TV ads will now fall under the Advertising Standards Authority's remit

The ASA has created a single body for all ad complaints. It says it will make it easier for members of the public to raise objections about advertisements.

Previously, complaints about screen advertising went to the Independent Television Commission, and then Ofcom.

The ASA now expects to field 24,000 complaints in the next year.

"More than 5,500 people have approached the ASA already this year wanting to object to a TV or radio commercial," the group's director general Christopher Graham said.

"Up until now we've had to turn them away," he said.

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It said it had directed people to the Independent Television Commission (ITC), and then to the new media watchdog Ofcom, which took over the ITC's responsibility earlier this year.

The ASA is to increase its staff from 76 to 106 to handle the increased workload. Its budget will rise from �4m to �7m a year as it will receive money from screen advertising levies.

The ASA received nearly 8,300 complaints about advertisements in newspapers, magazines and other outlets this year up to August. More than 1,400 ads have been changed or withdrawn because of their rulings.

Ofcom received 6,147 complaints in the same period.