Death by a Thousand Slices, Part 2: No cake for you!

2026-09-16 · Dave Glasson [CEO, allt.tv]

Last time, I looked at viewers slicing away at broadcast revenue from both ends: hating ads, hating gambling spots, but still expecting top-tier live sport for free.

This time, the knife is coming for more.

The UK’s junk food ad restrictions set a strict precedent: no products high in fat, salt, or sugar (HFSS) on TV before 9:00 PM, plus a blanket digital ban. The EU has circled similar measures for years. Locally, a Cancer Council-led coalition brought that exact pitch to Australian MPs at a Preventive Health Roundtable: pull unhealthy food marketing out of children’s sight across broadcast, social, and gaming.

It is a completely fair point. No one is arguing against parents who want fewer fast-food mascots interrupting Saturday morning cartoons.

And yet.

Right as I’m typing this, a Macca’s ad flashes across my screen promoting a “free food for life” gold card. I had no idea it existed until it aired, BUT I WANT ONE! That aside, because I’ve spent my career in broadcast, I know exactly what that spot represents: top-of-funnel, big-budget brand spend. That capital underwrites the free-to-air news and sport everyone expects to remain cost-free.

Strip those ads out entirely and the cost doesn’t disappear; it just migrates onto a household subscription invoice.

Parents want clean feeds for their kids. I want my shot at free fries. As the classic Old El Paso girl asked twenty years ago: ¿Por qué no los dos?

Why not both?

Give parents the switch. Let viewers toggle sensitive ad categories off when the kids are in the room, and back on when they aren’t. It is the exact same permission-based, audience-aware layer that solves the gambling ad squeeze.

Broadcasters don’t need to panic about evaporating inventory. If a fast-food ad can’t run during a family co-viewing slot, dynamic delivery serves a family-friendly retail campaign instead. The ad break remains the same length and retains its value, arguably gaining value, because the audience profile is verified rather than guessed.

Every new restriction doesn’t have to shrink the market. Framed correctly, it creates verified context that advertisers will gladly pay a premium to access.
That is the core thesis behind what we’re building at allt: giving broadcasters a direct, consent-driven connection to the actual person on the couch.

Knowing your audience, transparently and without being creepy, solves far more than just gambling compliance.

More slices to come.