Micro-drama platforms shift to consent-led ads under DPDP Act

While they are structuring brand partnerships around story integrations, sponsorships, and genre-based placements using anonymised insights, they are addressing key challenges—including age-gating, content classification, parental controls, and the moderation of mature themes in short-form narratives—through age verification at onboarding, episode-level content descriptors, parental control tools, and continuous content monitoring.

The ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) notified the rules and established a four-member data protection board in November, bringing the DPDP Act into effect more than two years after Parliament passed it in 2023.

Privacy first

The Act lays out rules for how organizations in the country can collect, use, store, and process digital personal data, with the aim of protecting individuals’ privacy.

“The DPDP Act has essentially formalized what our audience already expects from us: Advertising built around consent and context, not surveillance-style targeting," said Anshita Kulshrestha, founder of digital media company TukTuki Entertainments, which owns a micro-drama platform.

“As a privacy-first, family-friendly micro-drama platform, our brand partnerships are largely contextual and sponsorship-led, with brands owning a slate, show or moment rather than hyper-personalized ads stitched together from third-party data," she added.

Kulshrestha said conversations with marketers are shifting from “How granular can you target?" to “Can you guarantee a brand-safe, consented environment, and lift in recall with Bharat audiences?" as, in a two-minute vertical story, intrusive mid-rolls or aggressive retargeting do not work.

On obscenity and safety, TukTuki follows a conservative, “safe-by-default" editorial approach—stronger guidelines for creators, pre- and post-publication moderation for sensitive genres, and fast takedown pathways when content is flagged by users or regulators, she explained.

Micro-drama platforms are at an inflection point, said Hardeep Sachdeva, senior partner at corporate law firm AZB & Partners, adding that the DPDP Act has introduced sharper obligations around consent and data use, directly affecting how advertising agreements are structured.

“Brands are understandably cautious, but traction so far has been based on platforms demonstrating transparent data practices and offering creative formats that minimize compliance risks," he said.

The Act applies across platforms and industries, and micro-drama platforms are no exception, agreed Pooja Kapadia, partner at law firm Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas.

“To ensure a seamless viewing experience while maintaining compliance, micro-drama platforms will need to incorporate robust data processing, protection and consent clauses into their advertising agreements. While brands are increasingly adapting to privacy-centric frameworks, some transitional friction and additional compliance costs are anticipated," she said.

Neha Markanda, chief business officer of homegrown short-video platforms ShareChat and Moj, said the parent Mohalla Tech Pvt. Ltd has been proactively working to understand various aspects of the Act and align its data, measurement, terms of use and brand engagement frameworks accordingly.

“The fundamentals of advertising remain unchanged, as brands will continue to invest where they find sustained consumer attention, cultural relevance and measurable outcomes. Advertising agreements are also evolving to capture the nuances of this format. In addition to reach and frequency, contracts are increasingly focusing on aspects such as contextual relevance, which has led brands to lean into the format rather than resist it," Markanda added.

She said the company has also taken the lead in setting trust and safety benchmarks for the micro-drama format, with the rollout of PIN-based parental controls and advanced content ratings on its micro-drama app, QuickTV.

The new content format has established a meaningful footprint in the country, garnering 73.2 million viewers in less than a year, with rural India accounting for 55% viewers, according to media consulting agency Ormax.

Micro-dramas lean heavily on the free-video economy, with 75% of their viewers coming from AVoD (advertising video-on-demand) segments, closely mirroring the profile of the overall OTT (over-the-top) universe.

However, many platforms are increasingly looking to sponsorships and integrations that blend naturally into storytelling, enhancing authenticity and audience acceptance while offering a less intrusive way to reach audiences.

Pookie, a four-episode micro-drama by storytelling platform Terribly Tiny Tales released in September, is “powered" by Maybelline New York and its lipsticks are integrated into the show.

Jessica Rode, general manager of Maybelline New York India, said the show was the perfect opportunity to be part of a story that felt authentic to its consumers and relevant. “The emerging format of micro dramas really helped us engage with young audiences in a way that went beyond traditional campaigns and established a real connection between the brand and the audience," Rode said.

An added expense

Micro-drama platforms face unique challenges under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, as their content often blends entertainment with themes that sit close to age-sensitivity or decency thresholds.

Arzu Chimni, managing associate at law firm Obhan & Associates, said that unlike long-form OTT content platforms, many micro-drama platforms are still building basic compliance layers such as content classification, age-gating, parental controls, and grievance mechanisms.

“To manage this, platforms are increasingly introducing PIN-based locks, clear content labels and internal moderation guidelines. A notable shift is ‘compliance by design’, where creators are given upfront guardrails on themes and visuals to reduce downstream takedown or regulatory risk," she said.

Experts, meanwhile, emphasize that compliance adds to costs at a difficult stage in the monetization cycle. Pratap Jain, founder and chief executive of OTT platform ChanaJor, said compliance introduces fixed operating costs for consent management, moderation and grievance redressal, often before monetisation scales.

While this creates short-term pressure, early compliance builds trust, attracts premium advertisers, and reduces long-term regulatory risk.

“There is some added cost, especially around moderation, legal checks and building consent flows. But it’s not existential. On the contrary, compliant platforms tend to attract greater brand trust and higher-quality advertisers. At the end of the day, it’s an investment to future-proof the platform and build trust," said Shubh Bansal, founder of micro-drama platform ReelSaga.