TV clearance is the review of a television commercial against broadcast advertising rules before it airs. The check covers the script, the rough cut and the finished film, and the outcome decides whether a broadcaster will transmit the spot. The practice exists because a licensed broadcaster answers to regulators for what it puts on air, and vetting copy in advance costs less than defending a complaint afterwards. In Britain a single private body, Clearcast, does the work for the main commercial broadcasters against the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) Code. In the United States, each network's standards and practices department does it separately.

How British clearance works

Clearcast describes three stages, all handled in an online system called The Library. The first is the script, which must include all on-screen text. The second is the rough cut, reviewed by copy clearance staff in a daily viewing meeting. The third is the finished "clocked" ad, which passes technical quality control before final approval. According to Clearcast, the sequence takes two to three weeks, and script feedback is aimed at three working days. A Fast Track service, which Wikipedia dates to 2019, guarantees feedback within 24 hours.

Technical checks run alongside editorial ones. Legal text on screen, known as supers, is measured for height and duration; Wikipedia's account gives a minimum of 16 TV lines. A Harding test screens out flashing sequences likely to trigger photosensitive epilepsy. Claims must be substantiated, so evidence for a stated product benefit forms part of the submission.

Each cleared film carries a clock number, the identifier used from clearance through transmission and reporting. According to Clearcast, it starts with a three-letter agency code the body assigns, continues with four letters and three digits chosen by the agency or advertiser, and ends with three digits giving the duration in seconds: ABC/DEFG001/030 for a 30-second spot.

The result is approval, sometimes with restrictions such as scheduling limits. Clearcast says its team watches more than 62,500 ads in a typical year; a post dated July 26, 2022 gave around 60,000. Broadcasters fund the broadcast service, so advertisers do not pay directly, according to The Media Leader. Clearcast is not a regulator, it said in a statement dated November 19, 2018: the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and Ofcom, the communications regulator, hold that role.

Other markets

In the United States, networks and many cable channels run standards and practices departments that review commercials alongside programming. A guide from the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) describes a two-part procedure, preliminary review and final approval, with storyboards approved by every network before production, and notes differences in style and judgment between networks.

Canada divides the task. thinktv clearance reviews video advertising for broadcaster members, while Ad Standards runs separate clearance for regulated categories such as alcohol and health products; according to Ad Standards, television commercials need thinktv approval too. In France, the self-regulator ARPP issues opinions on TV spots before broadcast under a voluntary scheme. Films must carry an identification card showing an IDcrea code, the successor to PubID, which has kept creative data consistent across French TV advertising since 2011, according to trade site CB News.

Origin and evolution

British pre-clearance dates to commercial television. According to The Media Leader, the mandate goes back to the creation of ITV in 1955 and was formalised in the Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre (BACC), a body then owned wholly by ITV. The legal news service Out-Law reported that the BACC became Clearcast on January 1, 2008, as a one-stop shop that would also handle attribution, spot scheduling and electronic airtime trading. The Media Leader dates the change to 2007; the sources conflict.

The rulebook moved too. The first edition of the BCAP Code took effect on September 1, 2010, replacing four separate broadcast codes. Video on demand falls outside that code, but broadcasters clear it anyway, checking such ads against the non-broadcast CAP Code, according to Wikipedia.

In the United States, identification developed on its own track. Industry Standard Coding Identification (ISCI) codes appeared in 1970, and the ANA and the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A's) replaced them with Ad-ID in 2003, a history that PPC Land's creative explainer sets out.

Clearance in programmatic buying

Clearance sits upstream of the auction. What travels through the ad stack is its result: an identifier and an approval state attached to the creative.

A Channel 4 programmatic buyer guide from November 2021 shows the mechanics for broadcaster video on demand (BVOD). The broadcaster ran only Clearcast-approved creative, required both linear and VOD approval even for VOD-only campaigns, and asked for the clock number at setup. It hosts the file itself and supplies a content delivery network (CDN) link, which buyers place in the VAST (Video Ad Serving Template) tag so the ad can be transcoded for each device.

Ad servers model the gate explicitly. FreeWheel's creative management documentation describes publisher-set clearance levels, inherited by each deal ID and unalterable by buyers: 0 for no approval, 1 for restrictive (approval needed before delivery), 2 for permissive (delivery starts while audit status reads pending, unless rejected) and 3 for not supported.

Identifiers tie the layers together. VAST 4.0, released on January 21, 2016, made a registered UniversalAdId mandatory for linear ads in long-form video. IAB Tech Lab then announced the Ad Creative ID Framework (ACIF) on June 11, 2024, aimed at frequency capping, competitive separation, cross-platform reporting and reconciliation. By January 21, 2025, registries in four markets had integrated: Ad-ID, Auditel, ARPP and Clearcast. Programmatic access to linear TV is widening as well. Comcast Advertising made linear inventory biddable through private marketplaces on October 23, 2025.

Why it matters to marketers

Clearance is both a gate in the production schedule and a condition of access to inventory. PPC Land's BVOD explainernotes that every creative in Britain must clear Clearcast, a compliance layer that separates broadcaster inventory from open-web supply. When Channel 4 opened its video-on-demand inventory to five buying platforms on June 22, 2026, the announcement stated that all campaigns must follow Clearcast guidelines and the broadcaster's own standards. The planned Sky, Channel 4 and ITV self-service marketplace, announced on June 17, 2025 for a 2026 launch, targets small businesses, many of which would meet the process for the first time.

Limitations and disputes

The courts have kept their distance. In April 2016 the High Court ruled in Diomed Direct v Clearcast that Clearcast does not exercise functions of a public nature, so its pre-clearance decisions are not open to judicial review, according to law firm Swan Turton.

Characterisation of Clearcast's role has also been contested. In November 2018 it declined Iceland Foods' Christmas advertisement, a version of a Greenpeace film, because Greenpeace's involvement engaged the BCAP political advertising rule. Clearcast said neither it nor the broadcasters considered the ad itself political, and disputed reports that a regulator had banned it; an online petition passed 900,000 signatures.

Some in the industry question the model. Omar Oakes, editor-in-chief of The Media Leader, argued in a 2024 column that pre-clearance dates from a pre-internet age and asked whether it should extend to online platforms or be abolished, since most online ads run without it. Lindsey Clay, chief executive of Thinkbox, favoured extension and asked what stops online platforms except "cost and inconvenience".

Standards also remain uneven. Alliance Digitale classed ACIF as a proof of concept, and found VAST 2 accounting for 41.4 per cent of declared publisher compatibility in 2025 against 22.2 per cent for VAST 4, according to Cape Ad Validation analysis cited in its guide. In the United States, critics call standards and practices review paternalism or censorship, while networks claim a publisher's right to judge what airs, according to the Museum of Broadcast Communications.

Not the same as

Rights clearance concerns permission to use music, footage, talent or other protected material in a production. It is a legal task for producers and carries no regulatory approval.

Platform creative approval is a technical and policy check by a buying or selling platform. Display & Video 360 introduced publisher eligibility checks for connected TV creatives in April 2024, letting advertisers test assets against publisher requirements before submission. Such checks do not replace Clearcast.

Ad registration assigns an identifier. Ad-ID, ARPP's code and the clock number identify a creative; none of them approves it.

Recent developments

Regional guides now address the layer. IAB Europe's April 2026 programmatic CTV guide describes Clearcast as the central clearance body for UK TV and VOD, and notes APIs built for integration with Clearcast and ARPP. Amazon DSP added publisher-hosted creatives for Google Ad Manager programmatic guaranteed deals on August 10, 2026, for publishers that require hosting on their side for compliance, format or delivery reasons.

Clearcast itself is moving beyond broadcast. Advanced Television reported on September 8, 2026 that it launched iClear, an artificial intelligence tool co-created with Northell that assesses scripts and assets against the CAP Code, and allClear, a human review service, starting with food and beverage, alcohol, gambling, harm and offence, and misleading advertising. According to The Media Leader, allClear costs GBP 350 plus VAT per assessment, and users pay directly because no broadcaster-style funding exists online. Michael Haydon, Clearcast's head of new product development, told the outlet that digital ads "can be banned just as easily".

Timeline

  • 1955 - ITV starts; British pre-clearance of television ads dates to this period.
  • 1970 - Industry Standard Coding Identification (ISCI) codes appear in the United States.
  • 2003 - Ad-ID replaces ISCI.
  • 2007 or January 1, 2008 - The Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre becomes Clearcast (sources differ).
  • September 1, 2010 - First edition of the BCAP Code takes effect.
  • 2011 - France's PubID system begins preserving consistent creative data.
  • January 21, 2016 - VAST 4.0 makes a registered UniversalAdId mandatory for linear ads in long-form video.
  • April 2016 - High Court rules Clearcast decisions are not open to judicial review in Diomed Direct v Clearcast.
  • November 2018 - Clearcast declines Iceland Foods' Greenpeace-derived Christmas advertisement.
  • 2019 - Clearcast launches its Fast Track service.
  • June 11, 2024 - IAB Tech Lab announces the Ad Creative ID Framework.
  • January 21, 2025 - Registries in four markets, including Clearcast and ARPP, are reported integrated with ACIF.
  • March 12, 2026 - Alliance Digitale publishes its CTV technical standards guide.
  • June 22, 2026 - Channel 4 opens video-on-demand inventory to five buying platforms.
  • August 10, 2026 - Amazon DSP adds publisher-hosted creatives for Google Ad Manager guaranteed deals.
  • September 8, 2026 - Clearcast announces iClear and allClear for digital advertising.

Summary

  • Who: Clearcast, owned by UK commercial broadcasters, in Britain; network standards and practices departments in the United States; thinktv clearance in Canada; ARPP in France. Agencies and advertisers submit; broadcasters decide.
  • What: Review of scripts, rough cuts and finished commercials against broadcast advertising rules, ending in approval, restriction or rejection, and an identifier such as a clock number or Ad-ID.
  • When: Before transmission, at script, rough-cut and final stages. British pre-clearance dates to commercial television in 1955; Clearcast has operated since 2007 or 2008, depending on the source.
  • Where: Upstream of media buying and ad serving, in national clearance systems, with results passed into ad servers and programmatic deals through creative identifiers and clearance settings.
  • Why: Broadcasters answer to regulators for what airs, and checking copy before transmission reduces the risk of breaching rules such as the BCAP Code.