Ad policy

What can and can't appear in a SofAds ad. A TV is a shared screen in the living room, so every ad has to be fine for everyone on the couch.

Last updated . Applies to every ad SofAds serves: campaigns booked with us and ads from partner networks.

We wrote this policy ourselves, for TV. It builds on public frameworks, which we cite where they apply and list at the end. Where the law in a country is stricter than this page, the law applies.

1. Prohibited content

SofAds accepts family-safe ads only. There are no 18+ campaigns, no age-gated ads and no per-campaign exceptions. An ad may not promote, show or link to:

  • Alcohol
  • Tobacco and vaping
  • Gambling, including lotteries and sweepstakes with a stake
  • Dating
  • Political or issue ads
  • Adult or sexual content
  • Weapons
  • Drugs
  • Get-rich-quick or crypto schemes

Advertisers confirm that their ads contain none of these before a campaign is submitted, and our reviewers check every campaign against the same list. For partner demand, we send the matching IAB Tech Lab Content Taxonomy categories as a block list with every request. For topics the taxonomy has no code for, such as gambling and get-rich-quick schemes, we rely on review and on the partners' own category blocks.

Illegal content, and anything that deceives, harasses or exploits people, is never allowed, whether or not it is on this list.

2. Creative standards

An ad is seen from across the room, often by several people, and controlled with a remote. The Coalition for Better Ads standards describe the formats people find misleading or intrusive; on TV that comes down to these rules:

  • No fake interface. No imitation system messages, warnings, update prompts, remote-control hints, close buttons or app screens. SofAds draws the frame (the "Ad" badge, Close, the QR card) itself; the creative never does.
  • No flashing or strobing. Nothing flashes more than three times in any one second, and no rapid regular patterns, in line with WCAG 2.3.1 and ITU-R BT.1702. TVs are large and close to the people watching them, which makes this more important than on a phone.
  • Normal loudness. A video ad is no louder than the app or program around it. Our reference is the broadcast loudness standard, EBU R 128, and an ad that is clearly louder is rejected.
  • The advertiser is clearly named. Viewers can see who the ad is from, by name or logo.
  • Honest offers. The offer and its main terms are stated plainly: prices, trial lengths, what happens when a trial ends. No invented urgency, fake prizes or claims you can't support.
  • QR codes only to the approved landing page. A creative never shows its own QR code. The QR code on a SofAds ad is generated by SofAds and leads only to the landing page approved for that campaign.

3. Landing pages

The QR code hands the viewer's next step to their phone, so the page they land on is part of the ad:

  • The advertiser's own domain. Landing pages are on a domain the advertiser has verified with us. Link shorteners and redirect services are not accepted.
  • Made for phones. The page works on a phone screen without zooming or installing anything first.
  • Matches the ad. The page shows the offer the ad promised, with the same terms.
  • No surprises. No automatic downloads, no pop-up chains and no redirects to other domains.

We check landing pages every day. If a page starts redirecting somewhere else, or a safe browsing service flags it, the campaign pauses until a reviewer has looked at it.

4. Ads from partner networks

Part of the ads in SofAds apps comes from partner networks. They follow this policy too, enforced in a different way: every request carries our block lists, and we drop any partner ad that lacks advertiser or category information or matches a block. When in doubt we show no ad at all. Partner ads never carry a QR code, and SofAds never follows their links. We log every partner ad that is shown and block advertisers or creatives that break this policy.

5. Apps made for children

Publishers tell us for each app whether it is made for children. That is the publisher's own declaration, and their responsibility. In those apps:

  • no device identifiers or other personal signals are sent to any advertiser or partner, and ads are never personalized or targeted on behavior;
  • only reviewed SofAds campaigns and partners we have marked as child-safe may fill the ad slots;
  • all the rules above still apply, and reviewers judge an ad with a young audience in mind.

This follows COPPA in the United States, GDPR article 8 in the EU and the UK Age Appropriate Design Code.

6. Review and enforcement

  • Review before anything runs. Every campaign and every creative is reviewed by a person before it is shown.
  • Review again after a change. Changing a creative or a landing URL sends it back to review. Until it is approved, the last approved version keeps running, or nothing if there is none.
  • Automatic pause. A landing page that changes domain or gets flagged pauses its campaign straight away.
  • Rejection and removal. An ad that breaks this policy is rejected, or stopped if it is already running, with the reason.
  • Account suspension. Repeated or deliberate breaches, or an attempt to get around review, lead to suspension of the advertiser account.

7. Report an ad

Saw an ad in a TV app that shouldn't be there? Email ads@sofads.com. Viewers, publishers and partners are all welcome. It helps if you tell us:

  • the app you were using, and the TV brand or platform;
  • roughly when you saw the ad;
  • what it showed: the advertiser, the offer, and a photo of the screen if you have one.

We look at every report, and we stop an ad as soon as we confirm it breaks this policy.

8. Frameworks we build on

This policy is our own text. These public standards and laws shaped it:

  1. IAB Tech Lab Content Taxonomy: The category codes we block for partner demand (the same codes partners receive as bcat).
  2. Coalition for Better Ads: Better Ads Standards: Which ad experiences people find misleading or intrusive.
  3. W3C WCAG 2.2, success criterion 2.3.1: Three Flashes or Below Threshold: No content that flashes more than three times in any one second.
  4. ITU-R BT.1702: Guidance for the reduction of photosensitive epileptic seizures caused by television: Flashing and regular patterns on a television screen.
  5. EBU R 128: Loudness normalisation and permitted maximum level of audio signals: What "normal loudness" means for an ad next to program audio.
  6. FTC: Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA): No personal data from children for advertising in the United States.
  7. GDPR (Regulation (EU) 2016/679), article 8: conditions for a child's consent: Consent rules for children in the EU.
  8. ICO: Age Appropriate Design Code (the Children's code): Profiling and data minimization for services children are likely to use in the UK.

Questions about this policy: hello@sofads.com. Publishers can read how it fits their agreement in the publisher terms.