 
studies found that the exposure of children (0 – 12 years) to alcohol advertising is equal 
to one-third of the level of mature adults (25+ years) and that underage teens (13 – 17 
years) have more or less the same level of exposure as young adults (18 – 24 years). 
Ringel et al. (2006) found that boys are more exposed to alcohol advertising than girls 
(and that this differential increases with age), and that African-American minors are 
more exposed than whites (and this differential increases over time).  

Multiple studies analysed during which timeslots exposure to alcohol advertising is 
highest. Two studies conducted in the United States [9, 22] show that underage youth 
(12-20) were per capita more likely to have seen nearly 24% of all alcohol ads 
broadcasted than legal-age adults. In addition, Jernigan et al. (2005) report that in 
2003, the 15 television shows with the largest audiences of teens all portrayed alcohol 
ads. Chung et al. (2010) report that almost all alcohol advertisements were broadcasted 
in timeslots during which minors account for 30% or less of the audience. Ringel et al. 
(2006) found that there was more exposure to alcohol advertising during late-night 
television than during prime time and that sports programming had the highest share of 
alcohol advertising. This was also found by Martin et al. (2002). Scharf et al. (2013) 
found that exposure to alcohol-related media tended to occur most in the afternoon. 
Morgenstern et al. (2015) found that 46% of the alcohol advertisements they analysed 
aired between 3 AM and 8 PM. 

The study of Ofcom (2013) also investigated differences in exposure levels between 
channels and their results showed a shift in viewing of UK children towards commercial 
channels, which increases the exposure of children to advertisement in general and 
more specific to alcohol advertising. The Ofcom study also showed that children watch 
more adult programmes, which have fewer restrictions on alcohol advertisement. 
Morgenstern et al. (2015) also consider the channel placement of alcohol advertising 
and found that most alcohol ads were placed on Sports and Entertainment channels.  

Jernigan and Rushman (2014) and Winpenny et al. (2013) investigated exposure to 
alcohol advertising on social media sites in the UK. Jernigan and Rushman (2014) found 
that brand- and user activity has grown dramatically over the past three years for the 15 
most popular alcohol brands in the United States. Winpenny et al. (2013) found that 
Facebook has the highest reach of the social media sites that were investigated 
(Facebook, YouTube and Twitter). In the case studies they conducted for online activity 
of several alcohol brands, they found that each of the brands maintained a Facebook 
page and a YouTube channel and that the levels of user engagement varied. In addition, 
they found that content on alcohol could often not be accessed by underage youth on 
Facebook, whereas this was possible on YouTube and Twitter. By examining the policies 
for Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, Jernigan and Rushman (2014) also found that how 
accessible alcohol brand content is to users differs per Social Networking Site, but that 
with various levels of ease, underage users can access alcohol brand content that is 

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restricted to audiences above the legal purchase age. 

Findings regarding the relationship between the exposure to alcohol 
advertising and youth drinking 
The results of the studies included in this review indicate that there is a relationship, or 
association, between exposure to alcohol advertising and youth drinking, but that the 
strength of this association differs per study.  

In the systematic review by Anderson et al. (2009), 12 of the 13 included studies 
concluded that exposure to alcohol advertising and/or media exposure has an impact on 
alcohol use. It was however noted that there is variation in the strength of the 
association as well as in the degree to which potential confounders were controlled for.  

De Bruijn et al. (2013) showed that a higher exposure to online alcohol marketing 
increased the odds of binge drinking in the last 30 days. They showed a robust relation 
which was consistent over four different countries.  

Smith and Foxcroft (2008) conclude in their systematic review that data from 
prospective cohort studies suggest an association between exposure and subsequent 
alcohol consumption and that this effect is significant across a range of different 
exposure variables and outcome measures.  

Individual scientific publications as well as grey literature included in this review indicate 
the same effect or association between the exposure of minors to alcohol advertising 
and youth drinking, although the size of the effect differs across studies [8, 11, 12, 13, 
16, 17, 22, 23, 27, 28, 31]. 

Nelson (2010) reviewed 20 longitudinal studies of youth drinking. The review finds that 
21 out of 63 estimates of the effects of advertising and promotion on adolescent 
drinking are significant. In addition, it is noted that there are studies with negative, no 
and positive effects. It is concluded that there is no causal effect demonstrated, because 
of methodological shortcomings in the studies. 

3.2.  Overview of studies to support the development of the analysis grid 

A second part of the literature review aimed to identify which features make alcohol 
advertising appealing to minors. The results of the review fed into the analysis grid 
developed as part of Research Question 3 of this study. For the development of the 
analysis grid, additional publications - that are outside the scope of this part of the 
literature review – are included. These publications are discussed in Annex H (separate 
document). 

3.2.1.  Selection of publications 
The report by RAND Europe from 2012 acted as a starting point for this part of the 
review.  

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Figure 3.2 presents the process of searching and selecting publications for this part of 
the review.  

Figure 3.2 Process of searching and selecting publications 

PubMed was searched using MeSH terms and key words39. Two reviewers independently 
scanned the titles and abstracts of 333 identified publications, after which 40 were 
selected for light reading. In addition, a search was conducted in Google Scholar. Nine 
additional publications were selected for light reading.  

For the resulting 49 publications, full texts were obtained and after light reading by the 
reviewers, eight publications were selected for further analysis. 

3.2.2.  Summary of the results  
Table 3.2 presents the authors and year of publication of the eight selected publications.  

Table 3.2 Overview of selected publications 

Ref.  

Author(s) (year) 

Ref. 

Author(s) (year) 

A  

B  

C  

D  

Ansu-Mensah et al. (2013) 

Banerjee et al. (2013) 

Hellman et al. (2013) 

Pettigrew et al. (2013) 

E  

F  

G 

H 

Primack et al. (2012) 

Rozendaal et al. (2011) 

Hartigan and Coe (2012) 

RAND Europe (2012) 

39   A search with only MeSH terms yielded a limited number of results. We therefore searched PubMed using 

both MeSH terms and key words.  

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Of the eight studies included in the review, six are scientific (peer-reviewed) publications 
[numbers A-F in table 2-2]and two publications can be considered grey literature 
[numbers G-H in table 2-2].  

Geographical zone 
Two of the studies are conducted in the United States [B,E], one in Australia [D], one in 
Ghana [A] and the other four in EU countries. One of these four studies is conducted in 
the United Kingdom [G] and one in the Netherlands [F]. The other two cover multiple 
countries: the RAND study (2012) covers the United Kingdom, Germany and the 
Netherlands and Hellman et al. (2013) covers Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, the 
Netherlands and Poland.  

Purpose of the study 
The studies differ in their purpose and what they aim to examine in relation to what 
minors find appealing in alcohol advertising: 
  Two of the included studies focus on the content of alcohol advertising and what 

elements of these advertisements appeal to minors [A and H];  

  One of the included studies focusses on what appeals to minors and how minors 

respond to alcohol content encountered in different media [G];  

  Two of the included studies examine ad literacy and understanding of persuasion 

tactics employed by advertisers [C and F]; 

  One of the included studies examines the prevalence of alcohol brand appearances in 

US popular music [E]; 

  One of the included studies focusses on the tactics employed by minors themselves, 

when creating counter-advertisements [B]; and 

  One of the included studies assesses whether the new Code in Australia requires 

substantial changes to alcohol advertising [D].  

Methodologies 
The eight studies use different methodologies including: 
 
 
 
 

surveys amongst minors: 2 [A and F]; 
focus groups with minors: 1 [C]; 
(semi-structured) interviews: 1 [G];  
content analysis: 4 [B, D, E, H]. 

Of the four studies that conducted a content analysis, two did this for existing 
advertisements, one for references to alcohol and brand appearances in songs and one 
focussed on print alcohol counter-advertisement that were developed by high-school 
students.  

Findings regarding appealing elements  
Two studies identified ‘humour’ to be one the most appealing elements for minors in 
alcohol advertisements [A, H]. Other appealing elements that were mentioned in at least 
two studies that report on appealing elements [A, G, H] include celebrity 
endorsement/appearance, people having fun, people characters to whom they can 
relate, drinking setting (bar/party setting, nightclub scenes, social events), music, 
cartoons or animation, animal characters, and a simple, uncomplicated storyline.  

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The RAND study (2012) also elaborated on unappealing features, including product-
focused aspects, poor technical presentation, negative presentation of women, 
exploitation or misrepresentation.  

Primack et al. (2012) suggest that brand-name references to alcohol in popular US 
music are strongly linked to positive feelings and that these appearances are associated 
with, ‘wealth’, ‘sex’, ‘luxury objects’, ‘partying’, ‘drugs’, and ‘vehicles’. 

Findings regarding persuasion tactics 
Banerjee et al. (2013) found that when high school- and college students had to draw 
their own counter-advertisement, the most often used persuasion strategies were 
‘having fun’ and ‘being one of the gang’. Other strategies used include: ‘unexpected’ 
(i.e. to include an unexpected event, image, element, etc.), ‘endorsement’ and 
‘glamour/sex appeal’.  

Rozendaal et al. (2011) reported that tactics that have proven to be effective in child-
directed advertising include: ‘ad repetition’, ‘product demonstrations’, ‘peer popularity 
appeal’, ‘humour’, ‘celebrity endorsement’ and ‘premiums’. In addition, the study finds 
that the understanding of such tactics increases progressively between the ages of 8 and 
12 years and it differs between tactics when children’s understanding reaches the adult 
level. For example, this occurs at a relatively early age for ‘celebrity endorsement’ and 
at a relatively later age for ‘product placement’. Hellman et al (2013) found, on the basis 
group discussions about televised beer commercials, that adolescents in six different 
European countries distinguished between the following tactics: ‘branding’, ‘sociability’ 
(i.e. to present social situations that adolescents identify with or with to strive for), 
‘scenery and setting’ and ‘humour’.  

Pettigrew et al. (2013) analysed the content of advertisements in a two-month period 
approximately 18 months prior to the AARB Code in Australia. Most of the potential 
breaches of this new Code were related to the ‘association of alcohol with success’ and 
‘using appeals likely to be attractive to young people’ (for example by depicting night 
club scenes or social events). Other potential breaches include: ‘alcohol consumption 
taking precedence over other activities’, ‘change in mood or environment’, and ‘adults 
under 25 years’. 

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4. Exposure to alcohol advertising on linear audio-visual media 

services  

The first research question for this study concerns the exposure of minors on linear AV 
media services: 

“How much alcohol advertising does an average minor watching linear 
audio-visual media services in the EU see?”  

To answer this question, data on general viewing patterns and on alcohol impacts was 
analysed.  

The analysis of exposure of minors to alcohol advertising on linear AV media services 
was based on two datasets:  
 

the WFA/Ebiquity dataset providing information on global advertising impacts in 23 
EU Member States; and  
the GfK/Dentsu Aegis dataset providing more detailed data for the nine selected 
Member States (Austria, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, 
Romania, Spain, United Kingdom’’.  

 

Definitions of terms and metrics used in this chapter 

-  The general viewing pattern data reports the rating (rat) per hourly timeslot expressed in 

both thousands and in percentages. The rating was calculated as follows:  

o 

o 

in thousands (rat000): the reach (that is, the proportion of the target group who was 

viewing) weighted by the Average Time Spent (that is, the amount of time watched per 

individual); and 

in percentages (rat%): the rat000 for a specific target group divided by the universe of 

that target group. 

The rating per hourly timeslot can be interpreted as the audience in absolute terms (rat000) 

or as percentage of the target group (rat%) during that hour. 

-  The GfK/Dentsu Aegis spotlist data measure alcohol advertising impacts in Gross Rating 

Points (GRP), both in thousands and in percentages, The GRP were calculated as follows: 

o 

o 

in thousands (GRP(000)): the number of times an advertising spot was seen, which is 
also referred to as the ‘gross impressions’40 of an advertising spot; and 
In percentages (GRP%): the gross impressions of an advertising spot in a specific 

target group divided by the universe of that target group. 

The GRP can be interpreted as the total number of times an advertising spot was seen in 

either absolute terms (GRP(000)) or as a percentage of the target group (GRP%). Hence,  

GRP measure the exposure to alcohol advertising, which is referred to as ‘alcohol impacts’ 

throughout this report. 

-  Universe is defined as the total number of people per target group.  

40   It is called ‘gross impressions’ as it includes multiple exposures for some or all of the people that are 

exposed to an advertising spot. For example, if five people see an advertising spot two times, this counts 
as 10 gross impressions. 

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In the next section we present the main findings of the analysis for Research Question 1 
(section 4.1). Next, we discuss the results of the analysis of the general viewing pattern 
data (section 4.2.) followed by a discussion of the findings with regard to the exposure 
to alcohol advertising based on the WFA/Ebiquity dataset (section 4.3) and the in-depth 
analysis of the nine selected Member States based on the GfK/Dentsu Aegis data 
(section 4.4). Subsequently, we present the results of the analysis of absolute and 
relative daily average alcohol impacts, including the weighting by average daily viewing 
ratings (section 4.5). Finally, we discuss the main limitations of the approach and 
methodology used (section 4.6). 

4.1.  Summary of main findings 

On average, a minor in the EU saw 200 alcohol impacts and an adult over 450 in 2013 
The analysis of both the WFA/Ebiquity dataset and the GfK/Dentsu Aegis dataset41 
revealed that, on average, approximately 7.3% of the total number of alcohol impacts 
seen in the EU on linear AV media services in 2013 were seen by minors. For the nine 
selected Member States this ranges from 5.0% to 9.0%.  

In absolute numbers this means that, on average, a minor in the EU saw 200 alcohol 
impacts and an adult over 450 in 2013. Similar results were seen for each Member State. 
A further breakdown of these results by distinguishing between two age groups for 
minors shows that a 15-17 year old on average saw almost 300 alcohol impacts in 2013 
and a minor aged 4-14 year old 180. Hence, the average number of alcohol impacts, an 
individual saw on linear media services in the nine selected Member States, increases 
with age. 

1.8% of all advertising impacts seen by minors are for alcohol advertising  
Based on the data in the WFA/Ebiquity dataset we found that the percentage of alcohol 
impacts of total market impacts is on average 1.8% for minors and 2.2% for adults.  

Most impacts are seen for the sector ‘beer’ 
In the selection of Member States the sector ‘beer’ has the highest share in both the 
number of spots and the number of impacts seen. 

Consistent results across datasets 
The analysis for Research Question 1 is based on two datasets: data collected from 
GfK/Dentsu Aegis, and (2) the WFA/Ebiquity dataset. For both datasets a global 
breakdown of the number of alcohol spots and alcohol impacts in 2013 is analysed and, 
although there were a few differences between the datasets in terms of the definition of 
age groups and sectors, the findings are consistent.  

The difference in the level of exposure to alcohol advertising between minors and adults 
may be partly explained by the differences in their viewing habits  
The analysis of the viewing data for the nine Member States  revealed that the viewing 
patterns of adults and minors differed. In order to analyse if this difference in viewing 
habits may explain the difference in the level of exposure to alcohol advertising between 
minors and adults, we weighted the absolute daily average alcohol impacts by the 
average daily viewing rates per age group.  

41   For more information on these datasets, please see Chapter 2. 

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We found that after applying this weighting, the difference between the exposure of 
minors and the exposure of adults to alcohol advertising on linear AV media services was 
reduced. We also applied a weighting based on the average viewing rates per age group 
for a subset of channels, namely those channels that include alcohol advertising. The 
results showed that applying this weighting further reduced the difference in exposure 
between minors and adults. In several of the nine selected MS, this weighted value was 
even higher for minors than for adults.  

Hence, the difference in the level of exposure to alcohol advertising between minors and 
adults may be partly explained by the differences in their viewing habits, both in terms of 
how often they watch television, and which channels they watch. 

Majority of alcohol impacts is seen on commercial and generalist channels 
An analysis of the breakdown of alcohol impacts by the type of channel revealed that in 
all Member States, the majority of both alcohol spots and alcohol impacts were seen on 
commercial channels. However, the average impact per spot appeared to be higher on 
public channels. Moreover, the results indicated that while in most Member States the 
majority of spots were on generalist (i.e., not topic-specific) channels or on 
‘Entertainment, Series, Movies’ channels, the majority of impacts was seen on generalist 
channels. This may be explained by the relatively high viewing rating for these channels.  

Exposure to alcohol advertising peaks in the evening 
When looking at difference in terms of alcohol impacts throughout a day, we found that 
for the adults the peak day part was between 21:00 and 23:59 in all Member States. 
With the exception of one Member State, this was also the peak day part for the 15-17 
years olds. For the 4-14 year olds the peak day part was between 17:00 and 20:59 in 
four Member States and between 21:00 and 23:50 in five Member States. Comparing 
these results with the peak day parts in terms of viewing patterns, we saw that for all 
age groups, in all nine Member States, the peak day part in terms of number of alcohol 
impacts was either the same as the peak day part for viewing patterns or one day part 
later.  

With regard to hourly timeslots we found that in each selected Member State the alcohol 
impacts for all age groups followed a rather similar pattern with a peak in the evening. In 
four of the nine selected Member States, the peak hourly timeslot was the same across 
age groups.  

Within Member States, exposure to alcohol advertising is highest for all age groups on 
the same week day 
Finally, the results showed that there is a strong diversity across Member States in terms 
of the weekday with the highest number of impacts seen. Also within Member States 
differences between age groups were observed, but in the majority of Member States, all 
age groups saw on average the most impacts on the same weekday. 

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4.2.  Viewing patterns 

In order to set the scene for the analysis of the exposure of minors to alcohol 
advertising, we first present the findings with regard to general viewing patterns.  

The data on general viewing patterns concerns ratings, in both thousands and 
percentages, per hourly timeslot, in 2013 for the nine selected Member States. This data 
was obtained from GfK/Dentsu Aegis. As explained in section 2.3.1 (Chapter 2), this 
data source covers a selected sample of channels in the Member States analysed42. 
Because of differences in the level of coverage of cumulative audience shares between 
Member States, cross-country comparisons should be made with caution. 

Central focus of our analysis of viewing patterns is the breakdown between the following 
three age groups: 4-14 year olds, 15-17 year olds, and people aged 18+. For each of 
these age groups, we first present the average daily rating, after which we provide a 
break down by: 
  day parts; 
  hourly time slots; and 
channel category. 
 

The findings outlined in this chapter are based on the information presented in the 
country reports in Annex C (separate document). 

4.2.1.  Average daily ratings 
Before providing more detailed information on the general viewing patterns in each of 
the nine selected Member States, we first present the average daily rating in 2013 in 
rat%.  

Table 4.1 Daily average viewing rating, per age group (year = 2013; in rat%) 

Daily average rating 

4-14 year olds 

15-17 year olds 

18+ year olds 

(000) 

AT 

CZ 

FI 

DE 

IT 

NL 

RO 

ES 

81 

119 

104  

63 

99  

116  

383  

118  

103  

117  

67  

53  

117  

103  

313  

106  

UK 
Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

65 

70 

190  

249  

201  

189  

276  

257  

454  

229  

167 

From Table 4.1 it can be inferred that in each Member State, the daily average rating in 
2013 was higher for adults than for minors.  

In three Member States (Austria, Italy, and the United Kingdom) the average daily 

42   For an overview of the selected sample of channels per Member State, please refer to the country reports 

presented in Annex C (separate document). 

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ratings increase with age, whereas in the other six selected Member States the numbers 
are higher for the 4-14 year olds than for the 15-17 year olds.  

The average daily ratings will serve as an input for the weighting of the daily average 
alcohol impacts (see Section 4.5).  

Next, we present the results for the different breakdowns of the viewing ratings, which 
provide more detailed information on the general viewing patterns for the three age 
groups in the nine selected Member States.  

4.2.2.  Viewing patterns by day part 
Tables 4.2 – 4.4 provide a breakdown of average hourly viewing rates, expressed as a 
percentage of the universe, by day part for the three age groups per selected Member 
State. Orange marked fields signal the highest value within a Member State for the 
various day parts. 

Table 4.2 Average hourly viewing rating by day part, age group 4-14 (year = 
2013; in rat%) 

Day part 

AT 

CZ 

FI 

DE 

IT 

NL 

RO 

06:00 - 09:59 

10:00 - 16:59 

17:00 - 20:59 

21:00 - 23:59 

1.7 

3.4 

8.0 

5.2 

3.8 

5.1 

12.6 

5.7 

7.0 

3.9 

9.6 

3.2 

1.6 

2.6 

5.8 

4.5 

1.5 

4.2 

6.5 

11.5 

3.5 

3.6 

12.4 

8.5 

00:00 - 05:59 
Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 
Note: Orange marked fields signal the highest value within a Member State for the various day parts. 

0.3 

0.6 

0.2 

3.4 

0.4 

0.2 

0.1 

1.1 

Table 4.3 Average hourly viewing rating by day part, age group 15-17 (year = 
2013; in rat%) 

Day part 

AT 

CZ 

FI 

DE 

IT 

NL 

RO 

06:00 - 09:59 

10:00 - 16:59 

17:00 - 20:59 

21:00 - 23:59 

0.9 

3.8 

8.6 

9.3 

1.4 

4.6 

11.1 

10.1 

0.6 

1.8 

7.9 

6.4 

0.5 

2.0 

4.1 

5.4 

0.8 

5.5 

7.2 

13.4 

0.8 

1.6 

10.2 

14.7 

00:00 - 05:59 
0.8 
Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 
Note: Orange marked fields signal the highest value within a Member State for the various day parts. 

0.7 

0.7 

3.8 

0.2 

1.7 

1 

2.3 

ES 

1.7 

6.0 

7.1 

9.5 

18.3 

28.6 

27.2 

11.2 

ES 

0.6 

4.9 

5.3 

5.3 

13.1 

24.4 

26.6 

11.3 

UK 

1.7 

2.1 

8.1 

3.5 

0.1 

UK 

0.6 

2.0 

7.9 

6.8 

0.2 

Table 4.4 Average hourly viewing rating by day part, age group18+ (year = 
2013; in rat%) 

Day part 

AT 

CZ 

FI 

DE 

IT 

NL 

RO 

ES 

UK 

06:00 - 09:59 

10:00 - 16:59 

1.9 

6.0 

17:00 - 20:59 

17.6 

21:00 - 23:59 

17.6 

3.5 

8.6 

25.6 

20.7 

4.3 

3.6 

22.8 

20.5 

2.5 

6.8 

15.7 

18.2 

4.7 

13.3 

18.9 

24.9 

2.5 

3.7 

25.4 

34.5 

12.9 

17.0 

33.0 

1.7 

10.0 

14.5 

36.1 

22.2 

00:00 - 05:59 
Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 
Note: Orange marked fields signal the highest value within a Member State for the various day parts. 

0.9 

2.3 

2.3 

2.7 

7.2 

2.8 

1.8 

4.6 

2.3 

5.7 

18.0 

14.4 

0.5 

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The results indicate that in each selected Member State for each age group, average 
hourly viewing ratings increased over the day until they peaked and then declined again. 

Table 4.2 shows that for the 4-14 year olds the day part with the highest average hourly 
viewing rates was 17:00-20:59 in all selected Member States except Italy and Spain. In 
these two Member States the peak for this age group is observed in the day part 21:00-
23:59.  

For the older two age groups it can inferred from Tables 4.3 and 4.4. that in each 
selected Member State the day part with the highest average hourly ratings was the 
same for the 15-17 year olds and the adults.  

In addition, the results of the analysis by day part show that there are five Member 
States for which the day part with the highest average hourly ratings was the same for 
all age groups:  
 
 
In the other four Member States (Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and Romania) the 
peak in average hourly viewing ratings for the 4-8 year olds occurred one day part earlier 
than those for the older two age groups.   

In Czech Republic, Finland and the UK this is the case for the day part 17:00-20:59; 
In Italy and Spain this is the case for the day part 21:00-23:59. 

The day part with the lowest average hourly ratings for the youngest age group (4-14 
year olds) was 00:00-05:59 in all selected Member States. In Czech Republic, Finland, 
Romania and the UK this is the day part with the lowest average hourly viewing rates for 
all age groups. For the other age groups this varied per Member State: 
 

in Austria and Spain the day part with the lowest average hourly viewing ratings was 
the day part 06:00-09:59 for both the 15-17 year olds and the adults;  
in Germany and Italy the day part with the lowest average hourly viewing ratings was 
the day part 06:00-09:59 for the 15-17 year olds and the day part 00:00-05:59 for 
the adults; and 
in the Netherlands the day part with the lowest average hourly viewing ratings was 
the day part 00:00-05:59 for the 15-17 year olds and the day part 06:00-09:59 for 
the adults.  

 

 

4.2.3.  Viewing patterns by hourly timeslot 
Figure 4.1 - Figure 4.9 present the average viewing rates per hourly timeslot, for the 
three age groups in each Member State. These figures show that in each Member State 
the viewing rates followed similar patterns for the different age groups.  

The viewing patterns show increasing rates over the day with the highest peak during in 
the evening. A distinct second peak was observed in Italy in the early afternoon. For the 
other Member States, the viewing pattern showed a more gradual increase to the prime 
time peak in the evening. In all Member States, there was a steep decline in viewing 
ratings after the evening peak.  

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Figure 4.1 Average viewing rating by hour, Austria (year = 2013; in rat%) 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

Figure 4.2 Average viewing rating by hour, Czech republic (year = 2013; in rat%) 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

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Figure 4.3 Average viewing rating by hour, Finland  
(year = 2013; in rat%)  

Figure 4.4 Average viewing rating by hour, Germany 
(year = 2013; in rat%) 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

Source:   Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

Figure 4.5 Average viewing rating by hour, Italy    
(year = 2013; in rat%)  

Figure 4.6 Average viewing rating by hour, The Netherlands 
(year = 2013; in rat%) 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

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Figure 4.7 Average viewing rating by hour, Romania 

Figure 4.8 Average viewing rating by hour, Spain  

(year = 2013; in rat%)   

(year = 2013; in rat%) 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

 Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis.  

Figure 4.9 Average viewing rating by hour, United Kingdom (year = 2013; in rat%) 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

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As can be seen from the figures, peak hours differ across Member States and across age 
groups. Figures 4.10 to 4.12 present the peak hours per Member State in a map and the 
average ratings during these peak hours (both in absolute values and as percentages of 
the universe) in the table. Overall, the spread in peak hours across Member States is 
lowest for the 15-17 year olds. The maps also illustrate that peak hours tend to be later 
in the more Southern and Eastern Member States.  

Figure 4.10 Peak hours and average ratings in peak hours, 4-14 year olds (year = 2013; 

in rat%/rat000) 

Member State  Average rating  

Austria 

10.6% 

94,000 

Czech Republic 

14.4% 

Finland 

Germany 

Italy 

173,000 

13.1% 

113,000 

8.2% 

591,000 

15.3% 

946,000 

The Netherlands  16.6% 

Romania 

Spain 

372,00 

37.2% 

827,000 

12.8% 

649,000 

United Kingdom  9.3% 

727,000 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

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Figure 4.11 Peak hours and average ratings in peak hours, 15-17 year olds (year = 
2013; in rat%/rat000) 
Member 
State 

. 

Average rating 
during peak 
hour 
12.4% 
37,000 

Austria 

Czech 

Republic 

Finland 

Germany 

Italy 

The 

Netherlands 

Romania 

Spain 

United 

Kingdom 

16.1% 
45,000 

12.4% 
31,000 
7.6% 
198,000 
15.7% 
271,000 
19.4% 
121,000 

33.9% 
194,000 
13.6% 
185,000 
10.0% 
223,000 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis 

Figure 4.12 Peak hours and average ratings in these hours, 18+ year olds (year = 2013; 

in rat%/rat000) 

Member State  Average 

viewing 

rating during 

peak hour 

24.3% 

1,618,00 

Austria 

Czech Republic 

34.2% 

Finland 

2,889,000 

31.1% 

1,425,000 

Germany 

24.7% 

Italy 

15,171,000 

30.0% 

15,009,000 

The Netherlands  41.8% 

5,402,000 

Romania 

43.9% 

Spain 

7,123,000 

23.9% 

8,994,000 

United Kingdom  21.3% 

10,177,000 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

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4.2.4.  Viewing patterns by channel categories 
For the viewing data we made a split in channel categories on the basis of: 
 
 
The country reports (Annex C, separate document) contain detailed information on 
viewing patterns by individual channel. 

the channel’s target group: children or general; and 
the channel’s type: public or commercial. 

Channel’s target group 
Figure 4.13 presents the share of average hourly viewing rates by the channel’s target 
group, per age group, for all nine Member States together. These overall shares are 
calculated as the sum of average viewing rates per channel’s target group across 
Member States. The figure illustrates that on average, the share of children channels in 
viewing rates decreased with age, compared to that of general channels.  

Figure 4.13 Share of average hourly viewing ratings by channel’s target group (year = 

2013)   

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

Figure 4.14 presents the per Member State shares of hourly viewing rates for children’s 
channels, broken down by age group. The figure also includes the overall results of the 
nine selected Member States combined as presented in Figure 4.14, labelled as “All”.  

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Figure 4.14 Share of average hourly viewing ratings for children’s channels, by Member 

State (year = 2013) 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

The general pattern of declining shares of children channels in average hourly viewing 
rates with higher age categories holds for most Member States. Main exceptions are 
Italy and Finland, where the shares for the age category 18+ were higher than for the 
age category 15-17, but both were still well below those of the age group 4-14. 

Channel’s type 
Figure 4.15 presents the share of average hourly viewing rates by the channel’s type 
(public or commercial), per age group, for all nine Member States together. This figure 
illustrates that on average, the share of public channels in average hourly viewing rates 
increased with age, compared to that of commercial channels. This may be partly 
explained by the fact that the majority of children channels are commercial channels and 
the breakdown between children and general channels as presented above is also 
reflected in the viewing patters for type of channel. 

Figure 4.15 Share of average hourly viewing ratings by channel type (year = 2013) 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

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Figure 4.16 presents the per Member State results for this split by reporting the 
percentage for public channels and also includes the overall results for the nine Member 
States, as presented in Figure 4.15.  

Figure 4.16 Share of average hourly viewing ratings for public channels, by Member 

State (year = 2013) 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 
Note: Finland and Spain have been excluded from Figure 4.16, as the data set only contains commercial 
channels for these Member States. 

4.3.  Exposure to alcohol advertising – WFA/Ebiquity data 

As described in Chapter 2, we received a dataset on global advertising 
impacts that was compiled by the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) 
and checked by Ebiquity.  

The data contains information on spots and global impacts for 
both the total market and alcohol brands for the full year 2013. 
For a more elaborate description on the dataset, please refer 
to section 2.3.2 (Chapter 2). 

Next to the nine Member States selected for this 
study (marked dark blue on the map), the data set 
covers an additional 14 Member States (marked 
light blue on the map): 
  Belgium; 
  Bulgaria; 
  Croatia; 
  Denmark; 

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  Estonia; 
  Greece; 
  Hungary;  
Ireland; 
 
  Latvia; 
  Lithuania; 
  Poland; 
  Portugal; 
  Slovakia; 
  Slovenia. 

The number of channels covered in the WFA/Ebiquity data exceeds the channels covered 
in the GfK/Dentsu Aegis dataset. 

Based on this data, an analysis was conducted in order to assess: 
  The exposure of minors (under-LPA audience) to alcohol advertising, including their 
exposure to alcohol advertising compared to that of this at LPA or above; and  
  Minors’ (under-LPA audience) exposure to alcohol advertising as compared to their 

exposure to total advertising.  

The results are presented in three sections: 
  Number of spots; 
  Exposure of minors to advertising (advertising impacts); 
  Alcohol advertising per sector. 

All tables and figures present information for the 23 Member States individually and 
when relative data is presented, a total for all Member States and a total for the nine 
selected Member States is included as well. The total is based on the sum of impacts and 
universes across all Member States and the ‘9MS’ is based on the sum of impacts and 
universes in the WFA/Ebiquity data for the nine selected Member States. These figures 
are added to facilitate comparisons between the total sample in this dataset and the nine 
selected Member States for the in-depth analysis (i.e. to illustrate in how far these nine 
Member States appear to be representative for the total sample). Moreover, it enables 
comparison between this dataset and the GfK/Dentsu Aegis dataset, for which the 
findings of the analysis are presented in section 4.4.  

4.3.1.  Number of spots 
The total number of spots is presented in Figure 4.17. Between Member States, there is 
a high variation in the number of spots, which ranges from almost 900.000 spots in 
Slovakia to almost 40.000.000 spots in the UK.  

This variation may be explained by differences in the level of market fragmentation 
between the Member States. For example, in the UK, there are over 500 channels 
available43 and the channel with the highest market share, BBC, does not carry 
advertising. Spain is also one of the nine selected Member States that, next to the UK, is 
in the top-3 of Member States with the highest number of spots. As in the UK, the main 
public channel in Spain, TVE, does not carry advertising, and as there is a large number 

43   Source: European Journalism Centre (http://ejc.net/). 

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of (niche) channels with smaller audiences, there is a relatively high level of market 
fragmentation. Member States such as Austria and Finland, on the other hand, have a 
relatively high degree of market concentration, which may explain the relatively low 
number of spots in these markets.  

Figure 4.17 Total number of spots (total market) per Member State (year = 2013) 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source WFA/Ebiquity. 

The total number of alcohol spots is presented in Figure 4.18. Also here, we observe 
substantial differences between Member States. The number of alcohol spots ranges 
from approximately 8,400 in Finland to approximately 670,000 in the UK.  

Figure 4.18 Total number of alcohol spots per Member State (year = 2013) 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source WFA/Ebiquity. 

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The number of alcohol spots as a proportion of total market spots, as presented in 
Figure 4.19, is highest in Croatia (4.8%) and lowest in Slovenia (0.4%). In all 23 
Member States together, as well as for the selected nine Member States (9MS in the 
figure), this proportion is 1.9%.  

Figure 4.19 Total number of alcohol spots as a proportion of total number of spots (total 

market), per Member State (year = 2013) 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source WFA/Ebiquity. 

4.3.2.  Exposure of minors to (alcohol) advertising 
The analysis of exposure of minors to (alcohol) advertising is split in two dimensions: 
  Exposure of under-LPA audience to advertising, compared to exposure of LPA 

audience (both for total market and for alcohol brands); and 

  Exposure of under-LPA audience to alcohol advertising, compared to their overall 

exposure to advertising.  

Exposure of under-LPA audience to advertising compared to the exposure of 
LPA audience 
Figure 4.20 shows the number of total market advertising impacts that an average 
individual, per audience group, has seen. The average number of total market impacts 
seen per person in a group is highest for both under-LPA and LPA audience in Portugal 
and lowest for LPA audience in Slovakia and for under-LPA audience in Finland.  

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Figure 4.20 Total market: impact divided by the universe, per audience group (year = 

2013) 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source WFA/Ebiquity. 

Figure 4.21 presents the average number of alcohol impacts seen per person in an 
audience group. For both the under-LPA and LPA audience the average number of 
alcohol impacts seen per person in an audience group is highest in Romania and lowest 
in Finland.  

For all Member States, the average number of alcohol impacts seen per person in an 
audience group is lower for under LPA audience than that for LPA audience. There is a 
significant variation across Member States in the size of this difference. In Member 
States like Bulgaria, Poland and many of the smaller Member States, the per person 
impacts seen by persons under LPA is half or less than the impact seen by persons 
above LPA. Meanwhile, for Croatia and Latvia, Greece and Slovenia, the difference in 

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impact between both groups is relatively small. 

Figure 4.21 Alcohol brands: impact divided by the Universe, per audience group (year = 

2013; in GRP) 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source WFA/Ebiquity. 

Exposure of under-LPA audience to alcohol advertising, compared to exposure 
to total market advertising 
Next we compare alcohol advertising impacts to total market advertising impacts. Figure 
4.22 presents alcohol impacts as a percentage of total market impacts for each Member 
State, split by audience group. 

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The figure shows that the same Member States with a high absolute number of alcohol  
impacts show a high relative share of alcohol impacts. For all 23 Member States 
together, the number of alcohol impacts equals 1.7% and 2.1% of total market impacts 
for under-LPA and LPA audience respectively.  

Figure 4.22 Impact of alcohol brand spots as a percentage of total market impact, by 

audience group (year = 2013) 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source WFA/Ebiquity. 

Next we consider the number of impacts seen by under-LPA audience as a percentage of 
the total number of impacts seen, both for the total market (Figure 4.23) and for alcohol 
brands (Figure 4.24).  

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In total, 8.7% of total market impacts and 7.2% of alcohol impacts were seen by 
minors. For individual Member States, the figures for the total market are highest for 
Ireland (12.0%) and lowest for Bulgaria (5.7%). For alcohol brands, this percentage is 
highest in Croatia (12.9%) and lowest in Denmark (4.9%).  

Figure 4.23 Total market: Impacts seen by under-LPA audience as a percentage of total 

impacts seen (year = 2013) 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source WFA/Ebiquity. 

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Figure 4.24 Alcohol brands: Impacts seen by under-LPA audience as a percentage of 

total impacts seen (year = 2013) 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source WFA/Ebiquity. 

4.3.3.  Alcohol advertising per sector 
Figure 4.25 presents the number of alcohol spots, broken down by sector. Throughout 
this Chapter, a ‘sector’ refers to the type of alcohol (beer, wine, spirits) that is 
advertised. It shows that in most Member States, the sector ‘beer’ has the highest share 
in the total number of alcohol spots with the exception of Czech Republic and Italy. In 
these Member States the sector ‘spirits’ has the highest share. 

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Figure 4.25 Number of alcohol spots per sector (year = 2013) 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source WFA/Ebiquity. 
Note: No data available on the split between sectors for Croatia, Estonia and Slovakia. ‘TOTAL’ and ‘9MS’ only 
include the Member States for which data on the split per sector was available. 

Figure 4.26 – 4.28 illustrate the split between sectors in terms of alcohol impacts, first in 
total (Figure 4.26) and next for both age groups separately (Figure 4.27 for LPA 
audience and Figure 4.28 for under-LPA audience).  

For four Member States there is no information on the splits between sectors in terms of 
alcohol impacts: Austria, Croatia, Estonia and Slovakia. Those Member States are 
therefore not included in the graphs and ‘TOTAL’ and ‘9MS’ are calculated on the basis of 
the Member States for which all data is available.  

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Figure 4.26 Split of alcohol impacts between sectors, total (year = 2013) 

Note: ‘9 MS’ does not include figures for Austria, because there is no information available on the splits 
between sectors in terms of alcohol impacts for Austria.  
Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source WFA/Ebiquity. 

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Figure 4.27 Split of alcohol impacts between sectors, LPA+ 
(year = 2013) 

Figure 4.28 Split of alcohol impacts between sectors,  
Under LPA (year = 2013) 

Note: ‘9 MS’ does not include figures for Austria, because there is no information available    
on the splits between sectors in terms of alcohol impacts for Austria.    
Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source WFA/Ebiquity. 

Note: ‘9 MS’ does not include figures for Austria, because there is no information available  
on the splits between sectors in terms of alcohol impacts for Austria.  
Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source WFA/Ebiquity.  

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4.4.  Exposure to alcohol advertising - 9 selected Member States (GfK/Dentsu 

Aegis data) 

This section presents the findings of the analysis of spotlist data on alcohol 
advertisement in 2013 for the nine selected Member States, which was obtained from 
GfK/Dentsu Aegis. This dataset contains more channels than the dataset on general 
viewing patterns and can be considered (nearly) comprehensive. For an overview of all 
channels included in this dataset, please refer to Annex D (separate document).  

Firstly, the aim of the analysis of this GfK/Dentsu Aegis data was to provide a global 
breakdown of alcohol impacts in 2013 in the nine selected Member States. The results of 
this breakdown are presented in three sections: 
  Number of alcohol spots per Member State; 
  Exposure to alcohol advertising per age group; 
  Exposure to alcohol advertising per sector. 
In addition to a presentation of the findings of this breakdown, these sections provide a 
comparison of these findings with those from the analysis of the WFA/Ebiquity dataset. 
Due to the lack of information on total market spots and impacts in the GfK/Dentsu Aegis 
dataset, such a comparison is only possible for figures on alcohol spots and impacts. 
Although there were a few differences between the datasets in terms of the definition of 
age groups, the findings are consistent. 

Next to a global breakdown, we also conducted an in-depth analysis for the nine selected 
Member States. The results of this detailed breakdown of the data on alcohol spots and 
impacts are presented in four sections: 
  Breakdown by channel category; 
  Breakdown by day part; 
  Breakdown by hourly timeslot; 
  Breakdown by weekday. 

4.4.1.  Number of alcohol spots per Member State 
Figure 4.29 shows the total number of alcohol spots in 2013 in the nine selected Member 
States.  

As can be observed from the figure, the United Kingdom had the highest number of 
alcohol spots in 2013. This nearly double the number of alcohol spots in Romania, the 
Member State with the second-highest figure. The Member State with the lowest number 
of alcohol spots in 2013 was Finland. As discussed in section 4.3.1, this may be 
explained by the difference in the level of market fragmentation between the Member 
States.  

The results presented in Figure 4.29 resemble those based on a similar analysis of 
WFA/Ebiquity data.  

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Figure 4.29 Total number of alcohol spots per Member State (year = 2013) 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

4.4.2.  Exposure to alcohol advertising per age group 
In this section we present the results on the exposure to alcohol advertising by age 
group based on the following three analyses for the nine selected Member States in 
2013: 
 
 
 

the average number of alcohol impacts seen by an individual per age group;  
the average daily alcohol impacts for an individual per age group;  
the exposure of minors as a percentage of total exposure to alcohol advertising. 

Average number of alcohol impacts seen by an individual per age group in 2013 
Figure 4.30 shows the total number of alcohol impacts for minors and adults divided by 
the universe, i.e. the average number of alcohol impacts seen by an individual aged 4-
17 and 18+.  

Figure 4.30 shows that on average a minor (4-17 year old) in one of the nine selected 
Member States has seen approximately 200 alcohol impacts in 2013. In comparison, the 
number of alcohol impacts seen by an adult was on average more than 450 (more than 
twice as much as that of seen by a minor). 

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Figure 4.30 Number of alcohol impacts divided by the universe, breakdown by minors 

and adults (year = 2013; in GRP000) 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

Figure 4.31 provides a further breakdown of these results by distinguishing between two 
age groups for minors: 4-14 and 15-17 year olds. These results show that a 15-17 year 
old on average saw almost 300 alcohol impacts in 2013 and a minor aged 4-14 year old 
– 180. Hence, the average number of alcohol impacts, an individual saw on linear media 
services in the nine selected Member States, increases with age.  

Figure 4.31 Number of alcohol impacts divided by the universe, breakdown by age group 

(year = 2013; in GRP000) 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

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When comparing the results of this analysis with the ones presented in Section 4.3.2, it 
should be taken into account that the uniform age groups used in this section do not 
necessarily match with the under-LPA/LPA audiences used throughout Section 4.3. As 
the LPA differs across Member States, the comparison is less straightforward. 
Nonetheless, we observe quite similar figures for most of the Member States. The results 
for the nine selected Member States together are also consistent across datasets. In 
addition, the results for the total sample (23 Member States) in the WFA/Ebiquity 
dataset are also similar, which provides an indication that the nine selected Member 
States are a representative sample.  

Daily average absolute alcohol impacts  
Next we analysed the daily average absolute alcohol impacts per age group.  

Tables 4.5 and 4.6 present the total daily average absolute impacts in GRP000 and 
GRP% per age group for each of the nine selected Member States separately as well as in 
total. This was calculated as a sum of GRPs per age group for the full year divided by the 
number of days in 2013 (365). 

Table 4.5 Daily average absolute alcohol impacts  (in GRP000), per age group, 2013 

Daily average 

4-14 year olds 

15-17 year olds  Minors total (4-

18+ year olds 

Total 9MS 
 Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

Table 4.6 Daily average alcohol impact (in GRP%) per individual, per age group, 2013 

Daily average 

4-14 year olds 

15-17 year olds  Minors total (4-

18+ year olds 

152 

708 

42 

3696 

101 

264 

22 

2461 

17% 

64% 

6% 

52% 

34% 

95% 

12% 

95% 

impact (000) 

Austria 

Czech Republic 

Finland 

Germany 

Italy 

The Netherlands 

Romania 

Spain 

United Kingdom 

impact (000) 

Austria 

Czech Republic 

Finland 

Germany 

Italy 

The Netherlands 

Romania 

Spain 

United Kingdom 

2498 
742 
4306 
1424 
2803 
16371 

40% 
34% 
196% 
29% 
36% 
49% 

1048 
478 
1402 
608 
1478 
7862 

61% 
78% 
244% 
45% 
67% 
80% 

17 year olds) 

253 

972 

64 

6157 

3546 
1221 
5708 
2032 
4281 
24233 

3480 

12872 

1046 

80019 

53161 
16762 
57685 
28642 
53519 
307186 

17 year olds) 

21% 

71% 

7% 

63% 

45% 
43% 
206% 
32% 
43% 
56% 

52% 

153% 

25% 

130% 

106% 
132% 
356% 
77% 
115% 
126% 

Total 9MS 
 Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

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These results again confirm that the exposure to alcohol advertising increases with age. 
In addition, the results show that the difference in these figures between minors and 
adults is relatively small in Member States with a relatively high daily average alcohol 
impact per individual  (e.g. Romania, Czech Republic and Germany).  

Exposure of minors to alcohol advertising as a percentage of total exposure to 
alcohol advertising  
Figure 4.32 presents the number of alcohol impacts seen by minors as a share of the 
total number of alcohol impacts per Member State. As can be observed, between 5.8% 
and 9.0% of all alcohol impacts in a Member State are seen by minors. The results are 
similar to those found in the analysis of the WFA/Ebiquity data. 

Figure 4.32 Alcohol impacts seen by minors as a percentage of total impact (year = 

2013) 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

4.4.3.  Exposure to alcohol advertising per sector 
The sector definitions that we used for the analysis on the Member State level are 
presented in the country reports in Annex C (separate document). These definitions may 
slightly diverge from definitions used in national regulations, which may explain why the 
results sometimes indicate spots and impacts in a certain sector whereas these are 
prohibited according to regulation. Examples of this can be found in Austria, Finland and 
Spain where there is a ban on spirits advertising44.  

Figure 4.33 presents the share of alcohol spots broken down by sector. In all Member 
States with the exception of Czech Republic, most spots are for beer. In Czech Republic, 
spirits is the most commonly advertised type of product. On the contrary, in Spain and 
Romania, the relative number of spots for sprits is quite low. 

44   Source: DG Connect, Table on national rules on commercial communications and promotion of European 

works 
(http://ec.europa.eu/archives/information_society/avpolicy/docs/reg/tvwf/contact_comm/35_table_1.pdf). 

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This figure in general resembles the figures in section 4.3.3 with two notable exceptions. 
In Finland, there are no spots labelled as ‘spirits’ or ‘wine’ in the WFA/Ebiquity dataset, 
while such spots are present in the GfK/Dentsu Aegis dataset. The most likely 
explanation is that in the WFA/Ebiquity data the spots in Finland for ‘wine’ and ‘spirits’ 
have been classified as ‘other’. Moreover, the share of beer advertisements differs 
between both datasets: it is 50% in the WFA/Ebiquity dataset as opposed to nearly 70% 
according to GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

In Italy, the share of spots for spirits is significantly lower in the GfK/Dentsu Aegis 
dataset (around 30%) than that in the WFA/Ebiquity dataset, where the share is close to 
50%. No explanation for these differences has been identified.  

Figure 4.33 Share of alcohol spots by sector (year = 2013) 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

Figure 4.34 presents the alcohol impacts per sector. The patterns roughly resemble 
those on the number of spots, with beer having the highest shares – in terms of impacts 
also for Czech Republic – and wine and ‘other’ have the lowest share.  

The figures also indicate that for all nine Member States together, as well as for multiple 
individual Member States (Austria, Finland, Germany, Italy, Netherlands), the share of 
wine is higher in terms of impacts than in terms of spots, indicating relatively high 
impact per spot for the wine sector.  

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Figure 4.34 Share of alcohol impacts by sector (year = 2013) 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

The next figures (4.35-4.43) present the breakdown of impacts by sector per age group 
for each of the selected Member States. As the figures show, all age groups in all 
Member States are most exposed to beer ads and the patterns among the age groups 
are very similar. A pattern that prevails in some Member States is that adults are 
relatively more exposed to wine ads than minors, but these differences are rather 
modest. Other than that, no typical relation between age group and impacts per sector 
can be identified. Hence, both minors and adults see similar shares of impacts for beer, 
wine, spirits and other alcoholic beverages per Member State.  

The overall breakdown of impacts per sector shows a fair resemblance with the results 
obtained in section 4.3.3, where the patterns of exposure are quite similar between the 
under LPA and LPA audiences. 

Figure 4.35 Share of alcohol impact by 
sector, per age group, Austria (year=2013)

Figure 4.36 Share of alcohol impact by 
sector in, per age group, Czech Republic 
(year = 2013) 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source 
GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source 
GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

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Figure 4.37 Share of alcohol impact by sector in, per age group,  
Finland (year = 2013) 

Figure 4.38 Share of alcohol impact by sector in, per age group,  
Germany (year = 2013) 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

Figure 4.39 Share of alcohol impact by sector in, per age group,  
Italy (year = 2013) 

Figure 4.40 Share of alcohol impact by sector in, per age group,  
Netherlands (year = 2013) 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis.  

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

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Figure 4.41 Share of alcohol impact by sector in, per age group,  
Romania (year = 2013) 

Figure 4.42 Share of alcohol impact by sector in, per age group,  
Spain (year = 2013) 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis  

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

Figure 4.43 Share of alcohol impact by sector in, per age group,  
United Kingdom (year = 2013) 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis.  

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4.4.4.  Breakdown by channel category 
The number of alcohol spots is also broken down by channel category. The breakdown of 
the number of spots per channel type is presented in Figure 4.44. This figure shows that 
the majority of alcohol spots in 2013 were aired on commercial channels. The Member 
State with the relatively highest share of alcohol spots on public channels is Spain 
(14%) and the lowest is Finland (with 0%).  

Figure 4.44 Share of alcohol spots by channel type, per Member State (year = 2013) 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

In addition to the number of alcohol spots, the share of alcohol impacts by channel type 
is investigated. The results are presented in Figure 4.45. In all Member States the share 
of public channels is higher in terms of impacts than in terms of spots, indicating 
relatively high viewership for the public channels.  

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Figure 4.45 Share of alcohol impacts by channel type, per Member State (year = 2013) 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

4.4.5.  Breakdown by day part 
Table 4.7, Table 4.8 and Table 4.9 present for each of the nine Member States the total 
number of alcohol impacts per day part (in absolute numbers) and the number of 
alcohol impacts per day part as a percentage of the universe (in GRP%).  

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FI 

IT 

CZ 

AT 

NL 

DE 

Table 4.7 Total alcohol impacts per day part in absolute numbers and as % of the 
universe, age group 4-14 years old (year = 2013; in GRP000 and GRP%) 
Day 
part 
06:00 - 
09:59 
10:00 - 
16:59 
17:00 - 
20:59 
21:00 - 
23:59 
00:00 - 
05:59 

27 
2.5% 
148 
13.5% 
403 
36.7% 
204 
18.6% 
10 
1.0% 

101 
1.4% 
294 
4.1% 
1,726 
24.1% 
1,682 
23.5% 
137 
1.9% 

59 
0.9% 
491 
7.9% 
661 
10.7% 
1232 
19.8% 
184 
3.0% 

23 
1.0% 
20 
0.9% 
144 
6.6% 
592 
27.2% 
39 
1.8% 

62 
2.8% 
797 
35.7% 
1,572 
70.7% 
1,754 
78.8% 
269 
12% 

0 
0.0% 
44 
0.9% 
130 
2.6% 
1063 
20.8% 
257 
5.0% 

1 
0.1% 
14 
2.2% 
26 
4.1% 
48 
7.5% 
3 
0.5% 

3 
0.3% 
24 
2.8% 
79 
9.0% 
60 
6.8% 
4 
0.5% 

RO 

ES 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

FI 

IT 

CZ 

AT 

NL 

DE 

RO 

Table 4.8 Total alcohol impacts per day part in absolute numbers and as % of the 
universe, age group 15-17 years old (year = 2013; in GRP000 and GRP%) 
Day 
part 
06:00 - 
09:59 
10:00 - 
16:59 
17:00 - 
20:59 
21:00 - 
23:59 
00:00 - 
05:59 
Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

0 
0.2% 
4 
1.8% 
9 
4.6% 
24 
12.6% 
3 
1.5% 

3 
1.1% 
48 
17.3% 
120 
42.9% 
109 
39.2% 
12 
4.4% 

17 
0.7% 
126 
4.9% 
958 
37% 
1,271 
49.1% 
286 
11% 

17 
1.0% 
241 
14.1% 
268 
15.7% 
473 
27.5% 
104 
6.1% 

7 
1.1% 
15 
2.2% 
64 
9.6% 
385 
57.9% 
44 
6.6% 

17 
2.9% 
271 
47.5% 
489 
85.6% 
561 
98.4% 
112 
19.7% 

0 
0.0% 
13 
1.0% 
45 
3.3% 
407 
30.1% 
166 
12.3% 

2 
0.7% 
16 
5.4% 
35 
11.9% 
50 
16.8% 
10 
3.3% 

ES 

FI 

IT 

CZ 

AT 

NL 

DE 

RO 

Table 4.9 Total alcohol impacts per day part in absolute numbers and as % of the 
universe, age group 18+ years old (year = 2013; in GRP000 and GRP%) 
Day 
part 
06:00 - 
09:59 
10:00 - 
16:59 
17:00 - 
20:59 
21:00 - 
23:59 
00:00 - 
05:59 
Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

1,245 
7.6% 
10,460 
64.1% 
20,534 
126.1% 
22,773 
139.9% 
4,736 
28.9% 

407 
3.1% 
463 
3.5% 
2229 
17.1% 
13099 
100.3% 
1994 
15.3% 

1,016 
1.7% 
6,507 
10.6% 
31,608 
51.4% 
38,997 
63.4% 
7,969 
13% 

119 
2.8% 
171 
4.0% 
462 
10.7% 
1,109 
25.8% 
209 
4.9% 

2229 
4.5% 
13183 
26.3% 
15201 
30.4% 
20795 
41.6% 
4693 
9.4% 

3 
0.0% 
1705 
4.5% 
3280 
8.7% 
19188 
50.8% 
7084 
18.6% 

223 
2.6% 
1,870 
22.2% 
5,878 
69.6% 
5,497 
64.8% 
820 
9.5% 

18 
0.3% 
188 
2.8% 
1,028 
15.4% 
1,282 
19.2% 
1,171 
17.6% 

ES 

UK 

73 
0.9% 
480 
6.1% 
1,100 
14.1% 
1,063 
13.6% 
181 
2.3% 

UK 

18 
0.8% 
231 
10.4% 
402 
18.1% 
685 
30.9% 
183 
8.3% 

UK 

1,338 
2.8% 
9,716 
20.4% 
16,570 
34.7% 
22,136 
46.4% 
5,429 
11.4% 

The peak day part for the 4-14 year olds differs across Member States. Whereas alcohol 
impacts reach their highest point for this age group between 17:00-20:59 in Austria, 
Czech Republic, Germany and the United Kingdom, it only reaches the peak between 
21:00-23:59 in Finland, Italy, Netherlands, Romania and Spain. For the minors aged 15-
17, alcohol impacts peak during the day part 21:00-23:59 in all Member States except 
Czech Republic, where the highest point for the 15-17 year olds is reached between 
17:00 and 20:50. For the adults, the peak day part in terms of alcohol impacts is in each 
Member State between 21:00 and 23:59.  

Comparing the relative level of impacts across Member States, for all age groups, the 
alcohol impact in the peak day part is highest in Romania and lowest in Finland for the 

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minors and in Austria for the adults. In case of the age group 4-14, the highest share is 
reached in Romania for the time slot 21.00-23.59. During this time, the number of 
impacts is 78.8% of the total number of minors. Meanwhile, in other Member States the 
peak share of impacts reach significantly lower levels, in particular in Austria (9.0%) and 
Finland (7.5%). It should be noted that a similar patterns can be observed for the other 
two age groups.  

A comparison with the peak day parts for the viewing data reveals that for all age 
groups in all Member States it is the case that the peak day part in terms of alcohol 
impacts is either the same as for viewing patterns or one day part later. 

4.4.6.  Breakdown by hourly timeslot 
Figure 4.46 – 4.54 present the number of alcohol impacts per hourly timeslot, for the 
three age groups in each Member State. These figures show that in each Member State 
the alcohol impacts followed similar patterns for the different age groups. The number of 
alcohol impacts increased over the day with the highest peak during in the evening. The 
increase in exposure in the evening appears to be particularly steep in those Member 
States were national regulation prohibits alcohol advertising during the day, such as in 
Finland (no alcohol; advertising between 07:00 and 21:00), the Netherlands (no alcohol 
advertising between 06:00 and 21:00) and Spain (no alcohol advertising between 06:00 
and 20:30).45  

The peak hours, however, differ across Member States and across age groups. Table 
4.10–4.13 show the peak hours during which the number of alcohol impacts is highest 
per age group. In four selected Member States, the peak hourly timeslot is the same 
across age groups. In Czech Republic it is between 20:00 and 20:59. In Finland and the 
Netherlands it is one hour later (between 21:00 and 21:59), while in Romania it is 
between 22:00 and 22:59. Table 4.12 provides an overview of average impact in peak 
hours per age group. 

Figure 4.46 Average alcohol impacts per age group, in GRP%, by hourly timeslot, 
Austria, 2013 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

45   Source: DG Connect, Table on national rules on commercial communications and promotion of European 

works 
(http://ec.europa.eu/archives/information_society/avpolicy/docs/reg/tvwf/contact_comm/35_table_1.pdf). 

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Figure 4.47 Average alcohol impacts per age group, in GRP%,    
by hourly timeslot, Czech Republic, 2013  

Figure 4.48 Average alcohol impacts per age group, in GRP%,  
by hourly timeslot, Finland, 2013 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

Figure 4.49 Average alcohol impacts per age group, in GRP%,    
by hourly timeslot, Germany, 2013    

Figure 4.50 Average alcohol impacts per age group, in GRP%, 
by hourly timeslot, Italy, 2013 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

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Figure 4.51 Average alcohol impacts per age group, in GRP%,    
by hourly timeslot, the Netherlands 2013 

Figure 4.52 Average alcohol impacts per age group, in GRP%, 
by hourly timeslot, Romania, 2013 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

Figure 4.53 Average alcohol impacts per age group, in GRP%,    
by hourly timeslot, Spain, 2013 

Figure 4.54 Average alcohol impacts per age group, in GRP%, 
by hourly timeslot, UK, 2013 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis.  

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Table 4.10 Peak hours in terms of alcohol impacts, age group 4-14 years old  
(year = 2013) 
Peak hour 
20:00 – 20:59 
21:00 – 21:59 
22:00 – 22:59 
Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

Member State 
AT, CZ, DE 
FI, IT, NL, UK 
RO, ES 

Table 4.11 Peak hours in terms of alcohol impacts, age group 15-17 years old  
(year = 2013) 
Peak hour 
20:00 – 20:59 
21:00 – 21:59 
22:00 – 22:59 
23:00 – 23:59 
Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

Member State 
CZ 
AT, FI, DE, IT, NL 
RO, UK 
ES 

Table 4.12 Peak hours in terms of alcohol impacts, age group 18+ years old (year = 
2013) 
Peak hour 
20:00 – 20:59 
21:00 – 21:59 
22:00 – 22:59 
23:00 – 23:59 
00:00 – 00:59 
Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

Member State 
CZ, IT 
FI, NL 
DE, RO, UK 
ES 
AT 

Table 4.13 Average alcohol impacts in peak hours, per age group (year = 2013; in 

GRP% and GRP000) 

Member State 
Austria 

Czech Republic 

Finland 

Germany 

Italy 

The Netherlands 

Romania 

Spain 

United Kingdom 

4 - 14 
3.7% 
32 
16% 
176 
4.5% 
29 
11.3% 
812 
8.3% 
520 
13.8% 
300 
31.7% 
707 
8.0% 
410 
5.9% 
461 

15 - 17 
6.7% 
20 
16.9% 
47 
5.6% 
11 
19.2% 
496 
10.4% 
177 
23.1% 
154 
38.3% 
219 
12.7% 
171 
12.2% 
272 

18+ 
17.6% 
1,171 
31.4% 
2,653 
10.3% 
443 
23.8% 
14,600 
16.1% 
8,075 
39% 
5,097 
52.5% 
8,542 
19.4% 
7,338 
16.9% 
8,087 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

4.4.7.  Breakdown by weekday 
The data also allows an analysis of a breakdown by day of the week. As shown in Figure 
4.55, the number of alcohol spots was in 2013 on average lowest on Monday and 
highest on Saturday. 

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Figure 4.55 Number of alcohol spots, by weekday, all 9 Member States (year = 2013) 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

Figure 4.56 presents the average number of alcohol impacts per weekday and indicates 
that on average, minors aged 4-14 and adults saw the least number of alcohol impacts 
on a Wednesday (GRP000 are 14,846 and 28,6447 respectively) and 15-17 year olds on 
a Thursday (GRP000 are 7,143). Most alcohol impacts were seen on average on a 
Saturday by the children in the age group 4-14 (GRP000 are 18,566) and on Sunday by 
the other two age groups (GRP000 are 8,911 and 356,537 respectively).  

Figure 4.56 Average alcohol impacts by weekday, by age group, all 9 Member States 

(year = 2013; in GRP000) 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

Tables 4.14 up to 4.16 show per Member State, per age group, the weekday with on 
average the highest and lowest number of alcohol impacts. It shows a strong diversity 
across Member States and this diversity is highest with regard to the day with on 
average the lowest number of alcohol impacts.  

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There are differences between the age groups within a Member State, but in the 
majority of Member States, all age groups see on average the most alcohol impacts on 
the same weekday (Austria, Czech Republic, Italy, Romania, Spain, United Kingdom).  

CZ 

DE 

Table 4.14 Average alcohol impacts by weekday, per Member State, 4-8 year olds 
(year=2013; purple indicates ‘highest’ and light blue ‘lowest’) 
Weekday  AT 
FI 
Monday  
Tuesday 
Wednesday 
Thursday 
Friday 
Saturday 
Sunday 
Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

RO 

NL 

ES 

IT 

UK 

CZ 

DE 

Table 4.15 Average alcohol impacts by weekday, per Member State, 15-17 year olds 
(year=2013; purple indicates ‘highest’ and light blue ‘lowest’) 
Weekday  AT 
FI 
Monday  
Tuesday 
Wednesday 
Thursday 
Friday 
Saturday 
Sunday 
Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

RO 

NL 

ES 

IT 

UK 

CZ 

DE 

Table 4.16 Average alcohol impacts by weekday, per Member State, 18+ year olds 
(year=2013; purple indicates ‘highest’ and light blue ‘lowest’) 
FI 
Weekday  AT 
Monday  
Tuesday 
Wednesday 
Thursday 
Friday 
Saturday 
Sunday 
Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

RO 

NL 

ES 

IT 

UK 

4.5.  Daily average alcohol impacts weighted by viewing ratings 

As a next step we analysed both the absolute and the relative daily average alcohol 
impacts, that is, the absolute impacts weighted by average daily viewing ratings.  

The analysis of the viewing data for the nine Member States revealed that the viewing 
patterns of adults and minors differed. In order to analyse if this difference in viewing 
habits may explain the difference in the level of exposure to alcohol advertising between 
minors and adults, we weighted the absolute daily average alcohol impacts by the 
average daily viewing rates per age group. It is important to note that this part of the 
analysis was conducted only for the channels included in the viewing data sample.  

In this section we present the results of the weighting of the daily average alcohol 
impacts and in the country reports in Annex C (separate document) the results of the 
weighting per day part are presented.  

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4.5.1.  Daily average absolute alcohol impacts 
Before providing more detailed information on the weighted average daily impacts in 
each of the nine selected Member States, we first present the average daily impact (in 
GRP000) for the selection of channels that are also presented in viewing data (section 
4.2). This was calculated as a sum of GRPs per age group for the full year (GRP000) 
divided by the number of days in 2013 (365). 

Table 4.17 presents the absolute daily average alcohol impacts per age group in the nine 
selected Member States, while Table 4.18 shows the absolute average daily impacts 
divided by universe per age group. Both tables only include the sample of channels that 
are included in the viewing data, which is a subset of the channels for which the daily 
average alcohol impacts are presented in section 4.4.  

For all age groups the daily average alcohol impacts are highest in Romania. The 
difference between minors and adults in the highest in Finland while it is lowest in 
Romania. These results are consistent with the average daily alcohol impacts for the full 
sample of channels, as presented in section 4.4.1.  

Table 4.17 Daily average absolute alcohol impact (GRP000) per age group, 2013 
Daily average impact (000)  4-14 year olds  15-17 year 

18+ year olds 

Austria 

Czech Republic 

Finland 

Germany 

Italy 

The Netherlands 

Romania 

Spain 

United Kingdom 

olds 

98 

208 

13 

550 

748 

412 

1,164 

316 

374 

150 

569 

28 

1,054 

1,868 

688 

3,682 

734 

822 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

Minors total 
(4-17 year 
olds) 

248 

777 

41 

1604 

2616 

1100 

4846 

1050 

1196 

3,272 

10,082 

671 

29,102 

38,765 

15,427 

50,567 

16,790 

16,768 

Table 4.18 Daily average absolute alcohol impact (GRP%), per age group, 2013 
Daily average impact per person   4-14 year olds  15-17 

18+ year olds 

Austria 

Czech Republic 

Finland 

Germany 

Italy 

The Netherlands 

Romania 

Spain 

United Kingdom 

17% 

52% 

4% 

15% 

30% 

31% 

68% 

15% 

11% 

year 
olds 

33% 

75% 

7% 

21% 

44% 

67% 

Minors 
total (4-17 
year olds) 

21% 

56% 

5% 

16% 

33% 

39% 

202% 

175% 

24% 

17% 

17% 

12% 

49% 

120% 

16% 

47% 

78% 

121% 

312% 

45% 

36% 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

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4.5.2.  Relative average daily impacts 
Relative daily impacts full day - all channels 
Table 4.19 presents for each of the nine Member States the relative average alcohol 
impacts per age group for all channels and for the selection of channels that include 
alcohol advertisements. The average daily alcohol impacts per age group are weighted 
by the average daily viewing rating per age group. The results are similar to each other 
for all channels and for the selection of channels. Since the viewing ratings are lower for 
the selection of channels is a subset of the viewing rates for all channels, the weighted 
average daily alcohol impacts are slightly higher for almost all Member States. In the 
case of Austria and Germany, the relative average daily impacts are the same for all 
channels and for the selection of channels due to the fact that all the selected channels 
carry alcohol advertising.  

Table 4.19 Relative average alcohol impacts per age group, 2013 

All channels 

Channels that include alcohol 
advertising 

Member State 

Austria 

Czech Republic 

Finland 

Germany 

Italy 

The Netherlands 

Romania 

Spain 

4-14 
year 
olds 

15-17 
year 
olds 

Minors 
total (4-
17 year 
olds) 

18+ 

4-14 
year 
olds 

15-17 
year 
olds 

Minors 
total (4-
17 year 
olds) 

0.21 

0.43 

0.04 

0.23 

0.3 

0.27 

0.43 

0.12 

0.32 

0.64 

0.1 

0.4 

0.37 

0.64 

0.65 

0.22 

0.24 

0.48 

0.05 

0.27 

0.32 

0.34 

0.47 

0.14 

0.26 

  0.21 

0.32 

0.48 

0.5 

0.68 

0.08 

  0.06 

0.25 

  0.23 

0.1 

0.4 

0.28 

  0.36 

0.38 

0.46 

  0.35 

0.21 

0.69 

  0.71 

0.22 

0.20 

  0.29 

0.13 

18+ 

0.26 

0.48 

0.08 

0.25 

0.29 

0.47 

0.72 

0.26 

0.56 

0.24 

0.54 

0.07 

0.27 

0.36 

0.43 

0.72 

0.29 

0.38 

United Kingdom 

0.21 
Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK/Dentsu Aegis. 

0.16 

0.18 

0.24 

  0.36 

0.16 

If we compare the difference between the average daily alcohol impacts for minors and 
those for adults, we see that this difference becomes smaller after the weighting for 
average viewing times. When only including channels that carry alcohol advertising in 
the weighting, the difference becomes even smaller. In some Member States, the 
weighted average daily alcohol impact is even higher for minors than it is for adults.  

These results indicate that the differences in the level of exposure between minors and 
adults may be partially explained by differences in viewing patterns, both in terms of the 
time spent watching television, as well as the channels that are watched.  

4.6.  Main limitations of the approach and methodology 

One of the main limitations of the approach and methodology for Research Question 1 is 
that it only focussed on the exposure of minors to alcohol advertising on linear AV media 
services in 2013, whereas it would also be interesting to analyse how the results evolve 
over time. This would also provide the opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness of new 

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(self-) regulation by analysing how the levels of exposure change upon introduction of 
new regulation.  

Another limitation concerns the level of granularity in the data: a higher of level of 
granularity would allow for more detailed analyses and insights into differences in 
exposure to alcohol advertising (e.g. based on gender or a higher number of age groups 
for minors).  

A final limitation concerns the limited sample of channels for the viewing data. Although 
the data on alcohol advertising impacts was based on a comprehensive sample of 
channels, the relative analyses had to be limited to the smaller sample for which there 
was also data on the general viewing patterns collected. 

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5. Exposure to alcohol advertising on non-linear audio-visual 

media services and other online services - perspective of the 
advertisers  

The second research question of this study concerns the exposure of minors on non-
linear AV media services and other online services: 

“How much alcohol advertising does an average minors see on non-
linear audio-visual media services and other online services in the EU?” 

The exposure of minors on non-linear and other online services has been analysed from 
the perspective of the advertisers and from the perspective of the viewers. In this 
Chapter we focus on the perspective of the advertisers. The next Chapter, Chapter 6, 
focusses on the perspective of the viewers.  

This Chapter starts with a summary of the main findings (section 5.1), followed by a 
discussion of the measures that online services have in place to help advertisers to 
advertise their products responsibly and in compliance with all applicable laws and 
regulations and thereby to restrict the exposure of minors to alcohol advertising on 
these online services (section 5.2). Next, we present the results of the enquiries to the 
industry with regard to their use of online services for advertising purposes as well as 
policies and actions taken by the alcohol industry to reduce exposure of minors to 
alcohol advertisements (section 5.3). Finally, we report on the results of the online data 
capture (section 5.4) and the main limitations of the approach and methodology (section 
5.5).  

5.1.  Summary of main findings  

From the perspective of advertisers expose of minors to alcohol advertising is limited 
From the perspective of advertisers, exposure of minors to alcohol advertising should be 
limited, because of (1) the measures that online services have in place, (2) the choice of 
advertisers for online services that offer age-gating/age verification and/or for which 
there is availability of audience data demonstrating that at least 70% of the likely 
audience is above LPA, and (3) the numerous self-regulation initiatives that are in place, 
at the company-, sector-, industry-, and national level. These findings were partly 
confirmed by the findings of the online data capture on selected YouTube channels and 
websites.  

Almost no online exposure to alcohol advertisements observed on selected online 
services 
In order to assess what types of advertisements are served to specific audiences, we 
conducted online data captures on YouTube and websites for profiles of minors (male 
and female) and adults (male and female) in all nine selected Member States. In the in 
total 1,319 screen captures for YouTube and 950 screen captures for websites (each 
website capture containing visits to up to 5 URLs on that website) only four unique 
advertisements for alcohol brands were found, of which two in pre-rolls on YouTube and 
two on websites in the form of banners. One of the pre-rolls advertised a non-alcohol 
drink and was only served on the profile of an adult. The other pre-roll was captured 

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three times for a minor’s profile and three times for an adult profile (both male). The 
two banners were served on profiles of both minors and adults, where one was captured 
twice on both minor and adult profiles and the other was captured once on a minor’s 
profile and four times on an adult profiles.  

Initially, we planned to also include Facebook, Instagram and Twitter in the online data 
capture. We sought formal approval from these online services for our suggested 
approach, but both Facebook and Twitter informed us that they were unable to grant 
approval for this approach, because the creation of fake profiles breaches their terms 
and conditions.  

Online services’ policy and measures to minimise exposure 
Online services typically have policies and measures in place to help advertisers to 
advertise their products responsibly and in compliance with all applicable laws and 
regulations and thereby, to restrict, or even prevent, the exposure of minors to alcohol 
advertising. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube, which are among the most used 
online services, all have age-gating and age verification mechanisms in place. These 
measures ensure that when users want to access age-gated content they have to 
declare their age, or this is inferred from the registered user database. In addition, all of 
these online services prohibit in their advertising policy the direct targeting of minors in 
terms of placement and content. Hence, online services have several measures in place 
that should help advertisers to ensure that minors are not exposed to alcohol advertising 
on these online services.  

Industry’s use of online services 
Alcohol industry members indicate that the use of online services varies across their 
portfolio, both by brand and by market. From the responses to the questionnaire 
amongst industry members and trade associations it is clear that the most used online 
service for the purpose of advertising is Facebook. Twitter appears to be the second 
most used online service and the responses indicate that the use of YouTube and 
Instagram differs across companies. Industry members indicated that in choosing an 
online service for advertising purposes, the following plays an important role: 
  The availability of an age-gating or age verification mechanisms; or 
  The availability of audience data demonstrating that at least 70% of the likely 

audience is above LPA. 

In addition, the size of the audience and the opportunity to directly communicate with 
LPA+ audience were often mentioned reasons for using a specific online service.  

Industry’s policy and measures aimed to minimise exposure 
Industry members and trade associations were also asked to share information on self-
regulation initiatives in place. All respondents mentioned internal self-regulation at the 
company level and the vast majority also referred to national self-regulation through 
national Self-regulation Organisations (SROs). In addition, sector specific initiatives were 
mentioned as well as industry wide initiatives such as the EU Responsible Marketing Pact 
(RMP) coordinated by the WFA and the Digital Guiding Principle, coordinated by the 
IARD. All these initiatives share the notion that alcohol advertisement should not be 
targeted specifically at minors, both in placement and content. With regard to 
placement, the initiatives all mention the 70/30 rule, the use of a forward advice notice 
not to share content with people below the LPA, and a responsible drinking message. 

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5.2.  Policies to restrict exposure to alcohol advertising on a selection of online 

services  

Online services have advertising policies in place and there are typically specific rules 
with regard to alcohol advertising. In this section we briefly discuss the measures that 
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube (a selection of the most popular online 
services) have in place to help advertisers to advertise their products responsibly and in 
compliance with all applicable laws and regulations and thereby to restrict the exposure 
of minors to alcohol advertising on these online services.  

The results presented in this section are based on desk research, additional information 
received from Facebook and Google, and a discussion with spirtisEUROPE on the 
contents of their Digital Marking Training46. The effectiveness of the described policies 
and measures has not been tested in practice, with the exception of those on YouTube, 
which are partly validated through the online data capture (section 5.4). 

Facebook47 
Age mechanisms 
Facebook has a registered user database and age-gating system in place. When signing 
up for Facebook, you are required to fill in your date of birth and you can only create an 
account when you are at least 13 years old. Facebook creates individual user 
experiences based on the age of the user, which means, with regard to content related 
to alcoholic beverages, that the age-gating system should ensure that comments, shares 
and likes of alcohol brand-owned pages are invisible to minors. In addition, minors 
should not be able to access, or even see, pages from alcohol brands.  

Advertising 
Facebook’s advertising policy states that “it is the sole responsibility of the advertisers to 
ensure that their ads on Facebook comply with all applicable laws, regulations and 
guidelines of the country where the advertisement is displayed”. This includes applicable 
local laws, required or recommended industry codes, guidelines, licenses and approvals. 
In addition, the advertising policy mentions that for each alcohol advertisement a target 
audience has to be set, based on age and country that is in accordance with the 
targeting guidelines of Facebook and complies with applicable local laws. Hence, alcohol 
advertisements can only be targeted to users that are located in a country where such 
advertisements are admissible and are LPA+.  

In terms of advertising, Facebook allows for refined targeting of advertisements and 
pages, based on characteristics of the users. With regard to targeting based on age: 
alcohol companies can only select age brackets that are above the LPA – other options 
are not available. Because of the age-gating system, alcohol advertising should not exist 
in the Facebook timeline of a minor. 

The advertising policy of Facebook also mentions that the content of the advertisement 
cannot be appealing to users below the LPA and cannot be associated with youth 

46   This took place on 23 June, 2015, in Brussels. 
47   Sources for this section: written input received from Facebook, Facebook Advertising Policy 

(https://www.facebook.com/policies/ads/), Facebook Help Center 
(https://www.facebook.com/business/help/256048321073744) and discussion with spirtisEUROPE on their 
Digital Marking Training.  

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culture48.  

Facebook explained that they have a comprehensive review model in place that uses 
both human and machine learning algorithms to detect violations. In addition, Facebook 
gives people (regardless of whether they have a Facebook account) the possibility to flag 
advertisements, content and pages that they consider inappropriate or in violation of the 
advertising policy. Whenever an advertisement is disapproved, the advertiser is 
informed on this, as well as the reason for disapproval, by email.  

Instagram49  
Age mechanisms 
On Instagram it is not mandatory to declare your age or date of birth when setting up 
an account. However, a person’s Instagram profile is often linked to their Facebook 
profile and in that case, Instagram matches the information of the Facebook account to 
determine their age. Facebook explained that when someone’s Instagram account is not 
linked to their Facebook account, and they did not declare their age when signing up, 
the user will be asked to confirm their age each time they want to access content or 
follow an Instagram account for which age restrictions are applicable. When a user 
indicates once that he or she is below the LPA, all age-gated accounts will be 
automatically unfollowed and this restriction will remain in place until the user reaches 
the LPA.  

Advertising 
It is only very recent that Instagram allows alcohol advertisements. The Facebook 
Advertising policies also apply to advertising on Instagram50. Hence, alcohol advertisers 
have to comply with the guidelines for age and country targeting that are consistent 
with applicable local laws.  

The targeting and serving of advertisements to Instagram users that are also Facebook 
users is managed by Facebook, based on the data Facebook has about these users’ 
interest and demographics. When a minor’s Instagram account is linked to their 
Facebook account, they should therefore not be able to see alcohol advertisement. 
Through the age-gating mechanism, Instagram users for which no information on age is 
available will not be served alcohol advertisements.  

Instagram, like Facebook, has a reporting infrastructure in place through which users 
are able to report accounts or advertising that violate Instagram’s terms.  

Twitter51 
Age mechanisms 
For Twitter, people do not have to declare their age or date of birth when signing up. 
When they want to view content that is only suitable for people above the LPA, they are 
asked to indicate their age once and this is then remembered. 

48   For a complete overview of what is not allowed on Facebook in terms of advertising, pleas refer to 

https://www.facebook.com/business/help/223106797811279/.  

49   Sources for this section: written input received from Facebook, Facebook Advertising Policy 

(https://www.facebook.com/policies/ads/), article on age-gating on Instagram (http://wersm.com/how-
age-gating-works-on-instagram/) and discussion with spirtisEUROPE on their Digital Marking Training. 
50   For more information on Facebook’s Advertising Policy, please refer to the previous section on Facebook 

and to https://www.facebook.com/policies/ads/.  

51   Sources for this section: advertising policy and Terms of Use of Twitter and discussion with spirtisEUROPE 

on their Digital Marking Training. 

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Advertisement 
In principle, Twitter’s Terms of Use say that one cannot promote the online sale of 
alcohol but Twitter allows brand building and awareness. Twitter provides online 
information on country specific laws, regulations and guidelines with regard to alcohol 
advertisement. 

The Terms of Use of Twitter specify that alcohol advertisement cannot be “aimed at 
minors or encourage, suggest or promote drinking alcohol by minors”.  

Twitter, as Facebook, allows for refined targeting. In addition, Twitter provides 
brands/companies that want to age–gate their account with the opportunity to ask users 
to declare their date of birth when they indicate they want to follow the account. Once a 
user has declared his or her date of birth, the information will be accessible for all 
brands that want to engage in age-screening.  

YouTube52 
Age mechanisms 
When users create Google accounts, it is mandatory for them to declare their age. On 
YouTube you can watch content either with or without a Google profile. When trying to 
watch age-gated content without logging in with your Google profile, you are asked to 
log-in to verify your age. All content that is uploaded to YouTube has to comply with the 
community guidelines. Brands can voluntarily and proactively age-gate their brand 
channel and their videos. Google explained that the channel- and video- age gates work 
independently from each other, that is, each channel and each video should be age-gated 
separately. 

Advertisement 
YouTube allows alcohol advertising, with some restrictions. For example, alcohol 
advertisement may only be targeted at users in countries where these types of 
advertisements are allowed. The advertisements also need to comply with all applicable 
laws, regulations and local restrictions. In addition, alcohol advertisement may not be 
targeted at users below the LPA. The age gating of content and targeting of 
advertisements are two separately working systems.  

YouTube offers various options for targeting advertisements, including demographic 
groups, interest and topics53.  

YouTube has policy filters in place to ensure that alcohol advertisements are not served 
on content that may be family friendly or sensitive to alcohol advertisers (e.g. depression 
or addiction/rehabilitation). In addition, Google explained that YouTube gives creators 
the choice whether sensitive advertisements, including alcohol advertisements, are 
shown on their content. The choice for showing alcohol advertisement on their content 
should be made proactively by the creator.  

Users can flag videos and advertisements that violate YouTube’s policy and these videos 
are subsequently reviewed upon which YouTube takes the appropriate action. Google 

52   Sources for this section: Written input received from Google, YouTube advertising policy and discussion 

with spirtisEUROPE on their Digital Marking Training.  

53   For a complete overview, please see: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2454017?hl=en-GB. 

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explained that, in addition, YouTube uses human review to enforce the advertising policy 
and the check for the appropriateness of advertisements. 

5.3.  Perspective of the industry 

By means of enquiries to the alcohol industry, information on the relative preference for 
certain online services compared to others was requested. To that end, 12 industry 
members and three trade associations were asked to fill in a short questionnaire. Next to 
the relative preference, we also asked them to indicate why they prefer the use of one 
online service to others54. 14 responses have been received and this section provides a 
summary of these responses.  

5.3.1.  Relative use of online services for advertising purposes 
The majority of the respondents emphasised in their questionnaire that their use of 
online services varies across their portfolio, both by brand and by market. Because of 
this variation, many respondents indicated that they were not able to rank the relative 
use online services. Rather, they indicated in a more qualitative manner how often 
services were used.  

From the responses to the questionnaire it is clear that the most used online service for 
the purpose of advertising is Facebook: all respondents indicated that it is commonly 
used across brands and markets and whenever a ranking was provided, it was ranked ‘1 
(most used)’.  

Twitter appears to be the second most used online service and the responses indicate 
that the use of YouTube and Instagram differs across companies. These two online 
services are scored between 1 (if so, together with Facebook) and 4 and in more 
qualitative terms it ranges from ‘used extensively’ to ‘limited use’.  

From the answers to the questionnaire it is clear that Pinterest, Tumbler and online 
gaming platforms are used rarely or not at all.  

Reasons for using a specific online service more often than others 
Overall, it seems that in choosing an online service, the following plays an important 
role: 
  The availability of an age-gating or age verification mechanisms; or 
  The availability of audience data demonstrating that at least 70% of the likely 

audience is above LPA. 

The most mentioned reasons for using Facebook extensively included: 
  Robust age-age gating system in place (mentioned by all respondents);  

o  Two respondents emphasised the importance of the declaration mechanism 

that ensures that when content is declared to be ‘alcohol-related’ it cannot be 
targeted at minors.  

  Refined targeting options to ensure that appropriate audience is targeted (mentioned 

by more than half of the respondents); 

54   This was phrased as an open question – no suggestions for answers were provided. For more information 

on the questionnaire, please refer to section 2.5.1.  

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  Large audience/one of the most popular Social Networking Sites (mentioned by more 

than half of the respondents).  

For Twitter, most of the respondents refer to the age affirmation system that is in place 
and that was developed jointly with the industry. In addition, it is mentioned that as age 
affirmation is not a requirement for general access to platform, paid advertising follows 
the 70/30 (for some countries 75/25) rule, based on the available audience data and the 
options for demographic targeting. Two respondents indicated that the use is limited 
because of the limited relevance of Twitter in their main market in Europe. One of the 
mentioned benefits of using Twitter is that it allows for direct communications with adult 
consumers around customer service and event-related subjects. 

For YouTube, the possibility of activating age-verification for brand channels and/or 
individual videos was mentioned by most respondents as to why YouTube is used often. 
In addition, respondents referred to the targeting options based on demographics, 
including age. When this option is not available, respondents indicate they use available 
audience data to follow the 70/30 rule (75/25 for some countries). Two of the 
respondents indicated that they include forward advice notices and/or responsibility at 
the beginning of their videos.  

For Instagram respondents indicate that the login via Facebook ensures robust age-
gating for this online service as well. However, when users log in in a different way, age 
affirmation is not automatically activated and in those cases paid advertising will follow 
the 70/30 rule (75/25 in some countries) based on the best available audience data.  

Next to reasons for why they use a platform, some respondents also provided 
information on how the online channels were used. Most of these respondents indicated 
they typically use a global page/channel per brand in combination with country specific 
versions of these pages/channels.  

5.3.2.  Self-regulation by the industry 
In order to reduce the exposure of minors to alcohol advertisement as much as possible, 
the alcohol industry not only relies on the measures that are put in place by the online 
services, but also drafted self-regulation to ensure that minors will not be targeted 
though placement nor content. In the questionnaire sent to the industry members and 
trade associations it was asked to explain its main principles.  

Table 5.1 provides an overview of the (type of) self-regulation initiatives that were 
mentioned in the questionnaires as well the number of respondents that reported it.  

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Table 5.1 Self-regulation initiatives mentioned in the questionnaire 
Type of self-regulation 

Internal self-regulation 
National self-regulation (monitored by national SROs)  
EU Responsible Marketing Pact (RMP) of the WFA 
Digital Guiding Principles (DGP) of the IARD 
spiritsEUROPE guidelines for the development of marketing 
communications 
Guidelines for responsible commercial communications for 
beer 
EU Wine Communication Standards 
Note: total number of respondents: 13; multiple answers possible. 

2 

1 

Number of respondents that 
mentioned this 
13 
13 
9 
8 
4 

Internal self-regulation at company level 
All industry members and two of the three trade associations indicated that companies 
have internal self-regulatory systems in place to protect minors in the EU from exposure 
to alcohol advertising. Regarding the placement of alcohol advertising, the internal self-
regulation typically follows the guidelines provided by the Digital Guiding Principles (DGP) 
of the IARD and the Responsible Marketing Pact (RMP) of the WFA55. In general, internal 
self-regulation at the company level includes the following measures with regard to 
placement: 
 

the application of the 70/30 rule, which states that advertisements may only be 
placed in media where at least 70% of the audience is expected to be above the LPA;  
including a forward advice notice in shareable content;  
 
  maintain employee awareness with internal education; and  
 

supporting national advertising self-regulatory organisations (SROs) in active 
markets. 

Next to self-regulation at the company level, there is self-regulation at the sector level. 
The three trade associations, spiritsEUROPE, The Brewers of Europe and Comité 
Européen des Entreprises Vins, all adopted sector specific guidelines to complement 
existing national codes, legislation, principles and self-regulation initiatives from industry 
for responsible marketing communications. The sector specific guidelines are 
respectively the spiritsEUROPE guidelines for the development of marketing 
communications, Guidelines for responsible commercial communications for beer and 
the EU Wine Communication Standards. These sector-specific guidelines share very 
similar provisions with regard to targeting in terms of both placement and content. For 
example, they all refer to the 70/30 rule and the fact that the content of advertisements 
may not be primarily appealing to minors. The respondents to the questionnaire 
explained that the sector codes try to provide the industry with reference criteria for the 
development of  (self-) regulation and codes regarding marketing communications.  

Next to sectoral initiatives, there are also industry wide initiatives.  

For example, in June 2015 the Responsible Marketing Pact (RMP)56 was launched, which 
is an industry wide initiative at the company level. AB InBev, Bacardi, Brown-Forman, 
Carlsberg, Diageo, Heineken, Pernod Ricard and SAB Miller, representing approximately 
1,500 brands and approximately 60% of EU alcohol ad spending, set-up the RMP, which 

55   More information on these initiatives is included later on in this section.  
56   A source for this section on the RMP is, next to the responses from the industry members and the trade 
associations, information provided by the WFA during a meeting that took place on 23 June 2015.  

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is coordinated by the WFA. This initiative aims to create and apply a common industry 
standard for alcohol advertising that is practical, easily understandable, measurable and 
applicable across all three sectors (i.e. beer, spirits and wine) . The RMP includes 
commitments on three pillars: (1) Social Media, (2) Appeal and (3) Placement.  

The Social Media pillar relies on the implementation of a 'Standard Alcohol Profile'. This 
profile consists of key safeguards which the RMP members commit to use on social 
media accounts as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube across the 28 EU Member 
States. These safeguards include using an age affirmation mechanism, forward advice 
notices, responsible drinking messages, guidelines stating the policy regarding user-
generated content, and a statement or badge certifying the official profile of a brand.  
Together these safeguards form the ‘Standard Alcohol Profile’, which aims to increase 
overall consistency, efficiency and effectiveness in avoiding interaction with minors.  

The Appeal pillar is in place to ensure that advertising cannot be more appealing to 
minors as it is to adults. This prohibits for example the use of teenage slang (e.g. ‘yolo’) 
in alcohol advertisements. With the aim of creating more tangible rules with regard to 
content, a Black List and a Road Test were developed. The Black List includes 50 
creative features that may not be used in alcohol advertising. It is a flexible list that will 
be updated constantly. Next to this Black List, alcohol brands have to conduct the Road 
test. This test consists of a set of guiding questions with regard to assessing the 
presence of sources of primary appeal to minors in the content of an alcohol 
advertisement, also against the cultural context of a country.  The Road test is 
mandatory, even when an advertisement does not contain any features that are on the 
Black List, to ensure that there remain no sources of primary appeal. Hence, the Black 
List and Road test work hand in hand to avoid primary appeal on the basis of both the 
creative materials and the cultural context of a given country where the advertisement 
will be placed.  

The Placement pillar consists of the 70/30 rule, which states that ads may only be 
placed in media where at least 70% of the audience is expected to be above the legal 
purchasing age (LPA). 

The implementation of the RMP will be annually monitored by an independent third 
party. The results of this monitoring will be publically available and shared with the 
European Commission and the EAHF. 

Other examples of industry wide initiatives that were mentioned by multiple respondents 
are the International Alliance for Responsible Drinking (IARD) Commitments, such as the 
Digital Guiding Principles (DGP). These principles represent a set of global guidelines for 
producers of alcohol beverages that are specifically focused on online marketing and 
social media use. The aim of these principles is to standardise marketing self-regulation 
codes across companies, digital platforms and markets and to ensure that the same 
standards are applied to the digital environment as it to television and print marketing. 
These principles include the 70/30 rule, the use and monitoring of a forward advice 
notice, a responsible drinking message and monitoring of user generated content posted 
on company controlled platforms. According to the DGP, next to these measures, an age 
affirmation system should be in place on platforms where alcohol advertisements are 
placed.   

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Next to the previously mentioned internal self-regulatory systems, the sectoral codes, 
the RMP and the DGP, the majority of the respondents also mentioned their signatory 
support to national advertising self-regulatory organisations (SROs). 25 EU Member 
States, including the nine selected Member States for this study, have a national 
advertising SRO in place. These bodies exercise a degree of regulatory authority in 
addition to governmental regulation to enforce certain industry standards with regard to 
advertising. The advertising self-regulation codes differ slightly across Member States 
because of differences in culture, legal and commercial practice, but share the same 
purpose. The general principles all include that advertisements should not be specifically 
aimed at minors or show minors consuming alcoholic beverages and that media where a 
majority of the audience is known to consist of minors should be avoided. The European 
Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA) brings together national advertising SROs and 
organisations representing the advertising industry to promote effective self-
regulation57. 

5.4.  Online data capture 

As described in Chapter 2, the online data capture resulted in 1,319 screen captures for 
YouTube and 950 screen captures for websites.  

Tables 5.2 and 5.3 present the number of YouTube videos and website captures that are 
reviewed per selected Member State, split between minors and adults. Please note that 
the total numbers are somewhat lower than the total number of screen captures and 
that the number of captures per Member State show variation. The reasons for this are, 
among others, that: 
  Research resources for obtaining the popular channels and websites across the nine 

Member States and demographic matrix did not produce equal results. Some 
countries-gender-age-range instances turned out more than others;  

  During the two month data capture period some of the popular YouTube videos (as 

indicated by SocialBlade and Trends Dashboard) expired, displaying the message ‘The 
video has been removed’, therefore making some data captures redundant/irrelevant. 
This led to less data captures for certain Member States/age-brackets; 

  Technical issues with the commercial proxies and geolocation issues meant that on 

certain days we were not able to make captures for some Member States (this mainly 
affected Austria, Germany and Czech Republic); and 

  Some of the files containing the screen captures were corrupt and could not be 

reviewed.  

57   Source: http://www.easa-alliance.org. 

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Table 5.2 Number of YouTube videos reviewed, by Member State 

Total 

YouTube 
Minors  
Boys 
53 
59 
70 
49 
38 
26 
37 
48 
25 
405 

Austria 
Czech Republic 
Finland 
Germany 
Italy 
Netherlands 
Romania 
Spain 
United Kingdom 
Total 
Note: the number of YouTube videos may differs from the number of YouTube captures as some captures 
contained multiple short videos. For a complete overview of the YouTube channels that were selected for the 
online data capture, please refer to Annex E (separate document).  

198 
142 
184 
136 
179 
97 
80 
164 
62 
1242 

Adults  
Male 
60 
11 
18 
15 
57 
38 
7 
53 
16 
275 

Adults  
Female 
54 
9 
21 
13 
54 
20 
8 
36 
10 
225 

Minors  
Girls 
31 
63 
75 
59 
30 
13 
28 
27 
11 
337 

Table 5.3 Number of website captures reviewed, by Member State 

TOTAL 

Websites 
Minors  
Boys 
22 
43 
36 
21 
43 
17 
20 
22 
33 
243 

Austria 
Czech Republic 
Finland 
Germany 
Italy 
Netherlands 
Romania 
Spain 
United Kingdom 
Total 
Note: each capture contains up to 5 URLs per website. For a complete overview of the URLs visited, please 
refer to Annex E (separate document).  

71 
154 
156 
62 
136 
66 
79 
81 
102 
907 

Adults 
Male 
15 
28 
34 
14 
36 
21 
19 
24 
20 
191 

Adults 
Female 
17 
35 
37 
9 
21 
7 
18 
16 
19 
172 

Minors 
Girls 
17 
48 
49 
18 
36 
21 
22 
19 
30 
251 

Advertisements  
For each YouTube video and website capture the number of advertisements was 
counted.  

YouTube 
The focus of the analysis of the YouTube data captures was on the so-called pre-rolls, 
mid-rolls and rolling banners that may be shown during the viewing of a selected video. 
Pre-rolls are advertisement clips varying from 10 seconds to multiple minutes that can 
be skipped after a certain time (if the advertisement is longer than 60 seconds). Mid-
rolls are short advertisement clips usually not longer than 60 seconds that are shown 
during the viewing of a YouTube video. During the mid-rolls, the YouTube video is 
paused and it continues automatically after the mid-roll. Rolling banners are rectangle 
(300x60 pixels) advertisement banners overlaying the video that appear for a certain 
amount of time. YouTube also provides “Standard Display Ads” which are sometimes 
shown on the right side of the video clip on the webpage. These Standard Display Ads 
have not been coded specifically as these ads typically follow the message shown in the 
pre- roll, mid-roll or rolling banner. The content of the video clips was not analysed for 
other forms marketing, such as product placement.  

The number of pre-rolls, mid-rolls and rolling banners for each YouTube capture have 
been separately counted and registered. When a new Internet session is started and 

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where a YouTube video shorter than twenty minutes is selected for watching, a common 
pattern recognized that it contains one pre-roll and no mid-rolls or rolling banners. When 
a video is longer than twenty minutes, it sometimes contains a mid-roll after ten 
minutes of watching time. Rolling banners are usually utilised if a second YouTube video 
is watched within the same Internet session. Since the majority of the analysed videos 
on YouTube are shorter than 20 minutes and the screen captures usually contained only 
one video, the advertisement found in these videos were mainly pre-rolls.  

Websites 
The focus of the screen captures containing Internet sites was on the number of banners 
on a particular domain popular for the combinations of gender and age group. Within 
one domain up to five randomly selected URL’s were visited and scrolled through from 
top to bottom. The total number of banners that were distinguishable from third-parties 
with the intention to promote a good or service were counted for these five URL’s 
together and registered.  

Average number of advertisements per video or website visit 
The registrations of the total amount of advertisement within an individual screen 
capture has been summarised for each Member State. This provides an overview of the 
number of screen captures analysed per genre, age group and gender together with the 
amount of advertisements it contained for both YouTube and websites separately. 

Figure 5.1 presents the average number of advertisements per YouTube video and per 
website visit, by Member State. This figure indicates that the average number of ads per 
YouTube video ranges from 0.3 for the sample for Czech Republic to 1.1 for the sample 
for Spain. For websites, the numbers range from 1.4 ads per website (when visiting 5 
URLs) for the Austria sample to 8.0 for the Italy sample.  

Figure 5.1 Average number of advertisements per YouTube video and per website visit, 

by Member State 

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Number of alcohol advertisements 
In the analysis of all captures, we encountered four different advertisements from alcohol 
brands: 
  On YouTube: 

o  Pre-roll featuring an advertisement on non-alcoholic radler: 

  This pre-roll was captured for the profile: Czech Republic, adult, male 

(one occurrence). 

o  Pre-roll featuring a short movie sponsored by a beer producer: 

  This pre-roll was captured (on the same channel) for the profiles: 

  Spain, minor, boy (three occurrences); 
  Spain, adult, male (three occurrences). 

  On websites: 

o  Banner for a spirits brand: 

  This banner was captured (on the same ‘online audio’ website) for the 

profiles: 

  Spain, minor, boy (one occurrence); 
  Spain, adult, male (two occurrences); 
  Spain, adult, female (two occurrences); 

o  Banner for a spirits brand on a music website: 

  This banner was captured (on the same ‘music’ website) for the 

profiles:  

  Czech Republic, minor, boy (two occurrences); 
  Czech Republic, adult, male (one occurrence); 
  Czech Republic, adult, female (one occurrence). 

5.5.  Main limitations of the approach and methodology 

The methodology used for the analysis in this Chapter consisted of a combination of 
qualitative research and online data capture. Where the qualitative part mainly focusses 
on the online services for which users need to log-in, the online data capture focussed on 
the situation in which users are not logged-in, and thus age cannot be verified. 

Despite close mirroring of the online behaviour of minors during the data capture, the 
results of the data capture may still differ from the actual exposure of minors. The three 
main sources, none of which could be addressed during this study, are:  
  Cookies were generated during the two months of online activity – minors will 

typically have a richer browser history than the profiles that were generated for the 
purpose of this study; 

  People may use ad-blocks or nanny-tags in their browsers, which prevents them from 

seeing any (alcohol) advertisement at all; and 

  The data capture focused on the main online services and websites. It is unclear to 

what extent the results for these main online services and websites are also 
representative for the lesser-known services and websites. 

In addition, it was decided not to allow for spill-overs between profiles. As a result, the 
profiles contained only cookies specifically for one profile, whereas, when a minor uses a 
shared device to go online, i.e. a device that is also used by others (such as a parents 
and/or siblings), the advertisements seen by minors will also be affected by the cookies 
of these people. 

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The caveats presented above mean that the results of the data capture activity should be 
interpreted with a certain degree of caution. 

Another limitation of the methodology is that the online data capture only focusses on 
YouTube and websites and not on the other popular online services such as Facebook, 
Instagram and Twitter. As a result, we were not able to validate the findings based on 
the desk research and the enquiries to the industry and the selected online services.  

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6. Exposure to alcohol advertising on non-linear audio-visual 

media services and other online services - perspective of the 
viewers 

The second research question of this study concerns the exposure of minors on non-
linear AV media services and other online services: 

“How much alcohol advertising does an average minors see on non-
linear audio-visual media services and other online services in the EU?” 

In the previous Chapter the exposure of minors on non-linear AV media services and 
other online services was analysed from the perspective of the advertisers, whereas this 
Chapter focuses on the perspective of the viewers.  

Between mid June and mid July minors were surveyed to assess the exposure to 
(alcohol) advertisement in nine selected Member States: Austria, Czech Republic, 
Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, Spain, United Kingdom. This 
Chapter presents the results of the analysis of this survey. In the survey, questions were 
asked about online activity of minors, awareness of (alcohol) advertising, and, only for 
the age groups 9-13 and 14-17, memory for alcohol advertising.  

The remainder of this Chapter is organised as follows. The first section (section 6.1) 
provides a summary of the main findings from the perspective of the viewers followed 
by a description of the sample (section 6.2). Next, we present the results of the survey 
(section 6.3) and the relationship between the frequency of online activity and 
advertisement recall (section 6.4). The Chapter concludes with a discussion of the main 
limitations of the approach and methodology used (section 6.5.)  

The survey results per Member State are presented in the country reports in Annex G 
(separate document), which also contains a detailed sample description as well as 
additional survey results. 

6.1.  Summary of main findings 

Alcohol among the least seen advertisements 
When asked what type of advertisement minors aged 
9-17 recall seeing online in the last month, alcohol 
advertisements are the least recalled type of 
advertisements. Advertisements for games are the 
most recalled type. 

Have you seen advertisement(s) about 

alcohol on the Internet during the last 

month?

23.9% of minors aged 9-17 in the nine selected 
Member States recall to have seen alcohol 
advertisements online in the last month 
Minors between the ages of 9 and 17 were 
subsequently asked if they saw an alcohol 
advertisement on the Internet during the last month. 
23.9% of the respondents answered ‘yes’. There are however differences between 

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Member States. In Austria the self-reported exposure of minors to alcohol advertising 
was the lowest (14.7%), while in Italy it was the highest (29.8%).  

Awareness of alcohol advertisement increases with age 
19.5% of minors aged 9 – 13 responded to recall having seen alcohol advertisements on 
the Internet in the last month. For minors aged 14-17 this was recalled by 29.2%. 

For ethical reasons, minors in the 4-8 age group were not asked whether they have seen 
advertisements about alcohol on the Internet, but rather to indicate whether they saw 
advertisements on the Internet in general. 49% of them answered positively to this 
question. 

Beer is the most recalled type of alcohol product 
The majority of the minors aged 9-17 indicated to have seen an advertisement for beer. 
Advertisements for alcopops, on the other hand, were recalled the least.  

For which type of alcohol product have 

you seen advertisement(s) on the 

Internet?

Memory for alcohol advertising and active brand 
recall increase with age 
Respondents aged 9-17 were asked if they could 
describe an alcohol advertisement they recently 
saw and 23.6% of the minors aged 9-17 
answered ‘yes’. On average 80% of these 
respondents indicated that they recall the brand 
of the first advertisement they described. On 
average, both memory for alcohol advertising and 
active brand recall are significantly higher among 
the 14-17 age group than among the 9-13 age 
group.  

In addition, the higher the frequency of online 
activity, the higher the chance of recalling to have seen an (alcohol) advertisement. 
61.9% of the minors in 9-17 age groups indicated that they are active online and use 
Internet every day, of whom 27% recall to have seen alcohol advertisements. Similarly, 
there is a positive relationship between active brand recall and a frequency of use. In 
case of minors in the 4-8 age group, 63% of those who are active online every day 
indicated that they saw advertisements.  

Age group 4-8 is expected to perceive the lowest level of exposure 
For ethical reasons, minors in the 4-8 age group were not asked whether they have seen 
advertisements about alcohol on the Internet. However, based on the findings that recall 
of alcohol advertisements, and thereby perceived exposure, increases with age and 
online activity and that the 4-8 year olds are least active online, it is to be expected that 
the youngest age group has the lowest level of perceived exposure to alcohol advertising 
on the Internet. 

6.2.  Sample description 

To analyse the exposure of minors on non-linear AV media services and other online 
services from the perspective of viewers, data was collected through a one-time survey 

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amongst minors in each selected Member State during between mid-June and mid-July 
2015. Once the surveys were completed, the resulting datasets were cleaned. Cleaning 
included the removal of observations that were filled out without the minor present.  

The total number of the minors that responded to the questionnaire is 8,086. On 
average, 900 minors filled in the questionnaire in each Member State.  

In total, 4,043 boys and 4,043 girls answered the questionnaire. 35.4% of the 
respondents were aged 4-8,  35.3% were aged 9-13, and 29.2% were aged 14-17.The 
average age of minors that responded to the survey was 10.6 years.  

For a more detailed description of the sample, please see Annex G (separate document).  

6.3.  Survey results 

This section outlines the results of the survey that was completed by minors in nine 
selected Member States58. Since the questionnaire consists of four ‘chapters’ of 
questions, the results are presented in a similar fashion.  

First, we discuss the results on online activity (all age groups). Secondly, the details on 
online activity are presented. These results on (detailed) online activity set the scene for 
the analysis of the self-reported exposure of minors to alcohol advertising online and 
serve as an input for testing the relation between online activity to self-reported 
exposure.   

Next, the awareness of advertising is discussed. Due to ethical reasons, the minors aged 
4-8 were only asked questions about advertising in general, while the other age groups 
were asked about alcohol advertising specifically. Lastly, the results of the analysis of 
the memory for alcohol advertising are described. These questions were only included in 
the questionnaires for the age groups 9-13 and 14-17.  

6.3.1.  Online activity 

Frequency of online activity  
Overall (4-17 year olds) 
The results of the 2008 Eurobarometer survey on Safer Internet issues59 showed that 
75% of the children aged 6-17 years old in the nine selected Member States used the 
Internet. Over the years, the usage of the Internet increased.  

In the survey conducted for the purpose of this study, 94.7% of the minors indicated 
that they are active online and use Internet at least a few times a month. Figure 6.1 
shows that more than half of these minors in the nine selected Member States use the 
Internet every day (61.9% or 5,005 minors). There are some differences between 
Member States. 53.6% of minors indicated that they are active online every day in 
Austria, whereas in Finland 75% of minors reported this. 25.4% (2,054 minors) in the 

58   For the questionnaires used in the survey, please refer to Annex F (separate document). 
59   Eurobarometer. (2008). Towards a Safer Use of the Internet for Children in the EU: A Parents' Perspective. 

Luxembourg: European Commission. 

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selected Member States go online a few times per week.  This is similar to the results of 
the EU Kids Online survey60, which indicated that 60% of 9-16 year old Internet users in 
Europe go online daily, and a further 33 per cent go online at least weekly61.  

Figure 6.1 Frequency of online activity of minors aged 4-17 

Note: total number of respondents is 8,086. 
Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK survey. 

Breakdown by age group 
Figure 6.2 presents a breakdown of the frequency of online activity by age group. It 
shows that 71.9% of minors aged 4-8 use Internet at least a few times per week. With 
regard to the minors aged 9-13 and 14-17, the majority reported to be active online at 
least a few times a week - 92.9% and 99.1% respectively. In 4-8 age group 32.7% of 
the minors use Internet every day. In Austria on the other hand, only 11.2% of minors 
in this age group use Internet every day while in Romania and the UK 47.8% each. The 
usage of Internet increases with age: in case of the age group 9-13 this concerns 66.9% 
and 91.2% for the age group 14-17. In Austria the lowest share of minors in age group 
9-13 indicated to visit Internet every day (54.7%), while in Finland the highest share of 
minors reported so (87.8%). The share of minors in the oldest age group is even higher, 
ranging between 84.4% in Germany and 98.6% in Finland.  

Figure 6.2 Frequency of online activity by age group (4-8, 9-13 and 14-17) 

Note: total number of respondents is 2,858, 2,865, 2,363 for in 4-8, 9-13, 14-17 age groups respectively. 
Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK survey. 

60   Livingstone, Sonia and Haddon, Leslie and Görzig, Anke and Ólafsson, Kjartan (2011) EU kids online: final 
report. EU Kids Online, London School of Economics & Political Science, London, UK. This version available 
at: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/39351/. 

61   This survey was conducted for 25 countries during 2010. 

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Type of online activities 
Overall (4-17 year olds) 
Minors are active online for different purposes, as presented in Figure 6.3. The most 
prevalent reported activities are listening to music or watching films and cartoons 
(63.9%) and watching video clips (61.3%). Playing games alone is also relatively often 
reported. 42.3% of respondents reported to use Internet for school work. The least 
mentioned type of activity is creating a character, pet or avatar.  

These results are similar to the ones obtained in the EU Kids Online survey62 and theNet 
Children Go Mobile63 survey64 despite a number of differences between those two 
surveys and the survey conducted for the purposes of this study. For example, the 
activity ‘listening to music or watching films and cartoons’ is not included in EU Kids 
Online and Net Children Go Mobile while the activity ‘using instant messaging’ is not 
included in the questionnaire of this study. When accounted for these differences, the 
top 3 online activities are the same. Moreover, the activity ‘create a character, pet or 
avatar’ is mentioned by the lowest number of respondents in the EU Kids Online survey, 
Net Children Go Mobile survey and the survey conducted for the purposes of this study. 

Figure 6.3 Types of online activity of minors aged 4-17 

Note: total number of respondents is 8,086.  
It is a multiple answer question, therefore the total number adds up to more than 100%. 
Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK survey. 

Breakdown by age group 
Figure 6.4 shows the top three online activities mentioned per age group. The most 
popular activity differs per age group. For the minors in 4-8 and 14-17 age groups the 
most popular activity is listening to music or watching films and cartoons, whereas the 
minors aged 9-13 prefer to watch video clips. For the minors aged 14-17 years chatting 
or talking with friends is among the most popular activities, while this does not occur in 
the top three lists of the other age groups. Playing games alone is a popular choice of 
minors aged 4-13.  

62   Livingstone, Sonia and Haddon, Leslie and Görzig, Anke and Ólafsson, Kjartan (2011) EU kids online: final 

report. EU Kids Online, London School of Economics & Political Science, London, UK.  

63   Livingstone, S., Haddon, L., Vincent, J., Mascheroni, G. and Ólafsson, K. (2014). Net Children Go Mobile: 

The UK Report. London: London School of Economics and Political Science. 

64   The survey concerns 9-16 year olds in Belgium, Denmark, Italy, Ireland, Portugal, Romania, UK. 

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Figure 6.4 Top 3 of online activities by age group (4-8, 9-13 and 14-17) 

Note: total numbers of respondents are 2,858, 2,865, 2,363 for in 4-8, 9-13, 14-17 age groups respectively. 
It is a multiple answer question, therefore the total number adds up to more than 100%. 
Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK survey. 

6.3.2.  Details on online activity 
Online services per activity 
Minors use different online services for various activities. Figure 6.5 - Figure 6.8 show 
the online services that the minors use per activity per age group. Minors were asked to 
indicate which online services they use for a certain activity if they have responded that 
they perform this activity at least a few times a month.  

Minors in all age groups indicated for visiting a social media profile, Facebook is the 
most accessed online service (Figure 6.5). Tumblr and Twitter are also commonly used 
online services.  

Figure 6.5 Online services per activity: Visit a social media profile, by age group (4-8, 9-

13 and 14-17) 

Note: total numbers of respondents are 184, 889, 1,529 for 4-8, 9-13, 14-17 age groups. 
It is a multiple answer question, therefore the total number adds up to more than 100%. 
Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK survey. 

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As described above, the most common activities are listening to music or watching films 
and cartoons, watching video clips, and playing games alone. 

On average (per age group) 99% of minors responded that they watch video clips on 
YouTube. Other online services that minors accessed to watch video clips, including Daily 
Motion and Twitch, were indicated by less than 10% of the minors in each age group. 

Figure 6.6 Online services per activity: Watch video clips, by age group (4-8, 9-13 and 
14-17) 

Note: total numbers of respondents are 1,295, 1,855, 1,700 for 4-8, 9-13, 14-17 age groups.  It is a multiple 
answer question, therefore the total number adds up to more than 100%. 
Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK survey. 

Figure 6.7 shows that minors access different online services when playing games alone. 
While the youngest minors visit Disney and Nickelodeon, for the oldest minors prefer 
Gameforge and Kizi. 24.9% of respondents in 9-13 age group indicated that they visit 
Nickelodeon.  

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Figure 6.7 Online services per activity: Play games alone on the Internet, by age group 
(4-8, 9-13 and 14-17) 

Note: total numbers of respondents are 1,493, 1,709, 1,074 for 4-8, 9-13, 14-17 age groups. It is a multiple 
answer question, therefore the total number adds up to more than 100%. 
Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK survey. 

Figure 6.8 indicates the different online services that are used when listening to music or 
watching films and cartoons. YouTube is the most commonly indicated service when it 
comes to listening to music or watching films and cartoons. Netflix is also a commonly 
used online service for this purpose: it was mentioned by 40.2% and 30.7% of minors in 
the 14-17 and 9-13 age groups respectively. For the youngest minors the second most 
common answer is to use Spotify: 22.4% of respondents indicated to use this online 
service when listening to music or watching films and cartoons.  

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Figure 6.8 Online services per activity: Listen to music or watch films and cartoons, by 
age group (4-8, 9-13 and 14-17) 

Note:total numbers of respondents are 1,502, 1,779, 1,754 for 4-8, 9-13, 14-17 age groups. 
It is a multiple answer question, therefore the total number adds up to more than 100%. 
Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK survey. 

Accounts for online services 
Overall (9-17 year olds) 
Minors use the Internet for different purposes, and for some activities an account can or 
has to be created. Minors aged 9-17 were asked for which online services they have an 
account. 65 As shown in Figure 6.9, Facebook is most often answered: 67.4% of the 
respondents (3,315 minors) indicated that they have an account for Facebook, followed 
by Whatsapp (2,943 minors reported to have an account for this). The third most 
common answer is Youtube (49%). In Czech Republic and Romania the third most 
common answer is Skype, while in a number of other countries it is Hotmail, Gmail or 
other e-mail account (in Finland, the Netherlands, Spain, the UK). 

The results indicate that Twitter and Snapchat are less popular, since respectively 
20.6% and 13.8% of the respondents reported to have an account for these online 
services. On average, the respondents indicated to have accounts for three different 
online services. In Finland minors indicated to have the largest number of accounts 

65   As many online services, like Facebook, use a minimum age of 13 for registration, the question about 

online accounts was only posed to the age groups 9-13 and 14-17. 

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(namely four accounts).  

Figure 6.9 Online services for which minors aged 9-17 have an account  

Note: total number of respondents is 5,228. 
It is a multiple answer question, therefore the total number adds up to more than 100%. 
Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK survey. 

Breakdown by age group (9-13 and 14-17 age groups) 
Figure 6.10 presents the top five online services for which minors reported to have an 
account per age group. Facebook is the online service for which the majority of minors 
in both groups reported to have an account: 82.4% of the respondents aged 14-17 and 
47.7% of the respondents aged 9-13, even though the minimum age requirement for 
Facebook is actually 13. Whatsapp is the second most often reported service among 
minors aged 14-17, while for the group aged 9-13 this appears to be YouTube. On 
average, the respondents aged 9-13 reported to have two accounts and the respondents 
aged 14-17 reported to have 4 accounts for different services. 

Figure 6.10 Top 5 online services for which minors have an account, by age group (9-13 
and 14-17) 

Note: total numbers of respondents are 2,865, 2,363 for age groups 9-13, 14-17 respectively. 
It is a multiple answer question, therefore the total number adds up to more than 100%. 
Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK survey. 

6.3.3.  Awareness of (alcohol) advertising 
This section concerns awareness of advertisement with the main focus on awareness of 
alcohol advertisement. For ethical reasons, minors in 4-8 age group were only asked to 

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answer a question on whether they saw advertisements online during the last month66. 
The older minors were asked to answer questions about seeing alcohol advertisements 
online.  

Advertisement recall (4-8 year olds) 
Table 6.1 provides details on how many minors aged 4-8 recall to have seen 
advertisements in the last month. Due to ethical concerns, it was decided that the 
questionnaire for the youngest age groups should not include questions on alcohol 
advertising.1,400 minors (49%) in this age group reported to have seen an 
advertisement on the Internet in the last month. Depending on the Member State the 
share of minors that reported to have seen an advertisement in the last month ranges 
between 31.1% (in Austria) and 60.2% (in Romania). 703 respondents (24.6%) 
indicated that they have not seen an advertisement. 26.4% of the minors responded 
they did not know if they have seen an advertisement.  

Table 6.1 Share of minors in the age group 4-8 that recalled to have seen advertisements 
on the Internet in the last month 
Member State 

Don't know  N 

Yes 

No 

Austria 

Czech Republic 

Finland 

Germany 

Italy 

Netherlands 

Romania 

Spain 

United Kingdom 

All Member States 

31.1% 

48.1% 

57.1% 

41.5% 

60.0% 

38.4% 

60.2% 

54.0% 

45.1% 

33.9% 

35.0% 

21.8% 

30.1% 

15.2% 

27.7% 

34.6% 

23.9% 

23.5% 

16.5% 

31.2% 

30.3% 

16.6% 

23.2% 

16.8% 

29.2% 

31.8% 

23.1% 

286 

316 

282 

234 

345 

333 

362 

363 

337 

49.0% 

24.6% 

26.4% 

2,858 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK survey. 

Type of advertisements recalled 
Overall (9-17 year olds) 
Figure 6.11 provides an overview of the number of minors that answered the question 
“Which types of advertisements have you seen during the last month?”. The type of 
advertisements reported to be recalled most often is games advertisement (63.0%). The 
second most often recalled type concern clothes (45.8%), followed by cartoons, films or 
TV-shows advertisement advertisements (41.5%). The least recalled type is alcohol 
advertisement (11.1% or 580 minors). 

66   Due to ethical concerns, it was decided that the questionnaire for the youngest age groups should not 
include questions on alcohol advertising. For more details on the development of the survey and 
methodology applied see Chapter 2. 

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Figure 6.11 Type of advertisements seen during the last month by minors aged 9-17 

Note: total number of respondents is 5,228. 
Multiple answers allowed, therefore the total number adds up to more than 100%. 
Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK survey. 

Breakdown by age group 
Figure 6.12 shows the differences in the type of advertisements reported to be seen in 
the last month per age group. The results indicate that recall of alcohol advertisements 
appears to increase with age: where only 7.5% (or 214 minors) of the minors aged 9 -13 
reported to have seen an alcohol advertisement in the last month, 15.5% (366 minors) 
of the minors aged 14 – 17 reported to have seen such a type of an advertisement.  

Figure 6.12 Type of advertisements seen during the last month, by age group (9 – 13 and 
14 – 17)  

Note: total numbers of respondents are 8,865, 2,363 for age groups 9-13, 14-17 respectively. 
Multiple answers allowed, therefore the total number adds up to more than 100%. 
Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK survey. 

Type of alcohol advertisements recalled  
Overall (9-17 year olds) 
Figure 6.13 and 6.14 present an overview of the number of minors that answered the 
question “Have you seen advertisement(s) about alcohol on the internet during the last 
month? For which type of alcohol product have you seen advertisement(s) on the 
Internet?”. 1,250 minors aged 9-17 (23.9% of respondents) indicated that they saw 
alcohol advertisements on the Internet during the last month. The share ranges between 
14.7% in Austria and 29.8% in Italy. 2,391 minors responded that they have not seen 

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advertisement about alcohol while 1,587 minors answered that they do not know. When 
minors were asked to specify the type of advertisement they recall to have seen in the 
last month, fewer minors indicated that they recall alcohol advertisements (11.1% as 
opposed to 23.9%). 

The majority of the minors that reported to recall seeing an alcohol advertisement on 
the internet during the last month, indicated to have seen an advertisement for beer 
(72.9% or 911 minors), followed by spirits or liquor (35.9% or 449 minors). 
Advertisements for alcopops were recalled the least (21.5% or 291 minors).  

Figure 6.13 Recall of alcohol advertisement(s)   Figure 6.14 Type of alcohol  
on the Internet during the last month  
by minors aged 9-17   

alcohol advertisement(s) by minors aged 9-17 

advertisement if the minors recalled  

Note: total number of respondents is 5,228.  
Multiple answers allowed, therefore the total numbers per sector add up to more than 100%. 
Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK survey. 

Breakdown by age group 
Figure 6.15 presents the breakdown of the number of minors per age group that have 
reported to recall seeing alcohol advertisements on the Internet during last month. 
19.5% or 560 minors aged 9 – 13 a responded to have seen alcohol advertisements. 
The share ranges between 10.1% (in Austria) and 26.8% (in the UK). 1,388 answered 
negatively to the question whether you have seen advertisement(s) about alcohol on the 
Internet during the last month. 917 minors reported not to recall whether they saw an 
advertisement or not. In the age group 14 – 17 more minors reported to recall having 
seen alcohol advertisements in the last month – 690 minors (29.2%). The share ranges 
between 19% (in Austria) and 37% (in Spain). 42.5% of the respondents reported that 
they do not recall seeing such an advertisement, while 28.3% of minors reported “do 
not know”.  

Hence, alcohol advertisement recall increases with age. Based on these results, we can 
make the careful qualitative extrapolation that it is likely that the percentage of minors 
in the youngest age group (4-8) that would recall seeing alcohol advertisements is lower 
than that for the 9-13 year olds.  

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Figure 6.15 Recall of alcohol advertisement(s) on the Internet during the last month per 
age group (9-13 and 14-17) 

Note: total numbers of respondents are 2,865, 2,363 for age groups 9-13, 14-17 respectively. 
Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK survey. 

Figure 6.16 presents the breakdown per age group of the types of alcohol products 
shown in advertisements that minors reported to recall having seen on the Internet 
during last month. The majority of minors reported to recall having seen an 
advertisement for beer (32% and 39.1% of minors in 9-13 and 14-17 age groups 
respectively). Advertisements for spirits or liquor were reported by 39.1% and 32.0% of 
minors in 14-17 and 9-13 age groups respectively.  

Figure 6.16 Type of alcohol product that have been seen during online activity per age 
group (9-13 and 14-17) 

It is a multiple answer question, therefore the total number adds up to more than 100%. 
Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK survey. 

Minors aged 9-17 were also asked to indicate on which online services they recall to 
have seen an alcohol advertisement. Table 6.2 provides an overview of the share of 
minors per age group that indicated that they saw an alcohol advertisement on a specific 
online service. The most common answers were Youtube, Facebook, Tumblr, Google, 
Twitch, Bing, and Twitter.  

The results as presented in the Table 6.2 should be treated with great caution as some 
of the online services do not include advertising at all (e.g. Gameforge, Gmail, Netflix, 

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Popmog, Soundcloud, Whatsapp, and Wikipedia) or do not include alcohol advertising 
(e.g. Disney, Friv, Kizi, Miniclip, Movie Star Planet and Nickelodeon). It is therefore 
important to note that these are the online services where minors perceived to have 
seen alcohol advertisements.  

Table 6.2 Online services on which minors (9-13, 14-17) perceived to have seen alcohol 
advertisements 

Age group 

Age group 

Online Service 

9 - 13 

14 – 17 

Online Service 

9 - 13 

14 – 17 

BBC 

Bing 

0.063 

0.078 

Mymail 

5.50% 

4.10% 

0.093 

0.099 

Netflix 

5.90% 

5.70% 

Daily Motion 

0.052 

0.052 

Nickelodeon 

7.70% 

3.00% 

Dailymail 

Disney 

Facebook 

Friv 

0.043 

0.029 

Popmog 

3.60% 

3.30% 

0.071 

0.039 

Roblox 

6.10% 

3.80% 

0.205 

0.245 

Sky 

5.20% 

7.70% 

0.059 

0.048 

Skype 

5.50% 

6.70% 

Gameforge 

0.064 

0.033 

Soundcloud 

7.00% 

6.10% 

Gmail 

GMX 

Google 

Hotmail 

0.052 

0.083 

Spotify 

3.20% 

5.10% 

0.025 

0.025 

The Guardian 

3.60% 

4.30% 

0.179 

0.177 

Tumblr 

19.10% 

18.30% 

0.061 

0.061 

Twitch 

17.70% 

15.70% 

Instagram 

0.045 

0.043 

Twitter 

8.00% 

8.60% 

Kizi 

Live 

0.054 

0.032 

WhatsApp 

6.10% 

6.10% 

0.036 

0.043 

Wikipedia 

4.50% 

4.20% 

Miniclip 

0.054 

0.03 

Yahoo! 

0.052 

0.067 

Movie Star Planet 

0.073 

0.043 

Youtube 

0.361 

0.322 

MSN 

0.041 

0.068 

N 

560 

690 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK survey. 
Note: These results should be treated with great caution as some of the online services do not include 
advertising at all or do not include alcohol advertising. 

6.3.4.  Memory for alcohol advertising 
Minors aged 9-17 were asked to describe the latest alcohol advertisement they have 
seen online. In particular they were asked to answer ‘Where did you see it? Who did you 
see (e.g. a celebrity)? What was the advertisement about?’. After that, the minor was 
asked if he or she recalled a second advertisement, and if so, a question was asked 
about the recall of a third advertisement. The answers to these questions are referred to 
as first, second and third recall throughout this section.  

First recall refers to the latest alcohol advertisement a minor recalled to have 
seen online and was able to describe. 
Second recall refers the second advertisement a minor recalled to have seen 

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online and was able to describe. 

Third recall refers to the third advertisement a minor to recall to have seen online 
and was able to describe. 

Overall (9-17 year olds) 
Figure 6.17 presents an overview of the number of minors that have indicated they 
could describe an alcohol advertisement they saw online recently. 1,234 minors aged 9-
17 (23.6% of respondents) indicated that they could describe such an alcohol 
advertisement. A second advertisement could be described by 289 minors (5.5% of 
respondents), while 134 minors (2.6% of respondents) could describe also a third one. 

Figure 6.17 Type of recalled alcohol advertisement(s)  

Note: number of respondents that recalled the advertisement is 1,234, 289, 134 for first, second and third 
recalled ad respectively. 
Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK survey. 

The most described type of advertisements is a video clip. For all three advertisements 
more than 50% of minors recalled the advertisement they described to be a video clip. 
Around 40% of minors recalled it to be a picture and only 1-2% of minors indicated that 
it was another type of advertisement.  

Breakdown by age group 
Figure 6.18 shows the type of alcohol advertisements that were described, per age 
group. For all three recalled advertisements the younger age group (9-13 years old) 
recalled to have seen more video clips compared to the minors in the 14-17 age group. 
While it is the other way around when it comes to the recalled picture ads. 

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Figure 6.18 Type of recalled alcohol advertisement(s) per age group 

Note: number of respondents that recalled the advertisement is 1,234, 289, 134 for first, second and third 
recalled advertisement respectively. 
Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK survey. 

Breakdown by type of alcohol beverage  
Overall (9-17 year olds) 
Figure 6.19 presents the breakdown of the types of alcoholic beverages for which minors 
described advertisements in the first, second, and third recall respectively. The majority 
of minors recalled and described an advertisement for beer in both video clips and 
pictures. The second most recalled type of alcohol in advertisements is spirits or liquor. 
The third most recalled types of alcohol in advertisements are cider and wine. 
Advertisements for alcopops and wine are the least recalled. 

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Figure 6.19a Type of alcohol beverages of recalled advertisement seen online, first recall 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK survey. 

Figure 6.19b Type of alcohol beverages of recalled advertisement seen online, second 
recall 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK survey. 

Figure 6.19c Type of alcohol beverages of recalled advertisement seen online, third recall 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK survey. 

Breakdown by age group 
Figure 6.20 and Figure 6.21 provide an overview per age group of the breakdown of the 
types of alcoholic beverages that minors recall to have seen in advertisements they were 
able to describe. The patterns are similar for video clips and pictures. The share of 
minors that described a video clip advertisement about beer is higher for the 9-13 age 
group. The same trend is observed for second and third recalled advertisements. The 
only exception is second recalled picture advertisement where the share of minors that 
described beer advertisements are almost the same. 

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Figure 6.20 Type of alcohol beverages of recalled video clip advertisement seen online 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK survey. 

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Figure 6.21 Type of alcohol beverages of recalled picture advertisement seen online 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK survey. 

Recalled brands 
Figure 6.22 presents the shares of the respondents that recall the brand of the described 
advertisements. Between 74.6% and 82.4% of respondents reported to recall the brand 
of the advertisements they described. The share of 14-17 year old minors that recalled a 
brand is larger than the share of younger minors in the first recall. In the second and 
third recall, a larger share of minors in 9-13 age groups recalled brand of the ad. 

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Figure 6.22 Brand recall of alcohol advertisements seen online, in total and per age 
group (9-13, 14-17) 

Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK survey. 

6.4.  Cross-tables and relationships 

This section presents an overview of the results of testing the relationship between 
frequency of online activity and advertisement recall. The dependent variables are 
advertisement recall and active brand recall. These two indicators were answers to the 
questions “Did you see advertisements on the internet in the last month?” for minors 4-
8 years old and “Have you seen advertisement(s) about alcohol on the internet?” for 
minors 9-17 years old. Since the answers to these questions are either yes or no (or 
don’t know), the relation has been tested using a logistic regression. The independent 
variables are frequency of internet use and online activities and devices. The frequency 
of internet use is treated as a linear variable while the other variables are treated as 
multiple responses (minors could provide multiple answers).  

Recall of advertisements depending on the frequency of online activity 
Table 6.3 shows the share of minors 4-8 years old that have used Internet and seen 
advertisements in the last month. 48.9% of the minors in this age group saw 
advertisements on the Internet in the last month. 63% of 934 minors who report being 

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on the Internet every day recall having seen advertisements on the Internet in the last 
month. While only 38% of 425 minors have seen advertisements on the Internet in the 
last month. The relationship between frequency of Internet and ad recall is positive67. 
Therefore the more often Internet is used, the higher the chance that a commercial will 
be recalled.  

Table 6.3 The relationship between the frequency of online activity and seeing 
advertisements on the internet in the last month (4-8 age group) 
Frequency of online activity 

N 

Seeing advertisements on the internet 
in the last month  

Every day 

A few times a week 

A few times a month 

63% 

52% 

38% 

934 

1,119 

425 

Never or less than once a 
month 
Note: N = number of minors who report being on the internet every day, a few times a week, etc.  
Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK survey. 

17% 

380 

Recall of alcohol advertisements depending on the frequency of online activity 
Table 6.4 shows the relationship between the amount of time spent on the Internet and 
seeing alcohol advertisements on the Internet. 24% of the minors 9-13 years old that 
use Internet every day saw alcohol advertisements on the Internet in the last month. 
While 30% of the minors 14-17 years old that use Internet every day saw alcohol 
advertisement online. On average, advertisement recall is significantly higher among the 
14-17 age group than among the 9-13 age group68. Moreover, similarly to the youngest 
minors (4-8 years old), advertisement recall is significantly higher if frequency of use 
increases on average69. Therefore the more often Internet is used, the higher the 
advertisement recall. The relationship between frequency of internet use and 
advertisement recall is equally strong for the 9-13 age group and for the 14-17 age 
group and is positive for both age groups70.  

Table 6.4 The relationship between the frequency of online activity and seeing alcohol 

advertisements on the internet 
Age group 

Seeing advertisement(s) about alcohol on the internet 

Frequency of online activity 

Every day 

A few times a week 

A few times a month 

Never or less than once a month 

9-13 

14-17 

both age groups 

% 

24% 

12% 

9% 

7% 

N 

% 

N 

% 

N 

1917 

30% 

2155 

27% 

4072 

746 

158 

44 

20% 

28% 

0% 

186 

18 

4 

14% 

11% 

6% 

932 

176 

48 

Note: N = number of minors who report being on the internet every day, a few times a week, etc.  
Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK survey. 

Based on these results, we can make a careful qualitative extrapolation of the exposure 
of the youngest age group to alcohol advertising from the perspective of viewers. From 

67   b =.65, z = 15.43, p <.001. 
68   It is significant on 10% significance level (coefficient is 0.71, z value is 2.75). 
69   It is significant on 1% significance level (coefficient is 0.56, z value is 6.18). 
70   For age group 9-13: Frequency of internet use has a positive effect on ad recall (It is significant on 1% 

significance level (coefficient is 0.68, z value is 7.32).  
For age group 14-17: Frequency of internet use has a positive effect on ad recall (It is significant on 10% 
significance level (coefficient is 0.44, z value is 2.81).  

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the results in section 6.3.1 we know that of all age groups, the youngest group is least 
active online. Therefore, we expect the alcohol advertising recall for the youngest age 
group to be lower than for the 9-13 year olds.  

Recall of advertisements depending on the online activity 
Table 6.5 shows the share of minors 4-8 years old that have used Internet (at least 
more than once a month) and reported to have seen advertisements in the last month. 
More than 50% of minors recall seeing an advertisement while performing a specific 
activity. The highest shares of the youngest minors saw advertisements while posting 
photos videos or music, visiting a social media profile and chatting and talking with 
friends. 78% of 170 minors who indicated posting photos, videos or music to share with 
other recall having seen advertisements on the internet in the last month. 77% of 192 
minors who report visiting social media profiles online recall having seen advertisements 
on the internet in the last month.  

Table 6.5 The relationship between type of activity on the internet and seeing 

advertisements on the internet in the last month (4-8 age group) 
Type of online activity 

Seeing advertisements 
on the internet in the 
last month 
77% 

Visit a social media profile 

Watch video clips 

Use the internet for school work 

Play games alone 

56% 

65% 

51% 

Play games with others on the internet 

65% 

Listen to music or watch films, cartoons 

56% 

Send or read my e-mail 

Chat or talk with my friends 

Post photos, videos music to share with 
others 
Play in virtual worlds 

Create a character, pet or avatar 

Other 

68% 

72% 

78% 

64% 

68% 

17% 

Note: N = number of minors who report doing the specific activity.  
Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK survey. 

N 

192 

1,368 

534 

1,579 

473 

1,589 

219 

252 

170 

394 

347 

139 

Recall of alcohol advertisements depending on the online activity 
Table 6.6 shows the relationship between the type of online activity and seeing alcohol 
advertisements on the Internet for minors in the 9-13 and 14-17 age groups. On 
average 28% of minors recall seeing an alcohol commercial while performing one of the 
activities. In case of minors 14-17 years old, the recall is stronger (on average 32% of 
minors recall an alcohol advertisement compared to 24% of minors 9-13 years old). In 
case of most activities, the recall differs significantly between age groups for a particular 
activity. The only exceptions of activities are reading and watching the news on the 
internet and the other categories not presented in Table 6.6. 

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Table 6.6 The relationship between type of activity on the internet and seeing an alcohol 
ad on the internet (9-13 and 14-17 age group) 

Type of online activity 

% 

N 

% 

N 

Seeing advertisements on the internet in the 
last month 
9-13 

14-17 

both age 
groups 
% 

N 

Visit a social media profile* 

27% 

906 

31% 

1533 

29% 

2439 

Watch video clips*** 

20% 

1878 

30% 

1708 

25% 

3586 

Use the internet for school work*** 

23% 

1418 

30% 

1464 

27% 

2882 

Play games alone*** 

19% 

1739 

33% 

1084 

24% 

2823 

Play games with others on the internet*** 

24% 

1111 

33% 

1063 

28% 

2174 

Listen to music or watch films, cartoons*** 

21% 

1813 

30% 

1767 

26% 

3580 

Send or read my e-mail* 

26% 

788 

31% 

1357 

29% 

2145 

Chat or talk with my friends** 

25% 

1357 

30% 

1765 

28% 

3122 

Read/watch the news on the internet 

Post photo’s, video’s or music to share with 
others** 
Play in virtual worlds*** 

Create a character, pet or avatar** 

Other 

33% 

28% 

26% 

29% 

11% 

444 

36% 

797 

35% 

1241 

740 

36% 

1116 

33% 

1856 

737 

37% 

581 

31% 

1318 

408 

41% 

203 

33% 

44 

22% 

37 

16% 

611 

81 

Note: *** = significant on 1‰ level, ** = significant on 1% level, * = significant on 5% level. N = number of 
minors who report doing the specific activity.  
Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK survey. 

Recall of seen advertisements depending on the device 
Table 6.7 shows the share of minors 4-8 years old that have seen advertisements in the 
last month per type of device used to go online. The highest share of minors saw an 
advertisement while using game consoles. However the highest number of minors that 
recall seeing an advertisement uses computer or laptop.  

Table 6.7 The relationship between devices used to go online and seeing advertisements 

on the internet in the last month (4-8 age group) 

Type of device 

Computer or laptop  

Tablet 

Smartphone 

Game console (e.g. XboX, Wii, Playstation) 

Seeing 

N 

advertisements on the 

internet in the last 

month 

52 

55 

59 

70 

1953 

1481 

743 

217 

Other 
Note: N = number of minors who report using a computer/laptop, tablet, smartphone, etc. to go online 
(multiple answers possible).  
Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK survey. 

15 

75 

Recall of alcohol advertisements depending on the device 
Table 6.8 shows the relationship between devices used to go online and seeing alcohol 
advertisements on the internet for minors in the 9-13 and 14-17 age groups. In case of 
minors aged 14-17, the alcohol advertisement recall is stronger (on average 33% of 
minors recall an alcohol advertisement compared to 22% of minors 9-13 years old while 

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using one of the devices). In case of most activities, the recall differs significantly 
between age groups for a particular device. The only exception to this is the game 
console. 

Table 6.8 The relationship between devices used to go online and seeing alcohol 
advertisements on the internet (9-13 and 14-17 age group) 

Seeing advertisement(s) about alcohol on the 
internet 
9-13 

14-17 

both age 
groups 
% 

N 

% 

Type of device 
Computer or laptop***  
Tablet*** 
Smartphone*** 
Game console (e.g. XboX, Wii, Playstation) 
Other 
Note: *** = significant on 1‰ level, ** = significant on 1% level, * = significant on 5% level. N = number of 
minors who report mostly using a computer/laptop, tablet, smartphone, etc. for all their online activities 
(multiple answers possible).  
Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK survey. 

29%  1985 
37% 
888 
30%  1762 
398 
32% 
13 
38% 

2177 
1438 
1485 
368 
32 

25% 
27% 
27% 
30% 
24% 

21% 
21% 
23% 
27% 
19% 

4162 
2326 
3247 
766 
45 

% 

N 

N 

Memory for alcohol advertising depending on the frequency of online activity 
Table 6.9 shows the relationship between amount of time spent on the internet and 
actively recalling at lease one advertised brand for minors in the 9-13 and 14-17 age 
groups. 18% of minors in the 9-13 age group who report being on the internet every 
day every day actively recall at least one alcohol brand for which they have seen an 
advertisement recently, while 24% of the minors 14-17 years old that use Internet 
every day actively recall at least one advertised alcohol brand. On average, active brand 
recall is significantly higher among the 14-17 age group than among the 9-13 age group 
71. Moreover, active brand recall is significantly higher in case of a higher frequency of 
use72. Therefore the more often Internet is used, the higher the active brand recall. The 
relationship between frequency of internet use and active brand recall is slightly stronger 
for the 9-13 age group and for the 14-17 age group and is positive for both age 
groups73. 

Table 6.9 The relationship between amount of time spent on the internet and actively 
recalling at least one alcohol advertisement (9-13 and 14-17 age group) 

Active recall of at least one advertisement 

9-13 

% 

14-17 

both age groups 

Frequency of online activity 

Every day 

A few times a week 

A few times a month 

Never or less than once a month 

N 

% 

N 

18% 

1917 

24% 

2155 

8% 

6% 

7% 

746 

158 

44 

17% 

22% 

0% 

186 

18 

4 

% 

21% 

10% 

7% 

6% 

N 

4072 

932 

176 

48 

Note: N = number of minors who report being on the internet every day, a few times a week, etc.  
Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK survey. 

71   It is significant on 1% significance level (coefficient is 0.93, z value is 3.26). 
72   It is significant on 1% significance level (coefficient is 0.56, z value is 5.58). 
73   For age group 9-13: Frequency of internet use has a positive effect on active brand recall (It is significant 

on 1% significance level (coefficient is 0.73, z value is 6.62).  
For age group 14-17: Frequency of internet use has a positive effect on active brand recall (It is significant 
on 5% significance level (coefficient is 0.38, z value is 2.30). 

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Memory of alcohol advertisement(s) depending on the online activity 
Table 6.10 shows the relationship between the type of online activity and actively 
recalling at least one advertised alcohol brand for minors in the 9-13 and 14-17 age 
groups. On average 21% of minors recall at least one advertised brand while performing 
one of the activities. In case of minors 14-17 years old, the recall memory is higher (on 
average 27% of minors recall an advertisement alcohol brand compared to 19% of 
minors 9-13 years old). In case of most activities, the recall differs significantly between 
age groups for a particular activity. The only exceptions of activities are reading and 
watching the news on the internet and the other categories not presented in Table 6.10. 

Table 6.10 The relationship between type of activity on the internet and actively 

recalling at least one alcohol advertisement (9-13 and 14-17 age group) 

Active recall of at least one advertised 
brand 

9-13 

14-17 

both age 
groups 

Type of online activity 

% 

N  % 

N 

% 

N 

Visit a social media profile** 

20% 

906 

26%  1533 

24% 

2439 

Watch video clips*** 

15%  1878  25%  1708 

20% 

3586 

Use the internet for school work*** 

17%  1418  24%  1464 

21% 

2882 

Play games alone*** 

14%  1739  26%  1084 

19% 

2823 

Play games with others on the internet*** 

18%  1111  27%  1063 

22% 

2174 

Listen to music or watch films, cartoons*** 

16%  1813  25%  1767 

20% 

3580 

Send or read my e-mail 

22% 

788 

24%  1357 

23% 

2145 

Chat or talk with my friends*** 

18%  1357  25%  1765 

22% 

3122 

Read/watch the news on the internet 

27% 

444 

29% 

797 

28% 

1241 

Post photo’s, video’s or music to share with 
others*** 
Play in virtual worlds*** 

22% 

740 

29%  1116 

26% 

1856 

20% 

737 

30% 

581 

24% 

1318 

Create a character, pet or avatar*** 

21% 

408 

35% 

203 

26% 

611 

Other 

7% 

44 

16% 

37 

11% 

81 

Note: *** = significant on 1‰ level, ** = significant on 1% level, * = significant on 5% level. N = number of 
minors who report doing the specific activity.  
Source: Ecorys consortium analysis, data source GfK survey. 

6.5.  Main limitations of the approach and methodology 

The results of the survey, as presented in this Chapter, should be interpreted with 
caution because of several caveats associated with the methodology.  

First of all, the survey relies on self-reporting measures of exposure by asking recall 
questions, which induces the risk of recall-bias. Hence, where minors indicated that they 
recall to have seen (alcohol) advertisements, it does not necessarily mean that the 
(alcohol) advertisement actually was carried out there. Table 6.2 could serve as an 
example of this, where a number of online services were mentioned by minors to include 
alcohol advertisements while in reality they do not include any alcohol advertisements. 
This may lead to overestimation of self-reported exposure.  

On the other hand, minors were filling in the questionnaires with their parents present 

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and this may have led to underestimation of self-reported exposure as they were trying 
to avoid punishment. 

It is also important to note that the respondents were not provided with a demarcated 
definition of ‘alcohol advertising’. Therefore the reported exposure to alcohol advertising 
is subject to interpretation of what is perceived as ‘alcohol advertising’ by minors. This 
again may lead to overestimation of self-reported exposure.  

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7. Content analysis 

The third research question of the study concerns a content analysis of selected 
advertisements on AV media services (both linear and non-linear) and other online 
services, in the nine selected EU Member States: 

“For audio-visual media services (both linear and non-linear) and other 
online services, what type of alcohol advertising does an average minor 
see in the EU? Are minors specifically targeted by alcohol advertising? In 
how far is alcohol advertising appealing to minors and how? In 
particular, in how far do the provisions of the AVMSD and their 
application afford the required level of protection?” 

The content analysis reflects what type of alcohol advertising an average minor sees in 
the EU, if alcohol advertising is specifically aimed at minors and to what extent alcohol 
advertising is appealing to minors and in what way. Hence, the analysis goes beyond the 
AVMSD and takes a broader perspective with the aim to analyse what is actually the 
content of advertisements, and if this can be considered appealing to minors. This does 
not reflect any judgement on the presence of certain elements, but rather describes 
what the content is.  

The content analysis covers a selection of alcohol advertisements in the nine selected 
Member States. The analysis has been conducted in spring 2015 by a multidisciplinary 
team of senior researchers with backgrounds in sociology, communication and cultural 
studies. The researchers have expertise in how symbols influence and have an impact on 
individual behaviour and society in general.  

This Chapter starts with a description of the analysis grid that was developed for and 
used in the content analysis (section 7.1). Next, the main findings of the analysis are 
presented (section 7.2), followed by two sections in which we discuss the results of the 
analysis of alcohol advertisements on respectively linear AV media services and non-
linear AV media services and other online services (sections 7.3 and 7.4). Subsequently 
the results are presented per beverage type (section 7.5) and in the final section of the 
Chapter we discuss the level of protection by the AVMSD (section 7.6). 

7.1.  Analysis grid 

The research team first developed an analysis grid for the assessment of the content of 
the selected alcohol advertisements. The grid consists of two types of assessment 
criteria. The first are elements directly derived from article 22 of the AVMSD, in order to 
evaluate to what extent the research material reflect the criteria. The second type of 
assessment criteria have been developed on the basis of literature reviews, and 
theoretical and methodological discussions among the experts in the research team in 
order to assess whether the advertisements, in a more general sense, can be claimed to 
be appealing to minors74. The grid has been pilot tested and validated by a peer review 
panel75. 

74   Annex H (separate document) discusses the (sub)categories included in the analysis grid in more detail, 

based on extensive literature reviews.  

75   For more information on the development of the analysis grid, please refer to Chapter 2.  

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The assessment criteria are divided into the following eight categories (derived from 
article 22 of the AVMSD): 

  Aimed specifically at minors (22a); 
  Physical performance (22b); 
  Social success (22c); 
  Sexual success (22c); 
  Mood-altering effects (22d); 
  Enhancement of agency (22d); 
  Immoderate consumption, abstinence and moderation (22e); 
  High alcoholic content (22f). 

The main categories of the assessment are derived from article 22 of the AVMSD. 
However, the purpose of the content analysis was to go beyond the AVMSD criteria and 
give a more general description of themes in alcohol advertisements that according to 
the research literature appeal to minors76. It is worth noting that many of the elements 
that advertisers utilise to make the advertisements noticeable, and the products 
desirable, are not target group specific. We recognize that none of the themes included 
in the analysis grid are primarily appealing to only minors, but they are elements that 
have been identified in the research literature as central in terms of minors’ interests. 
Depicting, for example, celebrities or sports activities in advertisements appeal to wider 
audiences, but as these elements have been shown to be important to minors as well, 
we have included them in the grid.  

The assessment grid is split in two parts: one part concerning whether advertisements 
are aimed specifically at minors, and the other part concerning the other seven 
categories of assessment criteria. An overview of the assessment grid is presented in 
Table 7.1 and Table 7.2. Within both parts of the assessment grid a distinction is made 
between the criteria derived from article 22 of the AVMSD (coloured cells) and those 
that go beyond the Directive (non-coloured cells). For more information on the sub-
categories, please refer to Annex H (separate document).  

Table 7.1 Analysis grid, part 1: content aimed specifically at minors 
Aimed specifically at minors (22a) 
Appearance of the age of protagonist(s) >18/<18 (22a) 

Protagonist(s) as a primary group or reference group for minors  

Young people’s partying as a context of alcohol use 

Humour77 
Celebrities78 

Animals 
Online-participation 

Note: The subcategories that are derived from the AVMSD are coloured (brown). 

76   For more details on this, please refer to Annex H (separate document). 
77   The sub-category ‘Humour’ refers here to all humorous elements in advertisements. 
78   The subcategory ‘Celebrities’ was used systematically in adverts portraying celebrities. 

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Table 7.2 Analysis grid, part 2: AVMSD criteria and themes appealing to minors 
Mood-altering 
Physical 
effects (22d) 
performance (22b) 

Sexual success 
(22c) 

Social success 
(22c) 

Enhancement of 
agency (22d) 

Alcohol as 
enhancement of 
physical performance 
(22b) 

Connection to driving 
a vehicle (22b) 

Alcohol is associated 
with and/or is shown 
as contributing 
towards social 
success (22c) 

Alcohol is associated 
with and/or is shown 
as contributing 
towards sexual 
success (22c) 
Enhanced sexual 
performance or 
enjoyment (22c) 

Therapeutic, 
stimulating or 
sedative effects of 
alcohol (22d) 

Alcohol portrayed as 
a solution to a 
personal problem 
(22d) 

Representation of 
athletic bodies 

Tokens of wealth 

Male/female 
sexualized body as 
attention grabber 

Presence of sport 
activities 

Alcohol enhances or 
sustains social 
interaction 

Alcohol transforms 
and/or helps to 
sustain the mood 
of the setting 

Alcohol is 
associated with 
relaxation 

Protagonist 
portrayed as 
extraordinary 
competent 
autonomous agent 
Enhancement of 
competence related 
to gender roles 

Alcohol as a reward 
after exercise 
Adventurous or risky 
setting 
Alcohol as an 
enhancement of 
physical performance 
in youth setting  
Note: The subcategories that are derived from the AVMSD are coloured (brown). 

High alcoholic 
content (22f) 

Positive 
price/content 
message (22f) 

High-content 
ingredient of a 
mixed drink 
highlighted 
(22e) 

Immoderate 
consumption, 
abstinence and 
moderation (22e) 
Positive portrayal of 
immoderate 
consumption (22e) 

Occasions and 
settings indicative of 
immoderate 
consumption (22e) 

Cautious attitudes, 
moderation or 
abstinence in a 
negative light (22e) 

Presence of abstinent 
person as an outsider 

Downplaying the 
risks of alcohol 

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7.2.  Summary of main findings 

In order to answer Research Question 3, 123 alcohol advertisements were analysed. Out 
of these 123 advertisements, 90 aired on television (linear AV media services) and 33 
appeared as banners online (non-linear AV media services and other online services) in 
the nine selected Member States. The main findings, based on the content analysis, can 
be summarised as follows: 
  87% of the television advertisements and 63% of the online advertisements (banners) 

contained at least one element that can be considered appealing to minors; 

  Most commonly occurring themes found in the television advertisements were drinking 

associated with social interaction (56% of the advertisements), with formation of 
positive atmosphere (39%) and with humour (30%); 

  The most common theme that occurred in the online advertisements was online 

participation (53% of the advertisements); 

  The overall occurrence of the sub-categories in online advertisements was low. Only 

seven sub-categories of all 33 sub-categories were found (among television 
advertisements 26 sub-categories were found); 

  No occurrences of using minors as protagonists were found. 20% of the television 
advertisements depicted young adults that can be argued to be a reference group 
which minors may associate themselves with or strive for; 

  18% percent of the television advertisements depicted young people partying and/or 

utilised animations and animal characters; 

  37% of the television advertisements reflected at least one of the sub-categories 

derived from the article 22 AVMSD; 

  None of the online advertisements reflected the criteria of the article 22 AVMSD; 
  28% of the television advertisements reflected the criteria of the provision 22c (social 

and sexual success). 

We remark that the results are only applicable to the study samples of advertisements 
from the nine selected Member States, containing advertisements from the most 
commonly advertised beverages and the campaigns with most insertions in 2013. 

7.3.  Advertisements on linear AV media services 

An overview of the results of the content analysis of advertisements that aired on 
television (i.e. on linear AV media services) per subcategory is presented in Tables 7.3 
and 7.4.  Again, the criteria directly derived from the AVMSD have a coloured 
background. 

Tables 7.3 and 7.4 reveal that:  
  Categories with most frequent occurrences are: social success (detected in 57 of 90 

advertisements, altogether 77 occurrences of 3 sub-categories), aimed specifically at 
minors (detected in 47 of 90 advertisements, altogether 89 occurrences of 7 sub-
categories, although there were no occurrences of the sub-category derived from 
article 22a of the AVMSD), and mood-altering effects (detected in 50 of 90 
advertisements, altogether 66 occurrences of 3 sub-categories); 

  Sub-categories that have occurred most frequently in the analysis are: social 
interaction (50 of the 90 advertisements), mood of setting (35 of the 90 
advertisements) and relaxation (22 advertisements);  

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  There were no occurrences of the subcategories: age under 18, physical performance 
in youth setting, enhancement of physical performance, driving, downplaying risks, 
moderation in negative light, positive price/content message and high-content 
ingredient highlighted. 

Table 7.3 Overview content analysis results for sample of television advertisements 
(N=90 advertisements), part 1: content aimed specifically at minors 

Criteria  

Aimed specifically at minors 

Appearance of age: under 18 

Protagonist/s as primary group/reference group 

Young people's partying as a context of alcohol use 

Humour 

Celebrities 

Animals 

Online participation 

Number of 
occurrences 

% of 
occurrences 

0 

18 

16 

27 

3 

5 

21 

0% 

20% 

18% 

30% 

3% 

6% 

23% 

Note: The subcategories that are derived from the AVMSD are coloured (brown). 
Note: The subcategories ‘Humour’ and ‘Celebrities’ were coded non-specifically as youth-oriented, because 
already in the trial coding it turned out to be impossible to distinguish humour or celebrities that are primarily 
appealing to minors. This is elaborated on in section 7.2.1.  

Table 7.4 Overview content analysis results for sample of television advertisements 
(N=90 advertisements), part 2:  AVMSD criteria and themes appealing to minors  

Criteria  

Physical performance 

Alcohol as enhancement of physical performance 

Connection to driving a vehicle 

Representation of athletic bodies 

Presence of sport activities 

Alcohol as a reward after exercise 

Adventurous or risky setting 

Alcohol as enhancement of physical performance in youth setting 

Social success 

Alcohol is associated with/contributing towards social success 

Tokens of wealth 

Alcohol enhances or sustains social interaction 

Sexual success 

Alcohol is associated with/contributing towards sexual success 

Enhanced sexual performance or enjoyment 

Male/female sexualized body as attention grabber 

Mood-altering effects 

Therapeutic, stimulating or sedative effects of alcohol 

Alcohol transforms the mood of the setting 

Alcohol is associated with relaxation 

Enhancement of agency 

Alcohol as a solution to a personal problem 

Protagonist portrayed as extraordinary competent autonomous 
agent 

Number of 
occurrences 

% of 
occurrences 

0 

0 

3 

13 

2 

6 

0 

13 

14 

50 

15 

1 

18 

9 

35 

22 

6 

10 

0% 

0% 

3% 

14% 

2% 

7% 

0% 

14% 

16% 

56% 

17% 

1% 

20% 

10% 

39% 

24% 

7% 

11% 

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Criteria  

Number of 
occurrences 

% of 
occurrences 

Enhancement of competence related to gender stereotypes 

Immoderate consumption, abstinence and moderation 

Positive portrayal of immoderate consumption 

Occasions and settings indicative of immoderate consumption 

Cautious attitudes, moderation or abstinence in a negative light 

Presence of abstinent person as an outsider 

Downplaying the risks of alcohol 

High alcoholic content  

Positive price/content message  

High-content ingredient of a mixed drink highlighted 

8 

1 

2 

0 

3 

0 

0 

0 

Note: The subcategories that are derived from the AVMSD are coloured (brown). 

9% 

1% 

2% 

0% 

3% 

0% 

0% 

0% 

The next sections zoom in on specific parts of the above tables and describe the results 
per category in detail. In these sections the results related to the sub-categories derived 
from article 22 of the AVMSD and those that go beyond the Directive are discussed 
separately.   

7.3.1.  Aimed specifically at minors 
The category ‘aimed specifically at minors’ contains seven sub-categories of which one is 
derived from article 22a of the AVMSD: 
  Appearance of age 

The other sub-categories are: 
  Protagonist(s) as primary group or reference group for minors 
  Young people’s partying as a context of alcohol use 
  Humour 
  Celebrities 
  Animals  
  Online-participation 

Figure 7.1 presents the occurrences of each of these sub-categories in the 90 selected 
alcohol advertisements.  

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Figure 7.1 Occurrences (%) of Aimed specifically at minors: (N=90 advertisements) 

Sub-category derived from article 22a of the AVMSD 
Appearance of age. After reviewing all 90 advertisements, we found no occurrences of 
depicting minors in consuming alcoholic products, nor any clear attempts to make the 
actors look under aged. The evaluation of whether the actors in the advertisements were 
under or over the age of 18, were based on subjective assessments by the coders. On 
one occasion an expert panel member disagreed with the coding of actors being over 18 
of age in a cider advertisement (UK08, see figure 7.6). As this turned out to be a 
deviating assessment in view of all other reviewers (some coders even estimated the 
actors to be around the age of thirty), the advertisement was in the end coded for actors 
being over 18. 

Sub-categories that go beyond the Directive  
Humour and Celebrities. Humorous events were depicted in 30%, celebrities only in 3% 
of the advertisements. Previous research indicates that humour and celebrities are 
important elements in advertising and especially related to the contents that interest 
minors. The sub-category Humour was originally restricted to coding advertisements 
involving humour for minors specifically. Similarly, the aim was to distinguish celebrities 
that minors particularly would favour. However, these are not specific features for 
attracting minors, but they are also employed for attracting adult viewers as humour 
and celebrities are employed widely in all kinds of advertising. Utilisation of these 
elements in advertisements does not alone indicate that minors would be addressed, 
and already in the trial coding it turned out to be impossible to distinguish humour or 
celebrities that are primarily appealing to minors. Therefore the sub-categories of 
humour and celebrities were coded non-specifically as minor-oriented, so that whenever 
there were humorous elements or celebrities in the advertisements they were 
systematically coded under the corresponding sub-categories.  

Online participation. The advertisements were coded with Online-Participation if they 
marketed and recommended an associated website, a Facebook page or/and a Twitter or 
Instagram hashtag. All in all 23% of the advertisements provided with an opportunity to 
interact with the brand and its products online, or to participate in competitions by links 
to web pages. We are aware that age limits are applied in online marketing for 

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protecting minors from being exposed to alcohol advertising. As these age-limits do not 
fully guarantee that minors would not get an access to online alcohol advertising or 
products’ websites, we have assessed the suggestions of online participation as part of 
the content analysis.  

Reference group. 20% of the advertisements portrayed young looking actors that could 
be considered to represent a reference group for minors. Despite the lack of under aged 
actors/ protagonists – and perhaps even more importantly in view of elements that may 
appeal to minors – in many advertisements the actors could be considered a reference 
or a primary group which minors are be able to associate themselves with. The 
reference group code was used when the actors appeared to represent a sub-cultural 
group with particular style or clothing, or more generally youth related lifestyles. For 
example, if the advertisement portrayed young adults in informal setting – partying, 
having fun, relaxing – and having trendy, young outfits, the advertisement was coded 
under the sub-category of protagonist(s) as primary group or reference group for 
minors, as in one of the analysed mixed drink advertisements  (AUT10). 

Figure 7.2 Example of an analysed mixed drink advertisement 

Partying. A total of 18% of the advertisements was coded as associating the product 
with young people’s partying. Young people’s partying as a context of alcohol use was a 
code employed in cases when the advertisements related drinking to young people’s 
informal celebration in a bar, disco, clubbing, festival or home party settings. However, 
not all bar scenes were automatically considered specifically young people’s partying 
settings. There were several advertisements in which the plot was set to a bar or a 
nightclub milieu, with adult actors behaving in an adult manner and/or having more 
formal clothing (suits, cocktail dresses). A good example of such night club scene is one 
of the analysed beer ads  (NLD02), in which a man enters a night club, flirts with a 
dancing lady but soon notices that there are men tailing and watching over him (and 
hence do not get a chance to approach the lady). The James Bond kind of opening scene 
is followed by similar occasions happening in several locations around the world. Four 
out of five reviewers considered the context a “young people’s partying scene”, but, in 
the end, the team decided not to code it as such. Other advertisements portraying 
young people partying were very different from this specific beer  advertisement’s 
setting, where evidently older people (middle aged, and above middle aged) appeared. 
Also, the formal clothing and the arrangement surrounding the party scene connoted 
rather clearly a more mature social setting and lifestyle context. 

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Figure7.3 Example of an analysed beer advertisement 

Animals. Animal characters were found in 6% of the advertisements. The sub-category 
Animals was coded both for real and animated animal characters.  

7.3.2.  Physical performance 
The category of Physical performance appears far less frequently than Aimed specifically 
at minors and the themes were rather easily recognisable in the advertisements.  

In the category of Physical performance there were 7 different sub-categories of which 2 
derived from the AVMSD 22b criteria: 
  Alcohol as an enhancement of physical performance  
  Connection to driving a vehicle.  

The other five sub-categories related to physical performance are: 
  Representation of athletic bodies; 
  Presence of sport activities; 
  Alcohol as a reward after exercise; 
  Adventurous or risky setting; 
  Alcohol as an enhancement of physical performance in youth setting. 

Figure 7.4 presents the occurrences of each of these sub-categories in the 90 selected 
alcohol advertisements.  

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Figure 7.4 Occurrences (%) of Physical performance (N=90 advertisements) 

Sub-categories derived from article 22b of the AVMSD 
Two subcategories were derived from the AVMSD 22b criteria: ‘Alcohol as an 
enhancement of physical performance’ and ‘Connection to driving a vehicle’. The 
criterion for using the sub-category of ‘alcohol as an enhancement of physical 
performance’ indicated that an advertisement would suggest that alcohol improves 
performance in physical, such as sport activities. Using the sub-category ‘connection to 
driving a vehicle’ required that the advertisement would associate drinking with driving a 
vehicle (not only appearance of vehicle). None of the advertisements reflected the 
criteria of AVMSD provision 22b. 

Sub-categories that go beyond the Directive 
Presence of sport activities. 14% of the advertisements associated alcohol with sport 
activities, most typically to football and ice hockey. If the advertised brand was 
associated with any sport activities, including watching or participating in sports as well 
as the sponsorship messages, it was coded under the sub-category of Presence of sport 
activities. A cider advertisement that was analysed (UK06), and also reviewed by the 
expert panel, portrayed men playing snooker. One reviewer considered it a sport 
activity, but as the AVMSD criteria emphasises physical performance and the 
advertisement was more about tackling mental stress in a social situation, it was not 
marked with any of the above mentioned sub-categories.  

Adventurous or risky setting indicated that the product is associated with challenging 
and/or competitive activities such as mountain climbing or rafting or other risky 
surroundings. This association was found in 7% of the advertisements. 

Representation of athletic bodies was used in advertisements where there were athletic, 
muscular bodies portrayed in a highlighted manner. Athletic bodies were found in 3% of 
the advertisements. 

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Reward after exercise. Alcohol as a reward after exercise was used whenever the 
advertisement implied that alcohol can be used as a means to reward oneself after 
physical activities. Alcohol was used as a reward in 2% of the advertisements. 

The idea behind the sub-category of Alcohol as an enhancement of physical performance 
related to youth setting was to point out advertisement that would indicate a link 
between using the product and improvement of performance in youth setting, such as 
party, disco or skate-boarding, an association often utilised by energy drink marketing. 
However, we did not find any appearance of these themes in the material.  

7.3.3.  Social success 
The AVMSD 22c states that the advertisement shall not create the impression that the 
consumption of alcohol contributes towards social success. This was translated into the 
subcategory:  
  Alcohol is associated with and/or is shown as contributing towards social success  

Two additional sub-categories related to social success are:  
  Tokens of wealth  
  Alcohol enhances or sustains social interaction. 

Figure 7.5 presents the occurrences of each of these sub-categories in the 90 selected 
alcohol advertisements.  

Figure 7.5 Occurrences (%) of Social success (N=90 advertisements) 

Sub-category derived from article 22c of the AVMSD 
Social success. 14% of the advertisements indicated that alcohol would contribute 
towards social success. As social occasions, togetherness and companionship were 
frequently used themes in the advertisements, it was fairly difficult to distinguish those 
that could be seen as parallel with the AVMSD 22c. Our criteria for using the sub-
category of Alcohol is associated with and/or is shown as contributing towards social 
success in the coding indicated that the advertisement would portray the protagonist/s 
using the product as being popular and socially successful, or attracting positive 
attention, or that the advertisement would imply that using the product makes a person 
more popular and attractive. Social success was defined not only as a positive attention 
by others, but also as belonging to and as an inclusion in a group. The sub-category 
additionally covers occasions in which the product is associated with personal confidence 

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and ease in social settings.  

A majority of the advertisements associated the product with social occasions. However, 
the sub-category social success was not employed mechanically for all of them as the 
AVMSD article indicates that product should be shown as contributing towards social 
success, involving an impact relation that occurs over time in the plot of the advert. For 
example, one of the analysed beer advertisements (SPA06) portrays men, presumably 
friends, in a bar. They order a beer that is ‘scandalously good’ and start dancing. The 
product is thus associated with sociability, but it does not indicate that the connection 
between the key actors would have been caused by it. Rather, the advertisement implies 
that the product caused the transformed interaction, dancing. Therefore the sub-
category of Alcohol enhances or sustains social interaction (see below) was used 
instead. Also, a group of people raising a toast, a frequently and typically employed 
image in the advertisements, was not automatically considered an indication of social 
success caused by the product.  

The advertisements that were considered and coded under social success had to make 
the connection between alcohol consumption and success rather explicit. For example, in 
the above-mentioned cider advertisement (UK06) the key protagonists beat the stress in 
challenging situations (playing snooker, giving a wedding speech) and the friends toast 
them with pints of cider (Figure 7.6).  

Figure 7.6 Example of an analysed beer advertisement 

In one of the analysed beer advertisements (SPA03) a group of friends enjoy beer and 
each other’s company in a bar. The advertisement states that there are many important 
doors, but a very special one leads to a bar where the advertised beer and your friends 
are waiting for you. The message is that the product and the context of friends will make 
you become your true self. A relatively tricky mixed drink advertisement (SPA08) shows 
a split screen with two different takes of a youngish and stylish man in a bar. One of 
them is lucky and ends up meeting a group of women. The punch line of the 
advertisement is ‘Luck is an attitude’. The tricky part for the coding along the grid 
criteria is that also the unlucky man is having a drink of the advertised product. With the 
slogan and the storyline the advertisement says that your future is up to you (not up to 
choosing this particular product), but simultaneously the lucky attitude and success is 
associated with the brand of the alcoholic beverage. 

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In all these examples the events and the storyline is seen from the key protagonist’s 
point of view, or they address individual consumer’s concerns as in the above mentioned 
beer advertisement portraying friends in a bar (SPA3), and as such the individual’s 
perspective of an enhanced social performance can be connected to the drink. For these 
reason, we saw that they can be seen as indicating a link between the product and social 
success.  

Figure 7.7 Example of an analysed mixed drink advertisement 

Sub-categories that go beyond the Directive 
Social interaction. 56% of the advertisements associated the products with social 
interaction and sociability. Above, we have accounted for the theme of an individual’s 
enhanced social performance, but the typical portrayals of sociability in the 
advertisements did not focus on individual actors, nor did they indicate a change in the 
events or in the social setting as a result of the product being introduced. When 
interpreted in this sense, the advertisements in our sample rarely indicated a causal 
relationship between using the product and social success. Rather, the advertisements 
typically portrayed a group of happy people having a drink in a relaxing setting, thus 
associating alcohol with the social setting, but strictly speaking, not claiming that there 
had been less social coherence and enjoyment without the beverage.  

The sub-category of Alcohol enhances or sustains social interaction was meant to cover 
all the portrayals of sociability in the advertisements but its occurrence would not, in a 
strict sense, meet with the AVMSD criteria. The sub-category was coded when the 
advertisement associated the product with bonding with other people and with a positive 
and pleasant atmosphere in a social situation. A typical example of this feature is that 
there appears to be a change in the social interaction after the product and/or brand is 
introduced. For example, people start dancing, partying or the interaction is becoming 
more intense. Also, in this case, the advertisement may just associate the good 
atmosphere with drinking, implying that alcohol caused the good mood.  

Tokens of wealth. Tokens of wealth and luxury products occurred in 16% of the 
advertisements. The sub-category of Tokens of wealth indicated that fancy products and 
known indicators of wealth and success occurred in the advertisement, and as such 
associating drinking, beverage or brand with high status luxury objects such as 
expensive electronics, boats, jewellery, luxury clothing etc.  

7.3.4.  Sexual success 
Article 22c of the AVMSD also states that the advertisement shall not create the 
impression that alcohol would contribute towards sexual success. The provision was 

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operationalised, similarly to the sub-category of social success, as:  

  Alcohol is associated with and/or is shown as contributing towards sexual 

success;  

  Enhanced sexual performance or enjoyment. 

The category of sexual success also contained a sub-category of: 

  Male/female sexualized body as attention grabber.  

Figure 7.8 presents the occurrences of each of these sub-categories in the 90 selected 
alcohol advertisements.  

Figure 7.8 Occurrences (%) of Sexual success (N=90 advertisements) 

Sub-categories derived from article 22c of the AVMSD 
Contributing towards sexual success. 17% of the advertisements were found to 
associate the product with sexual success. Advertisements that associated the product 
with persons who are portrayed as attracting sexual attention, and/or suggested that 
the product makes a person more sexually attractive, and/or helps in finding a sexual 
partner were coded under the category of Alcohol is associated with and/or is shown as 
contributing towards sexual success. A good example of the typical portrayals of sexual 
success is a beer advertisements (SPA02) portraying good-looking young adults having 
a party outdoors (Figure 7.9). An indie band is playing, men are cooking and sipping 
beer, a bikini-clad woman jumps in the swimming pool, meaningful looks are exchanged 
between men and women, <more beer is enjoyed>. Towards the end of the 
advertisement, a woman and a man are dancing and kissing and eventually the whole 
group of friends go swimming. Hence, the sexual play between male and female actors 
develops during the course of events: an initially playful mood transforms into more 
intense interaction when the day turns into night and while more beer is consumed.  

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Figure 7.9 Example of an analysed beer advertisement 

Enhanced sexual performance or enjoyment. Enhanced sexual performance or 
enjoyment was used whenever the advertisement suggested that the product 
contributes to a better performance in sexual acts or increases sexual pleasure. This 
theme was utilized in one advertisement. 

Sub-category that goes beyond the Directive 
Male/female sexualized body. The sub-category of Male/female sexualized body as 
attention grabber was employed in cases when the advertisement portrayed a barely 
dressed male or female body as sexualized object. For example, in the above-mentioned 
beer advertisement (SPA02) the camera gazes over two bikini-clad women. As the point 
of view of the advertisement is so articulated a male perspective, the women in bikinis 
are shown as something to pursue at, objectified rather than being active protagonists in 
the advert. Such sexualized bodies were depicted in 20% of the advertisements. 

7.3.5.  Mood-altering effects 
The Article 22d states that the advertisement shall not claim that alcohol has therapeutic 
qualities or can be used as a stimulant or a sedative. This can be translated as the sub-
category of: 
  Therapeutic, stimulating or sedative effects of alcohol.  

We added two sub-categories:  
  Alcohol transforms the mood of the setting; 
  Alcohol is associated with relaxation. 

Figure 7.10 presents the occurrences of each of these sub-categories in the 90 selected 
alcohol advertisements.  

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Figure 7.10 Occurrences (%) of Mood-altering effects (N=90 advertisements)

Sub-category derived from article 22d of the AVMSD 
Therapeutic, stimulating or sedative effects of alcohol. In the coding, the sub-
category was ticked if the advertisement suggested that the product can be used as a 
means of altering one’s state of mind, for example to calm or to stimulate oneself, and, 
importantly, if the change in the state of mind is portrayed. For example, in one of the 
analysed beer advertisements (FIN02) a group of friends are playing ‘spin the bottle’ 
and the person that the bottle points at must carry out a silly task, like running around 
in a pink bunny suit, or kissing a stranger (as this is a male-oriented beer advert, the 
stranger is a beautiful woman). The course of events begins with an empty bottle of the 
advertised beer being dropped on the table: a rather quiet evening in the bar eventually 
turns into something else. The advertisement suggests ‘your turn your [brand name]. 
Open for more’. Another example of stimulating effects is found in a beer advertisement 
in which there are four male protagonists chilling on the beach when suddenly a big 
wave knocks them over (Figure 7.12). Three stereotypical Inuit girls appear with bottles 
of the advertised product. The men sip the beer and the camera focuses on one man 
whose eyes open up with joy. They all start dancing with the girls. These kinds of mood-
altering effects were portrayed in 10% of the advertisements.  

Figure 7.11 Example of an analysed beer advertisement 

Sub-categories that go beyond the Directive 
Alcohol transforms the mood of the setting. The beer advertisement in Figure 7.12 
(CZH04) also serves as a good example of the sub-category Alcohol transforms the 
mood of the setting. The criteria for using this sub-category in the coding was that the 
advertisement was to suggest that the product was the cause of the good mood of the 

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setting, and/or there were a significant change in the general mood or atmosphere after 
the alcoholic beverage was introduced. Typically the advertisements portray joyful 
people drinking together, thus suggesting that the product contributes towards the 
happy and pleasant mood. 39% of the advertisements indicated that the product helps 
transforming the mood of the setting in such a way. 

Figure 7.12 Example of an analysed beer advertisement 

Alcohol is associated with relaxation. The final code of this category,  Alcohol is 
associated with relaxation, was ticked whenever advertisements portrayed the product 
in a relaxing setting indicating holiday or free-time leisure. As most advertisements 
associate alcohol with free-time and relaxation, we decided to tick this sub-category in 
cases when the advertisements portrayed the protagonists as breaking out of something 
or having fun outdoors, on the beach etc. Most of the bar scenes were not included in 
this sub-category, as being in a bar did not automatically count as relaxation in the 
coding grid. The relaxing setting code was ticked in 24% of the advertisements.  

7.3.6.  Enhancement of agency 
According to the article 22d of the AVMSD the advertisement shall not claim that alcohol 
can be used as means of resolving personal problems. The provision is covered with the 
sub-category: 
  Alcohol portrayed as a solution to a personal problem.  

The other sub-categories of the overall category ‘Enhancement of agency’ are: 
  Protagonist portrayed as an extraordinary competent autonomous agent; and  
  Enhancement of competence related to gender roles.  

Figure 7.13 presents the occurrences of each of these sub-categories in the 90 selected 
alcohol advertisements.  

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Figure 7.13 Occurrences (%) of Enhancement of agency (N=90 advertisements) 

Sub-category derived from article 22d of the AVMSD 
Solution to a personal problem. Alcohol was portrayed as a solution to a personal 
problem in 7% of the advertisements. The sub-category was employed whenever the 
advertisement was considered to imply that the product can be used as means for 
solving and mitigating personal conflicts and tensions. An example of this is a humorous 
beer advertisement (UK05) where a man goes to a spa with his spouse. He meets other 
men who are as uncomfortable in the setting and together they plan an escape to a 
brewery. At the end scene they succeed in smuggling beer into the spa and the main 
protagonist enjoys a sip. Here, the personal problem refers to the man’s unwillingness to 
spend time in a feminine spa setting, and anxiety and tensions are solved with the 
advertised beer brand. Another example under this sub-category was a vodka 
advertisement (ROM09) portraying a man is sitting in a bar and an apparently over 
feminine, sexually dubious woman is approaching him. The man looks at the vodka glass 
and suddenly sees images of him and her in different situations, the woman 
embarrassing and irritating the man. He decides to refuse the woman. The product 
makes the man realize the dubious nature of the woman but also provides him with the 
strength to say no (simultaneously, the product is associated with sexual success).  

Figure 7.14 Example of an analysed beer advertisement 

Sub-categories that go beyond the Directive 
11% of the advertisements portrayed the key protagonists as autonomous agents, and 
9% of the studied advertisements contained gender roles related competences. 
Advertisements that were ticked for the code Protagonist portrayed as an extraordinary 
competent autonomous agent depicted protagonists who were able to master situations 
and positioning themselves in situations differing from the ordinary and not conforming 
to conventional norms or authorities. Good examples of these kinds of autonomous 
agents were found in three beer advertisements from the same brand (NLD02, SPA01 
and NLD06). All these advertisements portray a man in difficult, adventurous but also 
humorous situations with elements of and references to James Bond movies. The 
advertisements also serve as good examples of the sub-category Enhancement of 

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competence related to gender roles. The men in the advertisements not only master the 
whole spectrum of situations (new, demanding, ordinary etc.) but they are also master 
seducers, thus fulfilling a stereotypical heroic masculinity position.  

Figure 7.15 Example of an analysed beer advertisement 

7.3.7.  Immoderate consumption, abstinence and moderation 
According to the provision 22e, the advertisement shall not encourage immoderate 
alcohol consumption or present abstinence or moderation in a negative light. Three sub-
categories were developed to meet these requirements:  
  Positive portrayal of immoderate consumption; 
  Occasions and settings indicative of immoderate consumption; and  
  Cautious attitudes, moderation or abstinence in a negative light.  

Other sub-categories are: 
  Presence of abstinent person as an outsider and 
  Downplaying the risks of alcohol.  

Figure 7.16 presents the occurrences of each of these sub-categories in the 90 selected 
alcohol advertisements.  

Figure 7.16 Occurrences (%) of Immoderate consumption (N=90 advertisements) 

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Sub-categories derived from article 22e of the AVMSD 
All these themes were rare in the advertisements of the study. We found no occurrences 
of moderation in a negative light, and only 2% of the advertisements depicted 
settings indicative of immoderate consumption such as a rather violent and dark gang 
party scene in on of the analysed beer advertisements (GER02). Only one advertisement 
could be interpreted as encouraging immoderate consumption. The advertisement may 
not necessarily portray immoderate consumption as such, but associate the product 
positively with settings that indicate intoxication or transgressive, mind-altering 
experiences. 

Sub-categories that go beyond the Directive 
We found no occurrences of downplaying risks and 3% of the advertisements were 
coded as depicting non-drinkers as outsiders. The criterion for ticking the sub-category 
of Presence of abstinent person as an outsider was that the advertisement would portray 
non-drinking persons who are not part of the in-group. An example of this is the above 
mentioned beer advertisement (UK05), in which the spouse is shown as an outsider, 
representing a joyless feminine order as opposed to fun-loving, sociable and inventive 
masculinity (explicitly associated with the brand). Downplaying the risks of alcohol was a 
category to be ticked for advertisements that would imply that drinking alcohol is not 
risky or would ridicule risk-aversive attitude.  

7.3.8.  High alcoholic content 
Article 22f of the AVMSD states that the advertisement shall not place emphasis on high 
alcoholic content as being a positive quality of the beverage. In the grid we created two 
sub-categories for this requirement: 
  Positive price/content message; 
  High-content ingredient of a mixed drink highlighted. 

Figure 7.17 presents the occurrences of each of these sub-categories in the 90 selected 
alcohol advertisements.  

Figure 7.17 Occurrences (%) of High alcoholic content (N=90 advertisements) 

Sub-categories derived from article 22f of the AVMSD 
The use of the sub-category Positive price/content message indicated that the 
advertisement would suggest the product as having high alcoholic content despite a 
reasonable price. High-content ingredient of a mixed drink highlighted means that 
the advertisement would portray a high alcohol content in a mixed product as a positive 

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quality, not only as product information. There were no occurrences of either of these 
sub-categories in the sample. 

7.4.  Advertising on non-linear AV media services and other online services 

In addition to the television advertisements, the team also analysed 33 alcohol 
advertisements that have aired online. The online advertisements can be divided into the 
following sub-categories of alcoholic drinks: 

  16 Beer advertisements   
  13 Spirits advertisements (including cider) 
  4 Wine advertisements 

48% 
39% 
13% 

The same grid as for the television advertisements has been applied. The results show 
that most criteria were not present in the online advertisements. The low occurrence of 
themes that are appealing to minors is likely due to the fact that our sample of online 
advertisements consists only of banners, which typically feature merely images of 
products and brands. 

We only found presence of the following sub-categories in online- advertisements: 
  Online-participation (18) 
  Young people's partying as a context of alcohol use (5) 
  Presence of sport activities (5) 
  Humour (2) 
  Tokens of wealth (2) 
  Celebrities known to young people (1) 
  Adventurous or risky setting (1) 

A full overview of the results is presented in Tables 7.5 and 7.6.  

Table 7.5 Overview content analysis results for sample of online advertisements (N=33), 
part 1: content specifically aimed at minors 
Criteria 

Number of 
occurrences 

% of 
occurrences 

Aimed specifically at minors 

Appearance of age: under 18 

Protagonist/s as primary group/reference group 

Young people's partying as a context of alcohol use 

Humour 

Celebrities 

Animals 

Online-participation 

0 

0 

5 

2 

1 

0 

18 

0 

0 

15 

6 

3 

0 

53 

Note: The subcategories that are derived from the AVMSD are coloured (brown). 

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Table 7.6 Overview content analysis results for sample of online advertisements (N=33), 
part 2: AVMSD criteria and themes appealing to minors 
Criteria 

Number of 
occurrences 

% of 
occurrences 

Physical performance 

Alcohol as enhancement of physical performance  
Connection to driving a vehicle 

Representation of athletic bodies 

Presence of sport activities 

Alcohol as a reward after exercise 

Adventurous or risky setting 

Alcohol as enhancement of physical performance in youth 
setting 
Social success 

0 
0 

0 

5 

0 

1 

0 

Alcohol is associated with/contributing towards social success   0 

Tokens of wealth 

Alcohol enhances or sustains social interaction 

Sexual success 

Alcohol is associated with/contributing towards sexual 
success  
Enhanced sexual performance or enjoyment 

Male/female sexualized body as attention grabber 

Mood-altering effects 

Therapeutic, stimulating or sedative effects of alcohol  

Alcohol transforms the mood of the setting 

Alcohol is associated with relaxation 

Enhancement of agency 

Alcohol as a solution to a personal problem 

Protagonist portrayed as extraordinary competent 
autonomous agent 
Enhancement of competence related to gender stereotypes  

Immoderate consumption, abstinence and moderation 

Positive portrayal of immoderate consumption  

Occasions and settings indicative of immoderate 
consumption  
Cautious attitudes, moderation or abstinence in a negative 
light 
Presence of abstinent person as an outsider 

Downplaying the risks of alcohol 

High alcoholic content 

Positive price/content message  

High-content ingredient of a mixed drink highlighted  

2 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 
0 

0 

15 

0 

3 

0 

0 

6 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

Note: The subcategories that are derived from the AVMSD are coloured (brown). 

Online-participation. The most frequent sub-category found among the online 
advertisements was online-participation, it was suggested in 53% of the advertisements. 
Online banners typically contain a link to the product’s website for further information, 
so that if a person clicks the banner, it opens a new window for the website. However, in 
online- advertisements the sub-category was employed when it was explicitly suggested 
in the advertisement to check the products website, to participate in a competition, or if 

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a twitter hashtag and/or a Facebook reference was provided. For example, a beer 
advertisement depicts cd covers with for example a humorous version of Nirvana’s (here 
Biervana) famous album cover. The banner suggests the viewer to participate in a 
completion on the product’s Facebook page to win concert tickets. The advertisement 
also gives an example of the difficulties of assessing elements that appeal to minors. 
The Nirvana album modified in the advertisement came out in 1990, and is thus likely to 
be unknown for most minors. 

Figure 7.18 Occurrences (%) of elements appealing to minors in the online 
advertisements (N=33) 

Young people’s partying. 15% of the online advertisements connected the product young 
people’s partying context. For example, a cider advertisement suggested the viewers to 
tell how they will begin with the advertised cider with hashtag ‘beginwith[brand name]’, 
beginning presumably referring to a starting up a party or a night out. 

Sports activities were depicted in 15 % of the online advertisements, as in a beer 
sponsorship message of Rugby league game. 

Humour. 6 % (2 advertisements) utilized humorous elements. 

Tokens of wealth were portrayed in two wine advertisements of the same brand. The 
advertisement states ‘Leading men to triumph’ and portrays a smart looking youngish 
business man. 

Celebrities were present in one advert. A beer sponsorship message advertised an event 
where for example Calvin Harris was one of the performers.  

Adventurous setting was portrayed in a whisky advertisement in which two men are 
portrayed on the mountains.  

Table 7.7 reveals that for the criteria that are present in both television and online 
advertisements, only online participation (unsurprisingly) occurred more frequently in 
the online advertisements. 

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Table 7.7 Comparisons of content analysis: television (N=90) and online advertisements 

(N=33) 

Criteria 

Young people's partying as a context of alcohol use 

Humour 

Celebrities 

Online-participation 

Presence of sport activities 

Adventurous or risky setting 

Tokens of wealth 

TELEVISION 

ONLINE  

% of occurrences 
(N=90) 
18% 

% of occurrences 
(N=33) 
15% 

30% 

3% 

23% 

14% 

7% 

16% 

6% 

3% 

53% 

15% 

3% 

6% 

7.5.  Results per beverage types  

The sub-categories of the analytical grid give a rough measure for the study sample’s 
overall level of appeal among minors. However, the criteria within the grid cannot be 
considered as equally strong (towards minors). The impact also depends on 
circumstances and contexts of the plot. An advertisement may, for example, depict 
humorous, animated animal character dancing in the jungle (such as a beer sponsorship 
message portraying a dancing sloth (CZH06). This will make the message noticeable for 
very young viewers, without containing a high overall frequency of appealing themes. 
Presence of sport activities, on the other hand, may give a strong message, but is likely 
to address (male) viewers of all ages, not only minors. 

Figure 7.19 Example of an analysed beer advertisement‘ 

We combined all sub-categories of the grid to one cumulative variable to compare the 
frequencies of minor appealing contents in advertisements of different beverage types.79 
For this we have categorised each advertisement according to the number of depicted 
subcategories of the analysis grid. We defined three levels of appeal according to the 
following categorisation:  
  No occurrences of appealing themes: 0 occurrences; 
  Low level of occurrence: 1-3 occurrences/advertisement; 
  High level of occurrence: 4-9 occurrences/advertisement. 

79   All spirit, pre-mixed drink, alcopop and cider adverts were combined into the category of spirits and pre-

mixed drinks. There were only 4 cider adverts in the sample. 

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Figure 7.20 below shows the percentages of advertisements that contain no 
occurrences, low occurrence or high occurrence of themes that minors find appealing 
within different beverage types. 41% of the beer advertisements contained more than 4 
appealing elements (and are thus categorised as ‘high occurrence’) and 14 percent 
involved no appealing contents at all. The wine advertisements contained least appealing 
elements (only 8% of the advertisements analysed can be categorised as ‘high 
occurrence’).  

Figure 7.20 Occurrences (%) of sub-categories, by sector (beverage type) (N=123) 

No occurrences; Low occurrence: 1-3 occurrences; High occurrence: 4-9 occurrences. 

There were no high occurrence advertisements among the online sample. When 
considering only television advertisements (see figure 7.21), 53% of the beer 
advertisements and 33% if spirits and mixed drink advertisements were of high 
occurrence.  

Figure 7.21 Occurrences (%) of sub-categories in television advertisements, by sector 
(beverage type) (N=90) 

No occurrences; Low occurrence: 1-3 occurrences; High occurrence: 4-9 occurrences. 

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A total of 6 out of the 123 ads were coded with 8-9 sub-categories. What unites these 
advertisements is the product’s function in creating a setting in which one can let go and 
bring out one’s true competence, such as in the beer advertisement (SPA03) in which 
young adults gather together in a bar finding their real selves and enjoying intense 
socially entailed emotions. In a beer advertisement portraying men who were knocked 
over by a wave (CZH04) the product transforms an ordinary beach setting into a 
carnival for four average looking male protagonists, involving a promise of sexual 
contact with some sexy girls portrayed in a stereotypical manner as of Inuit descent (see 
figure 7.12). 

We found no evidence of using minors or actors looking under aged among the coded 
sample of advertisements. However, we considered young adults representing young 
lifestyles as reference groups for minors. Accordingly, we consider youth lifestyles and 
reference groups in the advertisements as appealing to minors. 20% of the television 
advertisements involved young adults as actors in a way that could be interpreted as a 
reference group for minors. 20% of the beer advertisements and 25% of the spirits and 
mixed drink advertisements portrayed a reference or a primary group for minors.  
56% of the advertisements that depicted a reference or a primary group for minors were 
coded at least one of the sub-categories derived from the article 22 AVMSD. In 
comparison, of the television advertisements that were coded as not depicting a 
reference group for minors, 32% was coded with at least one of the AVMSD criteria (see 
more detailed analysis for AVMSD protection in the section 7.5).  

Figure 7.22 Television advertisements (%) portraying young adults as a reference group 
for minors, by sector (beverage type) 

Typically, young adult protagonists were involved in a celebration or a party taking place 
outdoors. For example a beer advertisement (AUT02) portrays differing imaginings of a 
music festival: from the perspective of a mother, a grandfather and a father. The 
mother’s imagery involves heavy music and scary male figures, the grandfather 
associates to hippie girls in a 1960s milieu, while the father thinks about a collapsed tent 
in a pouring rain. The final scene is supposed to show what music festivals really are 
like: a group of friends sitting on a van, the sun is shining and they all raise a toast with 
pints of beer.  

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Figure 7.23 Example of an analysed beer advertisement 

One of the analysed mixed drink advertisements (ITA05) introduces a drink containing 
Prosecco and the advertised product. It shows young adults departing from their work 
settings after a work day, removing all formal clothing on their way to the beach where 
the brand’s party is about to start. The camera focuses on a couple kissing and on a 
flirtatious female bar tender. The product is associated with a happy, trendy and relaxed 
atmosphere.  

7.6.  Level of protection by the AVMSD 

7.6.1.  AVMSD criteria 
According to our coding of the material, a total of 37% of the 90 television 
advertisements of the sample reflected at least one of article 22 AVMSD criteria. Among 
the 33 online advertisements, we found none that reflected one of these criteria. All in 
all, among all 123 advertisements 25 % were coded with at least one of the sub-
categories derived from the AVMSD criteria. 

According to our operationalization of the articles 22 a-f, the provision most frequently 
met was 22c which concerns the portrayals of social and sexual success (see figure 7.24 
and 7.25). 12% of all advertisements (N=123) suggested that the product would 
improve sexual success or the likelihood to meet a sexual partner. In its most explicit 
form, the advertisements depicted how drinking a particular alcoholic product would be 
followed by sexual attention by attractive women (for example the beer advertisement 
‘Déjà vu’ [NLD02] described above). 10 % of all advertisements implied that the product 
would contribute towards social success. All in all, the sub-categories derived from the 
provision 22c was coded to 21% of all advertisements (N=123), and to 28 % of the 
television advertisements (N=90) 

The sub-category covering the provision 22d (the effects of alcohol and portrayals of 
alcohol as a solution to a personal problem) was found in 11% of all advertisements and 
the 22e, which states that the advertisement shall not encourage immoderate 
consumption, in 2 %. We found no themes that would reflect the provisions 22a, 22b 
and 22f in the sample.  

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Figure 7.24 Television advertisements matching with at least one of the AVMSD criteria 
(%) (N=90 advertisements) 

Figure 7.25 advertisements matching with at least one of the AVMSD criteria (%) (All 
advertisements, N=123) 

When comparing the different beverage types among television advertisements (figure 
7.21), most AVMSD derived sub-categories were found in beer advertisements (43%). 

Figure 7.26 Television advertisements (%) matching with at least one of the AVMSD 
criteria, according to beverage type (N=90 advertisements) 

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7.6.2.  AVMSD criteria – difficulties of definitions in content analysis 
The analysis of contents that meet the criteria of article 22 AVMSD is not aimed at 
indicating violations, but to highlight the ways in which advertisements depict themes of 
the AVMSD criteria. Our analysis shows that the criteria are not easily operationalized 
for the purpose of content analysis. This is likely to indicate difficulties confronted by 
regulators to actually detect violations, as well as by the alcohol industry and advertisers 
to follow the criteria.  

A typical example of the challenges related to the interpretation of the AVMSD criteria is 
the article 22c which states that the advertisement ‘shall not create the impression that 
the consumption of alcohol contributes towards social or sexual success’. The article 
refers to a causal relationship between the product and success. In a strict sense the 
violation of the criterion would mean that the advertisement depicts chronologically how 
introducing the product is followed by positive consequences, and that positive 
consequences are achieved because of the product. A hypothetical example of this kind 
of plot would portray a lonely and sad protagonist who is introduced with the alcoholic 
product, and after consuming it the protagonist would start to draw positive attention. 
Advertisements in the sample rarely made use of this kinds of very simple and straight-
forward causal associations, making the coding of the material challenging.  

Associations of social and sexual success, popularity, sociability and enjoyment with 
alcohol consumption are part of wider cultural representations of what drinking is about. 
In this sense, advertisements do not even need to make the causal association explicit. 
Hinting towards the general cultural imagery of drinking by merely showing people 
consuming alcoholic beverages and having fun the causal link is activated in the minds 
of the audience, but without violating any codes or criteria regulating alcohol 
advertising.  

The AVMSD articles regulate alcohol advertising in all EU member states. Within the EU 
there are very different traditions and culture specific, historical patterns of alcohol 
consumption. The content analysis presented in this chapter has not included an 
assessment of culture specific themes of alcohol advertising in relation to, for example, 
Northern and Southern European drinking cultures. It is likely that the contents of 
alcohol advertising highlighted in the article 22 have differing importance depending on 
the cultural context. Comparative analyses of culture specific meanings of drinking could 
be of great help in further developing the article and to make it more applicable and 
protective in differing cultural contexts.  

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8. Conclusions and recommendations 

The first report on the application of the AVMSD80 was published on 4 May 2012. This 
report indicated that with regard to alcohol advertising, further investigations were 
necessary to assess, amongst other things, the exposure of minors to commercial 
communications for alcoholic beverages. Against this background, the purpose of this 
study was to answer three research questions:  
1.  How much alcohol advertising does an average minor watching linear audio-visual 

media services in the EU see?  

2.  How much alcohol advertising does an average minor see on non-linear audio-visual 

media services and other online services in the EU? 

3.  For audio-visual media services (both linear and non-linear) and other online services, 
what type of alcohol advertising does an average minor see in the EU? Are minors 
specifically targeted by alcohol advertising? In how far is alcohol advertising appealing 
to minors and how? In particular, in how far do the provisions of the AVMSD and their 
application afford the required level of protection?  

To answer these questions we used a combination of research methods, including a 
literature review, analysis of general viewing pattern data and spotlists for alcohol 
advertising for the nine Member States selected for this study (Austria, Czech Republic, 
Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, Spain, United Kingdom) in 2013, 
and analysis of data on global advertising impacts for 23 Member States in 2013. In 
addition, we developed and applied an analysis grid for a content analysis of 
advertisements that appeared both on linear and non-linear AV media services and other 
online services in the nine selected Member States in 2013. To include the perspective of 
the advertisers on the exposure on non-linear AV media services and other online 
services, we conducted desk research, and surveyed selected online services as well as 
industry members and trade associations. We also collected online data captures for 
selected YouTube channels and websites. With regard to the perspective of the viewers 
on exposure to alcohol advertising on the Internet, we conducted a survey amongst 
minors in each of the nine selected Member States. 

Below, we present our main conclusions for each of the research questions, as well as 
the limitations of the approach taken to answer the questions. Finally, we formulate 
recommendations for further research. 

8.1.  Research Question 1: How much alcohol advertising does an average minor 

watching linear audio-visual media services in the EU see?  

Based on the data in the WFA/Ebiquity dataset we found that the percentage of alcohol 
impacts of total market impacts is on average 1.8% for minors and 2.2% for adults.  

Moreover, the analysis of both the WFA/Ebiquity dataset and the GfK/Dentsu Aegis 
dataset81 revealed that, on average, approximately 7.3% of the total number of alcohol 

80   Report from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social 

Committee and the Committee of the Regions. First Report from the Commission to the European 
Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions 
on the application of Directive 2010/13/EU "Audiovisual Media Service Directive" Audiovisual Media 
Services and Connected Devices: Past and Future Perspectives, /* COM/2012/0203 final */. 

81   For more information on these datasets, please see Chapter 2.  

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impacts seen in the EU on linear AV media services in 2013 were seen by minors. For 
the nine selected Member States this ranges from 5.0% to 9.0%.  

In absolute numbers this means that, on average, a minor in the EU saw 200 alcohol 
impacts in 2013, while an adult saw over 450 in the same period. Similar results were 
seen for each Member State. 

A further breakdown of the results by distinguishing between two age groups for minors 
showed that a 15-17 year old on average saw almost 300 alcohol impacts in 2013 and a 
minor aged 4-14 year old 180. Hence, the average number of alcohol impacts an 
individual saw on linear AV media services in 2013 the nine selected Member States, 
increased with age. As described in the literature review in Chapter 3, multiple studies 
on the exposure of minors to alcohol advertising on linear AV media services report 
findings that are consistent with the notion that the level of exposure increases with 
age.  

The findings with regard to the breakdown by sector revealed that in the vast majority 
of Member States the sector ‘beer’ has the highest share in both the number of spots 
and the number of impacts seen. From the literature, as described in Chapter 3, we 
know that this finding is consistent with results for other countries, including countries 
outside of the EU.  

Next, we conducted an in-depth analysis for the nine selected Member States. 

The analysis of the viewing data for the nine Member States revealed that the viewing 
patterns of adults and minors differed. In order to analyse if this difference in viewing 
habits may partly explain the difference in the level of exposure to alcohol advertising 
between minors and adults, we weighted the absolute daily average alcohol impacts by 
the average daily viewing rates per age group. We found that after applying this 
weighting, the difference between the exposure of minors and the exposure of adults to 
alcohol advertising on linear AV media services was reduced. We also applied a 
weighting based on the average viewing rates per age group for a subset of channels, 
namely those channels that include alcohol advertising. The results showed that applying 
this weighting further reduced the difference in exposure between minors and adults. In 
several of the nine selected Member States, this weighted value was even higher for 
minors than for adults. Hence, the difference in the level of exposure to alcohol 
advertising between minors and adults may be partly explained by the differences in 
their viewing habits, both in terms of how often they watch television, and which 
channels they watch.  

As part of the in-depth analysis, we looked at several detailed breakdowns of the alcohol 
spots and impacts.  

One of these analyses was focused on the type of channel. We found that in all Member 
States, the majority of both alcohol spots and alcohol impacts were seen on commercial 
channels, but that the average impact per spot appeared to be higher on public 
channels. Moreover, the results indicated that while in most Member States the majority 
of spots was on generalist (i.e., not topic-specific) channels or on ‘Entertainment, Series, 
Movies’ channels, the majority of impacts were seen on generalist channels. This may be 
explained by the relatively high viewing rating for these channels.  

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When looking at difference in terms of alcohol impacts throughout a day, we found that 
for the adults, the peak day part was between 21:00 and 23:59 in all Member States. 
With the exception of one Member State, this was also the peak day part for the 15-17 
years olds. For the 4-14 year olds, the peak day part occurred between 17:00 and 20:59 
in four Member States and between 21:00 and 23:50 in five Member States. Comparing 
these results with the peak day parts in terms of viewing patterns, we saw that for all 
age groups, in all nine Member States, the peak day part in terms of alcohol impacts 
was either the same as for viewing patterns or one day part later.  

With regard to hourly timeslots, we found that in each selected Member State the 
alcohol impacts for all age groups followed a rather similar pattern with a peak in the 
evening. In four of the nine selected Member States, the peak hourly timeslot was the 
same across age groups.  

Finally, the results showed that there is substantial variation across Member States in 
terms of the weekday with the highest number of impacts seen. Moreover, within 
Member States, differences between age groups were observed, but in the majority of 
Member States, all age groups saw on average the most impacts on the same weekday. 

8.2.  Research Question 2: How much alcohol advertising does an average minor 
see on non-linear audio-visual media services and other online services in the 
EU? 

The exposure of minors to alcohol advertising on non-linear AV media services and other 
online services has been analysed from both the perspective of the advertisers and the 
perspective of the viewers. We found a discrepancy between both groups: whereas from 
the perspective of advertisers exposure is supposed to be limited, the viewers perceived 
a substantial level of exposure.  

Perspective of the advertisers 
The results indicated that from the perspective of the advertisers, the level of exposure 
of minors to alcohol advertising on non-linear AV media services and other online 
services is supposed to be limited, because of (1) the measures that online services 
have in place to help advertisers to advertise their products responsibly and in 
compliance with all applicable laws and regulations and thereby, to restrict, or even 
prevent the exposure of minors to alcohol advertising; (2) the choice of advertisers for 
online services that offer age-gating/age verification and/or for which there is availability 
of audience data demonstrating that at least 70% of the likely audience is above the 
LPA; and (3) the numerous self-regulation initiatives that are in place at the company, 
sector, industry, and national level.  

This view was partially confirmed by the results of the online data capture: of the 1,319 
screen captures for YouTube and 950 screen captures for websites (each website 
capture containing visits to up to 5 URLs on that website) only four unique 
advertisements for alcohol brands were found. Of these four, two were served in pre-
rolls on YouTube and two on websites in the form of banners. One of the pre-rolls 
advertised a non-alcoholic drink and was only served on the profile of an adult. The 
other pre-roll was captured three times for a minor’s profile and three times for an 

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adult’s profile (both male). The two banners were served on both minors’ and adults’ 
profiles, where one was captured twice on profiles for both minors and adults and the 
other was captured once on a minor’s profile and four times on an adult’s  profile. 

Perspective of the viewers 
Viewers, on the other hand, perceived quite a substantial level of exposure: although 
alcohol advertisements are the least recalled type of advertisements by minors aged 9-
1782 in the nine selected Member States, 23.9% of these minors recalled to have seen 
an alcohol advertisement online in the last month.  

The results also indicated that the recall, and thus the perceived awareness of alcohol 
advertising, increases with both age and online activity. The respondents aged 9-17 
were also asked if they could describe an alcohol advertisement that they recently saw 
and 23.6% of these minors answered ‘yes’. In addition, on average, 80% of these 
respondents indicated that they recalled the brand of the advertisement. The results 
showed that both the memory for having seen alcohol advertising as well as active 
brand recall also increased with age and online activity. The finding that minors indicate 
to be aware of alcohol advertising through self-reported measures of exposure and that 
this increases with age and the number of exposures is consistent with the existing 
literature on advertisement recall.   

Combining the results from the two perspectives 
The results from the two perspectives diverge and this may be the result of different 
factors, including: 
  Over-estimation of self-reported exposure because of methodological limitations of the 
survey: First, the survey relies on self-reporting measures of exposure by asking recall 
questions, which induces the risk of recall-bias. Hence, where minors indicated that 
they recall having seen (alcohol) advertisements, it does not necessarily mean that 
the (alcohol) advertisement was actually provided. Second, no strict definition of 
advertisement was provided in the survey and therefore the reported exposure to 
alcohol advertising is subject to interpretation of what is perceived as ‘alcohol 
advertising’ by minors. For example, minors may have indicated that they recalled 
seeing an advertisement, whereas  in reality, they saw user-generated content rather 
than commercial communications produced by advertisers; 

  Over-estimation of exposure based on online data capture: people may use ad-blocks 
or  nanny-tags  in  their  browsers,  which  prevent  them  from  seeing  any  (alcohol) 
advertisement 

  Under-estimation  of  self-reported  exposure:  some 

respondents  might  have 

underreported their exposure because they were trying to avoid punishment. 

  Under-estimation of exposure based on online data capture because of several caveats 

in the methodology: For example, cookies were generated during two months of 
online activity, whereas minors will typically have a richer browser history than the 
profiles that were generated for the purpose of this study. In addition, the data 
capture had a limited focus and only generated activity on a computer, whereas 
minors typically use different devices to go online. Also, there was no spill-over 
between profiles, whereas in reality minors may share a device with adults; 

  Limited scope of the online data capture: as this part of the methodology was limited 
to a selection of YouTube channels and websites, it was difficult to draw conclusions 

82   For ethical reasons, minors in the age group 4-8 were not asked questions on alcohol advertising, but 

rather on advertising in general and their online activity.  

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with regard to the exposure on other popular online services, including Facebook, 
Instagram and Twitter.  

Because of the discrepancies in the results, it is difficult to draw overall conclusions with 
regard to the level of exposure of minors to alcohol advertising on non-linear AV media 
services and other online services. It can, however, be concluded that that self-reported 
exposure to alcohol advertising increases with age and online activity and that both the 
online services and the industry try to ensure minimal exposure through implementing 
measures and self-regulation.  

8.3.  Research Question 3: For audio-visual media services (both linear and non-
linear) and other online services, what type of alcohol advertising does an 
average minor see in the EU? Are minors specifically targeted by alcohol 
advertising? In how far is alcohol advertising appealing to minors and how? In 
particular, in how far do the provisions of the AVMSD and their application 
afford the required level of protection? 

Existing literature shows that for minors, the most important context of using alcohol is 
partying and celebration, and 17% of the advertisements in the sample portrayed this 
context. Animal characters – most likely to attract minors – were shown in 4% of the 
advertisements. Despite the fact that the majority of the advertisements in the sample 
contained at least one element appealing to minors, it does not indicate that minors 
would be the target in the majority of advertisements. The difficulty is that elements 
that minors find attractive are very similar to those that appeal to (young) people over 
18.  

This being said, the analysis grid includes elements that according to existing research 
are relevant for minors in relation to alcohol. After developing and validating the analysis 
grid, we analysed both television and online advertisements, the former covering short 
film inserts and sponsorship messages shown in relation to television programmes, the 
latter consisting of banners. It appeared that there is a wide variety of themes employed 
in the advertisements, the most common one being the association of alcohol with 
sociability, and depicting drinking with humorous tone.  

Associations of social and sexual success, popularity, sociability and enjoyment with 
alcohol consumption are part of wider cultural representations of what drinking is about 
and these were also the most central themes in the advertisements. The advertisements 
in the sample created a strong link between enjoyable social occasions, on the one 
hand, and alcohol, on the other hand, corresponding with general cultural 
representations of drinking with respect to adults and minors alike. Considering the role 
of sociability in the advertisements, and the high relevance of social relations and 
belonging to minors, it is plausible to say that alcohol advertising is likely to be 
appealing to under-aged audiences.  

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In addition, we found that 25% of the advertisements (37% of the television 
advertisements and 0% of the online advertisements) reflect at least one of the criteria 
described in AVMSD. The provisions in the Directive refer to causal links between the 
product and its effects, which are, for the most part, the kinds of simple storylines that 
are mostly avoided in advertisement contents. The advertisements rarely suggested 
positive outcomes caused by the products. Rather, they were focused on associations 
that are possible to create within a few seconds (for example by portraying drinking 
among young, trendy people) and without highlighting causality (being attractive and 
socially successful is caused by consuming the product). 

8.4.  Limitations and recommendations for further research 

In conducting the study, we encountered several limitations in both the approach taken 
and methodologies used. These are listed below as well as our recommendations for 
further research.  

One of the main limitations of the approach taken concerns representativeness of the 
results for all EU Member States, given that the focus of the study was on nine Member 
States. For Research Question 1 we know that, based on the comparison of the results 
of the nine Member States with the results based on the WFA/Ebiquity dataset, the 
selection of Member States appears to be representative for a larger selection of 
Member States. For the other two Research Questions such comparisons could not be 
made.  

In addition, the scope of the study included certain types of advertisements. It is 
recommended to include other forms of alcohol advertising, for example product 
placement, in a potential future study. 

Research Question 1 
The analysis conducted in this study provided interesting results on the exposure of 
minors to alcohol advertising on linear AV media services in 2013. As a next step, it 
would be interesting to analyse how the results evolve over time. This would also 
provide the opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness of new (self-) regulation by 
analysing how the levels of exposure change upon introduction of new regulation.  

Another limitation concerns the level of granularity in the data: a higher of level of 
granularity would allow for more detailed analyses of differences between (age) groups 
in terms of the level of exposure to alcohol advertising. For example, it may be 
interesting to split the group of adults into multiple age groups to allow for a comparison 
between the older minors and young adults, or to include data on gender to facilitate an 
analysis of potential differences within age groups based on gender. 

A final limitation concerns the sample of channels. The data on alcohol advertising 
impacts that was analysed for Research Question 1 was based on a comprehensive 
sample of channels. The analysis of the general viewing patterns focussed on a more 
limited selection of channels. In order to conduct more relative analyses, weighting 
alcohol impacts by average daily alcohol impacts, we would recommend including a 
larger sample of channels. This would ensure that the relation between viewing habits 
and exposure to alcohol advertising can be investigated in more detail.  

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Research Question 2 
One of the perspectives analysed for Research Question 2 concerns the perspective of 
the advertisers. For this purpose, we analysed different measures and initiatives that are 
in place with the aim to restrict the exposure of minors to alcohol advertising using input 
from the industry and selected online services. This provided insights into what the level 
of exposure to alcohol advertising is supposed to be. The results could partially be 
validated through the online data capture. However, as this part of the methodology was 
limited to a selection of YouTube channels and websites, it was difficult to draw 
conclusions with regard to the exposure on other popular online services, including 
Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. It would therefore be recommended to search for 
other ways to monitor the exposure on these online services. This could for example be 
done by recruiting minors in Member States and asking for their permission to monitor 
their activity on these online services. This would also overcome some of the other 
limitations with regard to the online data capture. For example, it would allow 
monitoring of a profile with a rich browsing history, with activity on multiple devices, and 
from devices on which multiple people are active. On the other hand, it is important to 
recognise that such an approach would not provide results from the perspective of 
advertisers, as it then no longer is possible to investigate what type of advertisements 
are served to specific audiences, but rather to a mixed profile.  

As discussed before, the results of the survey to minors should be interpreted with 
caution because of several caveats associated with this methodology. First of all, the 
survey relies on self-reporting measures of exposure by asking recall questions, which 
induces the risk of recall-bias. Hence, where minors indicated that they recall to have 
seen (alcohol) advertisements does not necessarily mean that the (alcohol) 
advertisement actually was served there. Table 6.2 could serve as an example of this, 
where a number of online services were mentioned by minors to include alcohol 
advertisements, while in reality they do not include any alcohol advertisements.  

It is also important to note that the respondents were not provided with a demarcated 
definition of ‘alcohol advertising’. Therefore, the reported exposure to alcohol advertising 
is subject to interpretation of what is perceived as ‘alcohol advertising’ by minors. In 
addition, some respondents might have underreported their exposure to avoid 
punishment. 

Further research is therefore needed to study the exposure of minors to alcohol 
advertisement online in more detail. We would also recommend doing this longitudinal.  

Another way to overcome some of the limitations identified might be to use focus groups 
or individual interviews, rather than a survey. This is, however, a very resource-
demanding approach. In addition, it may be interesting to include adults in the survey in 
order to facilitate a comparison between self-reported exposure by minors and adults.  

Research Question 3 
The limitations of the content analysis are related, firstly, to the difficulties in estimating 
the elements of advertising that are primarily appealing to minors, secondly, to the 
ambiguities of the subcategories of the analysis grid, and, thirdly, to the generalizability 
of the results.  

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Recognising contents that would appeal only to minors is difficult, if not impossible. Most 
of the elements of advertising have general appeal, meaning that they are likely to 
stimulate reactions in wider audiences, not only in one target group. On the grounds of 
previous research it is possible to say that minors are likely to be appealed, for instance, 
by advertisements that utilise humour and music. However, these elements also attract 
adult viewers, and they are therefore widely used in advertising. Humour and music are 
central ways of making an advert noticeable among minors, but utilisation of these 
elements does not alone indicate that minors would be the target. This means that the 
content analysis, the grid and its subcategories are based on elements that according to 
the existing research are appealing to minors, but they are not necessarily specifically 
appealing to only them.  

The aim of the content analysis was to go beyond the scope of the AVMSD and to assess 
in a wider sense in what ways alcohol advertising appeals to minors. For this reason the 
development of the analysis grid was based on existing research regarding the meanings 
and functions that minors associate with alcohol use. The approach aimed at bringing a 
broader view of underage drinking to the study on alcohol advertising, especially when 
assessing the effectiveness of marketing regulations. Meanings and functions that young 
people attach to alcohol use can be portrayed in advertisements in a variety of ways. 
Advertisements play with cultural representations people already have in mind, and their 
messages are to a great extent symbolic and associative. These symbolic dimensions 
make contents of adverts ambiguous, enabling a variety of interpretations. Accordingly, 
the analytical grid needed to address both the symbolism employed in advertisements 
and their possible manifestations. The task was challenging, as the reliability of content 
analysis depends on accurately defined criteria that can be easily followed in the actual 
coding process.  

Coding of textual and visual material always requires interpretation, regardless of the 
analytical approach. The more ambiguous the codes and their criteria, the more space is 
left for coder’s subjective consideration. For example, the AVMSD criteria concerning 
social and sexual success were difficult to operationalise for coding purposes as the 
advertisements contained various strategies of associating the products with social 
relations. For further strengthening the analysis grid, a reception study involving minors 
is recommended in order to define the criteria in more detail. The analysis of minors’ 
perceptions of ambiguous contents of advertisements would help to determine, for 
instance, what they see as representations of social and sexual success. 

The results of the content analysis are based on 123 linear and non-linear alcohol 
advertisements from nine EU Member States, a small sample considering the total 
amount of advertisements appearing in all AV media services in the EU. In addition, the 
sample for non-linear and other online services was limited to online banners. As such, 
the results are not generalizable to all alcohol advertisements. However, the results are 
applicable for assessing the variety of themes and elements utilised by alcohol 
advertising.  

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European Commission 

Study on the exposure of minors to alcohol advertising on linear and non-linear 
audio-visual media services and other online services, including a content 
analysis: Final Report  

Luxembourg, Publications Office of the European Union 

2015 – 184 pages 

ISBN 978-92-79-52798-2 
doi:10.2759/597114 

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