Advertising Policy 

Publishers must ensure that any of their Publisher Content which includes advertising or promotional Content complies with this Advertising Policy.

What do we mean by advertising or promotional Content?

When we refer to advertising or promotional Content, this includes:

  • Videos which are created by or for a brand (sometimes known as branded content, paid partnerships or advertorials);
  • Videos with pre-roll ads or ad breaks;
  • Sponsored content (e.g. content produced in connection with, or funded by, a sponsor);
  • Videos which include product placement - this includes where the Publisher has been paid or otherwise incentivised (whether specifically or as part of a wider sponsorship arrangement etc) to include a brand’s product, or their brand name, in the Video;
  • Self-promotional content (e.g. if you’re an athlete promoting your own merchandise or a coaching clinic, or, if you’re a band directly encouraging people to buy merchandise or tickets to your concerts); and
  • Affiliate marketing – e.g. the Video provides a link to, or discount for, a brand and the Publisher will get a commission or other benefit if a viewer uses this.

This Advertising Policy applies to all Publisher Content, including Videos, the title of Videos, any description and cover image associated with a Video, Live Chat messages of Publishers and a Publisher’s Channel name(s) and cover images. 

Complying with applicable advertising law and regulation

If when you upload or stream a Video and you geo-block the territories in which the Video can be viewed, the Video (and your other Publisher Content which will be visible with it) must comply with applicable laws relating to advertising and marketing in the territories in which you choose to publish it. If you do not use our geo-blocking functionality, you must ensure that the Video (and your other Publisher Content which will be visible with it) complies with the law in all territories in which Recast is available from time to time (see list of current territories here). 

Regardless of where you choose to publish your Videos to, Recast requires you to comply, as a minimum, with all of the rules set out below, even if these are not requirements in a particular territory in which the Video will be available.

Recast’s minimum requirements for advertising and promotional Content

If you use the Platform for advertising or promotional purposes, in addition to complying with any applicable laws in the territories in which your Publisher Content will be available, you must comply with the following rules:

  • you must not advertise cigarettes, tobacco, e-cigarettes, weapons, escort agencies, pornography or prescription only medicine;
  • political advertising is prohibited on the Platform;
  • advertising for alcoholic drinks is only permitted on the Platform if:
  • it does not encourage the immoderate consumption of alcohol; and 
  • it does not target those under the age of 18 (and, please note that if you use our functionality to flag that your Publisher Content includes alcohol advertising, although we may take steps to ensure the video is not available to users under the legal drinking age, we do not guarantee our ability to do this);
  •  you must always ensure your advertising practices are transparent and clear, including by:
  • ensuring your advertising is readily recognisable as such (by selecting the applicable advertising option(s) when prompted by the Platform during the Video upload process); and
  • not using techniques which exploit the possibility of conveying a message subliminally or surreptitiously;
  • your advertising must not:
  • prejudice respect for human dignity; 
  • include or promote discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, nationality, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation;
  • encourage behaviour prejudicial to health or safety;
  • encourage behaviour grossly prejudicial to the protection of the environment;
  • cause physical, mental or moral detriment to persons under the age of 18;
  • directly exhort persons under the age of 18 to purchase or rent goods or services in a manner which exploits their inexperience or credulity;
  • directly encourage persons under the age of 18 to persuade their parents or others to purchase or rent goods or services;
  • exploit the trust of persons under the age of 18 in parents, teachers or others; or
  • unreasonably show persons under the age of 18 in dangerous situations.


Advertising disclosures

Advertising laws and regulation around the world generally require advertising and promotional content to be clearly disclosed as such. It is your responsibility to comply with these laws, but we allow you to automatically add a disclosure to your Videos by using the relevant functionality when you upload a Video.

We recommend that you use this functionality if your Video is, or includes, any of the advertising or promotional Content described above.

The disclosure we automatically add when you use this functionality may be translated from English so that Users watching your Videos see this disclosure in the language selected by them (or set by their device or location). We do not guarantee that this disclosure will comply with all requirements in respect of disclosing advertising around the world.

When no disclosure is required

It is always your responsibly to comply with the law, but by way of general guidance, if a Video is genuine editorial content which has no commercial intent it is unlikely that a disclosure will be required, even it is does include some incidental advertising. For example, unless the Video has been paid for or requested by a brand, is part of a contractual obligation to the brand, or is designed specifically to promote one or more brand, a disclosure is unlikely to be needed even if:

  • it includes incidental advertising, e.g. as seen on perimeter boards at a football match, or advertising in situ in a location which features in the Video
  • branding appears incidentally on clothing or kit appearing in the Video, for example branding on athletes’ kit during a sports event, on a drum kit during a concert, or on a plane in a Video about travel
  • it refers to the name or logo of an event/team/festival etc which has a commercial brand in its title.

Likewise, if a Video only includes prop placement, a disclosure may not be required. Prop placement is the term used (in the UK) when a brand provides a product for inclusion in, for example, a film or tv programme, for editorial purposes but there is no obligation to include it and no other payment or incentive (e.g. sponsorship fees) is provided in return for its inclusion. For example, if a historic car is provided to you as a favour because your Video needs to feature this for editorial reasons, but the person/entity loaning it to you receives nothing from you, and you are not obliged to use the car in the Video, this may qualify as prop placement.

ADVERTISING LAW AND REGULATION IS COMPLEX. THE GUIDANCE IN THIS ADVERTISING POLICY IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE. WE RECOMMEND YOU TAKE LEGAL ADVICE TO ENSURE COMPLIANCE.