Streaming service Now TV has seen one of its online ads banned for being ‘misleading’ by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), after a solitary complaint was upheld.

The ad itself was promoting Now TV’s ‘Entertainment 6 Month Saver’ offer, which provides half a year’s worth of programming for £6.99 a month instead of £9.99. The offer also includes seven-day free trials for its ‘Cinema’ and ‘Boost’ plans.

Shown on the streaming platform’s homepage, the ad failed to make it clear that only the ‘Boost’ plan contains ad-free programming, and that all other tiers include ads as standard.

The complainant said this was not outlined clearly enough in the homepage ad, potentially leaving customers unaware that their only option to watch ad-free Now TV is via the ‘Boost’ plan.

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Now TV acknowledged this – but countered that the presence of ads was not a ‘main characteristic’ of the service. It said: “ad-supported membership plans were common and well understood by customers.”

The channel added that if ad-free programming was important to a customer, it would expect them to check the Now TV website to acquaint themselves with the different membership tiers.

Upholding the complaint, the ASA ruled that the ad “must not appear again in its current form”, and that Now TV should ensure that “future ads did not omit material information, such as the inclusion of ads with basic streaming membership plans.”

The decision was based on the fact that while most people might expect free streaming tiers to contain ads, their reaction might be different if paid tiers were not clearly labelled as containing them as well.