The regulator is revisiting long‑standing rules for alcohol ads on commercial television at a time when traditional broadcast audiences are shrinking and more viewers are heading to streaming platforms. The current framework evolved over years of industry codes, co‑regulation and self‑regulation designed to keep alcohol marketing away from children while still giving broadcasters and sports codes access to lucrative sponsorship and advertising deals.
This new review looks closely at how alcohol branding appears around live sport, including signage inside stadiums, logos on player uniforms and promotions that run on video‑on‑demand and streaming services. The focus is unusual because some of these areas sit outside the regulator’s usual authority, yet they feed into a broader government conversation already underway about the influence of alcohol, gambling and food and drink advertising, three categories that together tip in more than $600 million a year to media and sports.
At the same time, Australians are actually drinking less. Official health data shows per‑person alcohol consumption is now at its lowest level in about a decade, with 2023–24 marking the sharpest year‑on‑year drop since the early 1960s. That decline in drinking is happening just as ad dollars and viewers move away from linear TV towards digital and streaming channels, which tend to be less tightly regulated than commercial broadcast television.
Industry groups argue that a robust system is already in place, built around a national alcohol marketing code that covers TV, radio, print, digital, social media and outdoor advertising and that sits alongside broader advertising ethics rules. From their perspective this framework sets clear limits on when and where alcohol ads can appear and includes extra safeguards for children and young people, so any push to extend restrictions looks like it could add regulatory pressure without clear evidence of harm. Public health advocates however see the review as a chance to close gaps between traditional TV and newer platforms and the outcome seems likely to shape how brands support sport, how broadcasters package live games and how consistently alcohol marketing is controlled across the media landscape.
