Clearcast expands into digital advertising with AI pre-screening tools and services

Clearcast, the organisation responsible for pre-clearing all TV advertising, is expanding its services into digital advertising by launching an AI-driven pre-screening tool and services for digital and non-linear ad campaigns.

Digital advertisers, agencies and brands will now be offered compliance support from Clearcast for the first time through the AI assessment tool, iClear, and a human review service, allClear.

Clearcast co-created iClear with AI product developer Northell. It allows users to upload scripts and assets for a rapid assessment against the CAP Code, the Advertising Standards Authority’s (ASA) rulebook for non-broadcast ads. The tool then highlights potential concerns and helps resolve issues before publishing.

AllClear adds in the human element, providing specialist reviews from Clearcast’s staff of compliance experts.

The services cover all digital ads and any non-broadcast marketing, not just video-based advertising.

They will launch for clients based on vertical sectors, beginning with food & beverage, alcohol, gambling, harm & offence, and misleading advertising. Clearcast claims it will add more sectors “regularly”.

Unlike broadcast advertising, where pre-clearance is embedded in the process, digital ads don’t require clearance before release, so digital compliance with advertising standards is often assessed inconsistently or late in campaign development.

But as Michael Haydon, Clearcast’s head of new product development, noted, digital ads “can be banned just as easily” if the ASA finds them non-compliant.

“Marketers need to determine whether their ad is within the scope of complex ASA rulings and evolving code rules which continue to show how nuanced those decisions must be,” he said.

Fraud and scam ads have continued to dog the online advertising market. According to the ASA’s 2025 annual report, the industry regulator amended or removed over 22,000 ads last year, helped in part by its own embrace of AI to review ads at scale. A 2025 ASA study of influencer marketing also found that more than two-fifths (43%) of influencer ads are undisclosed or improperly disclosed.

A November report from Reuters revealed that Meta internally projected that it would earn about 10% of its overall annual revenue in 2024 (equivalent to $16bn) from running ads for scams and banned goods, with Meta later acknowledging such ads “might” have accounted for 3-4% of global turnover.

Advertising Association CEO Stephen Woodford characterised Clearcast’s expansion into digital channels as a “timely development”.

“As the lines between broadcast, social and digital media continue to blur, maintaining high standards of compliance and ethics across every touchpoint is essential to safeguarding public trust in our industry’s work,” he told The Media Leader. “In an increasingly complex regulatory landscape, proactive, voluntary measures like these reinforce our industry’s commitment to delivering advertising that is trusted, inclusive, and sustainable, wherever it appears.”

Clearcast managing director Sam Smith agreed, telling The Media Leader: “Trust in advertising has been recovering over recent years, but there is still a lot of distrust, particularly online, and there have been high-profile cases in recent months.”

She added that now was the right moment to launch digital clearance services for three reasons: “the public needs it, the industry is asking for it, and the technology has finally made it possible at scale.”

iClear and allClear, Smith argued, will “give teams the clarity and support to move faster without compromising honesty or creativity.”

She continued: “Brand reputation and safety matter as much in digital advertising as they do in broadcast, and it’s just as important for digital to hold itself to the same compliance standards we see in broadcast. Delivering clear, expert guidance is crucial, as the speed, scale and fragmentation of digital advertising becomes increasingly complex.

“The ASA have successfully integrated AI into their everyday work, and we want to do the same, but catch issues at the start of the process rather than after a complaint. If compliance is easier to get right before an ad runs, everyone in the chain benefits.”

While TV ad clearance is partially funded by the UK’s commercial broadcasters, meaning advertisers can access Clearcast’s broadcast services without paying directly, both iClear and allClear will require direct payments from advertisers, since no equivalent funding model currently exists for online advertising.

The cost of using iClear is “dependent on the asset”, according to Clearcast’s website. AllClear, meanwhile, will cost £350 + VAT per assessment.

Lindsey Clay, CEO of TV industry trade body Thinkbox, described to The Media Leader that Clearcast is “a byword for rigour and integrity”, with their work helping to “underpin the immense trust in TV advertising, which is brand and consumer safe by design”.

Clay added: “It’s great to see their expertise and standards being adopted in areas of advertising where compliance has historically been patchier. Lower standards in some areas of online advertising have damaged trust in advertising overall, and we’ll all benefit if standards improve.

“But this is only a start. The industry still needs to tackle the scams that continue to pollute the online advertising experience.”