Clearcast Explained: How to Get Your TV Advert Cleared for Broadcast (And Why Your Agency Choice Matters)

Nicola Reeves

Managing Director

April 30, 2026

Clearcast Explained: How to Get Your TV Advert Cleared for Broadcast (And Why Your Agency Choice Matters)

Getting a TV advert on air in the UK is not as simple as handing over a finished film to a broadcaster. Before a single second of your commercial reaches a screen, it must pass through a rigorous regulatory clearance process overseen by Clearcast – and navigating that process smoothly is a skill that separates experienced production agencies from the rest.

At Happy Hour Productions, we have years of hands-on experience taking TV commercials through Clearcast clearance from first script to final broadcast. Here is everything you need to know about how the process works, what can go wrong, and how working with the right agency makes all the difference.

What Is Clearcast?

Clearcast is the UK's independent advertising clearance organisation. Funded by the major UK broadcasters – including ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, Sky, and others – its core function is to review every television and VOD advertisement before it airs. UK broadcasters are legally prohibited from showing ads that are misleading, harmful, or offensive, and Clearcast acts as the gatekeeper on their behalf.

Every ad that appears on UK commercial television has been reviewed against the UK Code of Broadcast Advertising (BCAP Code), the rulebook written by the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice and enforced by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). Clearcast works in close partnership with all three organisations to ensure that, when your ad goes out, it is compliant, substantiated, and broadcast-ready.

Clearcast describes its role as being "a partner in the advertising process from script to screen" – and that framing matters. This is not a rubber stamp at the end of production. It is an active, multi-stage process that begins before a single frame is shot.

The Three-Stage Clearance Process

Clearcast operates a structured three-stage clearance framework that mirrors the natural flow of production. Understanding each stage, and preparing for it properly, is essential to avoiding delays.

Stage 1: Script Clearance

The process begins long before cameras roll. Scripts are submitted to Clearcast via The Clearcast Library, the centralised online system used for all clearance submissions, along with supporting substantiation documents that evidence any claims made in the ad.

This matters enormously. Every factual claim your ad makes – whether about price, performance, ingredients, health benefits, or competitor comparisons – must be backed up with solid evidence. Medical or scientific claims are routed to specialist consultants, which can extend the feedback timeline. Clearcast typically aims to provide script feedback within three working days, though complex or sensitive categories can take longer.

The advice here is clear: allow a minimum of 10 working days before your shoot date to receive script clearance. Rushing this stage is one of the most common, and most avoidable, causes of production delays.

Stage 2: Rough Cut Review

Once filming is complete and an edit is assembled, submitting a rough cut to Clearcast is strongly recommended, though technically optional. The Copy Clearance team reviews rough cuts during daily viewing meetings to verify that the filmed execution matches the cleared script, check compliance with scheduling restrictions, and validate supers (the legal text that appears on screen).

Superimposed text (supers) is subject to strict legibility requirements: minimum font sizes, advised stroke weights, legible typefaces, and minimum on-screen duration based on word count. Filming against a busy or cluttered background can make supers fail legibility checks and require a costly reshoot or re-edit. Getting this right at the rough cut stage, rather than discovering a problem at final delivery, is where experienced agencies earn their value.

Stage 3: Final TVC Clearance

The final, clocked-and-mastered television commercial is submitted with its clock slate (the unique reference number that identifies the ad across all broadcast systems). At this stage, automated quality control checks run against the file: duration, audio levels, and critically, a PSE (Photosensitive Epilepsy Safety) test to ensure the ad does not contain flash sequences that could trigger seizures.

Following technical clearance, a Clearcast contact provides formal compliance approval, which is then visible to all broadcasters. Only once this approval is confirmed can the ad be delivered to air.

For the final stage, plan for a minimum of 10 working days after script clearance before your target air date. At peak periods – pre-Christmas and early summer – that window should be extended further, as Clearcast processes a significantly higher volume of submissions.

The overall rule of thumb: allow a minimum of 15 working days from initial submission to broadcast.

What Can Go Wrong – And How to Avoid It

Most clearance problems are predictable, and most are preventable with the right preparation.

Unsubstantiated claims are the single most common cause of script rejections. Any comparative, superlative, or efficacy claim – "the UK's number one," "proven to reduce," "up to 50% off" – requires documentary evidence submitted alongside the script. Promotional offers require a Retail Substantiation Form including pricing, dates, and terms and conditions.

Supers failures trip up a surprising number of productions, particularly those where the legal text is an afterthought bolted on in the grade or online. Font size, contrast, positioning, and duration are all assessed, and ads that fail at this point can require re-edits or, in worst cases, reshoots.

Category restrictions apply to certain product sectors – gambling, alcohol, HFSS (high fat, salt, sugar) foods, financial products, and others – where ads may be cleared but subject to scheduling restrictions that limit when and where they can be broadcast. Being aware of these early in development prevents expensive surprises at the planning stage.

Timeline underestimation is perhaps the most damaging mistake. Ambitious launch dates with insufficient lead time create pressure that leads to corners being cut – which in turn leads to rejections, revisions, and delays that push the air date back further than a properly planned process ever would have.

Why Agency Experience Is Everything

The Clearcast process is not difficult if you know it inside out. But for brands and advertisers working with agencies that lack broadcast television experience, it can feel like an obstacle course with unclear rules and unpredictable timing.

At Happy Hour Productions, broadcast clearance is not a box-ticking exercise for us – it is a fundamental part of how we develop and produce every TV campaign. Our experience spans:

Script development with clearance built in from day one, so claims are properly framed and evidenced before substantiation becomes a last-minute scramble

Supers design and legibility testing integrated into production, not added as an afterthought

Category expertise across regulated sectors including alcohol, gambling, financial services, and HFSS food and drink, where the clearance landscape is most complex

Realistic timeline management that factors Clearcast's working practices and seasonal pressures into every campaign schedule from the outset

Ongoing relationships with the Clearcast team, developed through years of regular submissions, which means queries are handled efficiently and feedback is understood clearly

The result is that our clients go to air on time, on budget, and without the stress of last-minute rejections or compliance surprises. That is not luck – it is the product of doing this work, repeatedly, at a high standard.

Clearcast in Context: The Broader Regulatory Picture

Clearcast sits within a wider regulatory framework that it is important to understand. The BCAP Code is the rulebook; the ASA is the enforcement body that investigates complaints after broadcast. One of the valuable protections that Clearcast clearance provides is a defensible record: if a cleared ad receives an ASA complaint, Clearcast actively assists in the complaint defence, providing evidence of the review and approval process.

This is another reason why cutting corners on clearance – or working with agencies that treat it as an administrative afterthought – is a false economy. A well-cleared ad is a protected ad.

Ready to Go to Air?

Whether you are planning your first television campaign or looking to bring more rigour and experience to an established broadcast programme, Happy Hour Productions is the partner you want in your corner. We handle the Clearcast process so you do not have to worry about it – and we have the track record to prove it.

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Happy Hour Productions is an experienced UK television production company with a proven track record in producing broadcast-cleared advertising across a wide range of sectors and categories.

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Sources

https://clearcast.co.uk/

https://clearcast.co.uk/what-we-do/

https://clearcast.co.uk/clearance-process/

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