CopyCentral General FAQs

What is a clock number?

A clock number is a completely unique identification number. The agency or advertiser are responsible for creating the clock number. We only allocate the 3-letter agency code to you at the time of registering. You can find your agency code in your Welcome to Clearcast email or under the ‘Admin’ tab in CopyCentral with your account details.

Because a clock number is unique, it can't be reused, and the video can't be changed once it's clocked. This is why we always recommend sending us the rough-cut of an ad before you submit the clocked version. If we advise you to make amendments or changes to the ad, it will have to be ‘reclocked,’ and you'll have to use a new clock number for the updated version.

CopyCentral checks the format of a clock number when you enter it and will not let you submit with an invalid format. If you don’t understand why CopyCentral isn’t accepting a clock number, please contact us. It may be that your agency has already used that clock number in the past, or the format is incorrect. 

Please note: On The Library, once your clocked ad is submitted and has passed through the full QC process, that therefore attaches the clock number to the video and then can't be changed. Once an ad has passed through QC on The Library, it can't be changed, even if it's not yet with the ingest team or your exec. 

How do I get a clock number?

It's up to your agency how you organise the middle section of the clock number, but your agency code (the first section) has already been allocated to you by Clearcast, and the time code (the final section) is decided by the duration of your ad. 

For short-form (ads under five minutes long) submissions, the format is (where AAA is your agency code):

AAA/BBBB123/456

The first three letters of the clock number must be your agency code. This will be created and sent to you by Clearcast after registering with us, even if you had a different one under the old Adway system.

The middle section of the clock number is made up of four letters followed by three numbers. This section is created by you. The four letters must be something relevant to either the agency, client, or product. For the three numbers use ‘001’ for your first ad submitted to us, ‘002’ for your next one, etc. (You can use your own number system for this part, but most agencies try to keep it chronological for the sake of their own filing!)

The last 3 digits should be the duration of the ad, so for example a 30-sec ad will be ‘030’ and a 5-sec ad will be ‘005.’

For long-form (most teleshopping ads or ads longer than five minutes) submissions the format is:

AAA/BBBB12/3456

The first three letters of the clock number must be your Agency Code. This will be created and sent to you by Clearcast after registering with us (you can only use these)

The middle section of the clock number is made up of four letters followed by two numbers. This section is created by you. The four letters must be something relevant to either the agency, client, or product. For the two numbers use ‘01’ for your first ad submitted to us, ‘02’ for your next one, etc. If preferred you can use your own internal numbering, please ensure it's two digits. 

The last 4 digits should be the duration of the ad, so for example, a 30-minute ad will be ‘1800’.

The clock number should clearly be displayed on your slate on the final version of your ad. If your clock slate does not match the submission metadata you've provided, it will fail the Slate QC on The Library and/or be failed by the ingest team if submitted through CopyCentral. 

Who creates clock numbers?

Agencies or advertisers are responsible for making up the clock number, but we allocate the agency code in the clock number and the final three or four digits are numbers. 

Why won't CopyCentral let me use my usual clock number prefix?

On CopyCentral, every agency has their own unique clock number. If you used a different agency code for Adway (back in the day) or through a different clearing system, that might be taken by a different agency on CopyCentral. Please use the agency code on your ‘Admin’ tab or as created for you by the Clearcast operations team.

I don’t have an account for CopyCentral, what should I do?

If your company has used Clearcast for clearance in the past, then your company should already have an account registered. If you’re not sure, call or email us and we can double-check. Every company has one or more super-users who are responsible for creating accounts for staff that need access to CopyCentral and removing accounts of staff members when they leave.

If your company hasn’t used Clearcast for copy clearance ever before, your company will need to be registered. Clearcast has a dedicated team for those companies who are new to TV Advertising and have a process for registering companies on CopyCentral. Please click here to register.

I have a CopyCentral submission, but why can't I upload a new script version?

CopyCentral will prevent you from uploading a new script version to your submission whilst it's 'With Clearcast'. A lot of work goes into processing a script submission and providing feedback. You should wait for your Clearcast contact to finish reviewing your submission and providing feedback which you can then incorporate, before submitting a new version. If this is an urgent change then please speak to your Clearcast contact directly.

I have clicked on 'forgotten password' and entered my email address but I haven’t received an email, what should I do?

Check with one of your company’s super users to ensure you have an account (and check with us if you're not sure who your company super users are.) If you have an account and you're still not receiving emails, it's likely emails from CopyCentral are being blocked by your spam filter.

I am not receiving automated emails from CopyCentral, what should I do?

All emails from CopyCentral are sent from no_reply@copycentral.co.uk. The first thing is to check with your IT department. Emails from CopyCentral may be ending up in your junk mail folder or are being blocked by your company’s mail server. Please ask your IT department to ensure that the @CopyCentral.co.uk email address is whitelisted. If you still are still running into problems, then raise a ticket with our helpdesk and we can see how we can help.

I am submitting on behalf of a client, but CopyCentral will only let me use my agency’s clock number prefix and not theirs, what should I do as my client doesn’t want to re-slate their ads?

In CopyCentral an agency can only use their clock number prefix when creating submissions. However, CopyCentral does allow an agency to create submissions on behalf of another agency as a trafficking team. A superuser at the main agency can add users as a trafficking team, which you would be in this instance, and then the trafficking team can use the main agency’s prefix when uploading on their behalf. If you have any questions about setting up trafficking teams on CopyCentral, please contact helpdesk@clearcast.co.uk.

I have multiple edits that only differ by end frame/pack shot or telephone number/website address, do I need to upload a video to every submission?

If you have multiple edits that need each clearing, but they have only one or two differences that will not impact their likelihood of being cleared, you can set up a Parent (the original ad) and its Children (the variations on that ad). On CopyCentral, you don’t have to upload each video – just the Parent. 

However, please be aware that on The Library, you'll have to upload each video. More information on Parent and Child Campaigns can be found here.

On CopyCentral, you should create the first submission that will be your Parents. Add all information including the music and artist details and upload the video. Go back into the submission and on the ‘Details’ tab, select ‘New Copy’ from the Actions button. This will create a copy of the submission, and therefore eliminate the need to re-input all that information for each following Child.

In the TVC section, you can tick the ‘Record Information Without a File’ tick-box, where you'll then be able to provide the clock number of the original submission and submit the Child. Repeat for all following Children files.

You'll then need to let your Clearcast Executive or Operations Assistant, as they're the ones who, if possible, will be able to manually create the Parent and Child relationships and connect the files.

I need to enter a list of artists in the visual and/or voice-over artists fields. Do I have to enter this one by one?

From within the submission, you can enter these in the field one by one. However, if you have a list of these in a separate file or document, you can copy and paste this list straight into the field, as long as each artist is separated by a comma.

Previously I could get a video link code that I could send to my post-production house for them to upload the video.  I can't see this on the new system.  Do I have to add them as a user and they add the video onto my submission?

CopyCentral doesn’t support upload links for submissions. To allow a posthouse or trafficking team to upload on your behalf the best thing is for the posthouse to be a registered company with CopyCentral and they link them to your agency via the teams system on CopyCentral. You can then use team sharing to give your posthouse access to the submissions they need to upload for you. You would create a team on your CopyCentral, inviting the posthouse members necessary into that team, and then they can collaborate and upload on your behalf.

Do we get an email notification that a script/ad has been approved?

When a final action (Approved, Withdrawn, Rejected, etc) is applied to your submission, the user who created the submission will receive an email stating that the submission has had a final action applied.

Clicking the 'View Submission' link in the email will take you to the submission. The final action applied will be visible on the 'Final Actions' tab of the submission, along with any information about restrictions or timings.

Why don’t I get a final action document that I can forward to TV Stations?

CopyCentral does not give you a clearance certificate, as broadcasters do not need to receive the certificate from you – they'll have access to this information themselves. If a broadcaster asks for the clearance certificate, it may be that they're not on our list of channels that we clear for, which you can find here.

If a broadcaster is not on this list, then they'll not have an agreement with Clearcast for our services. Sharing the clearance status (approved or not and any scheduling restrictions) is in breach of our T&Cs (a copy is accessible from your profile in CopyCentral and you'll have agreed to this when accessing the system for the first time). 

Anyone in breach of our T&Cs may lose their access to CopyCentral.

When are email notifications sent?

CopyCentral sends email notifications to the submission owner (the person who originally created the submission) at various points through the workflow which are: