Micro-Drama Platforms Prioritize Privacy in New Advertising Era
Micro-drama platforms across India are actively moving away from behavioral targeting. They are now embracing consent-led, contextual advertising models. This significant shift comes as a direct response to the Digital Personal Data Protection Act of 2023. Platforms must balance safety protocols with their famously rapid content release cycles.
Consent and Context Replace Surveillance
The DPDP Act formally establishes rules for collecting, using, and processing digital personal data. Its core aim is protecting individual privacy. For the micro-drama industry, this means a fundamental change in how advertising works.
"The DPDP Act has essentially formalized what our audience already expects from us," said Anshita Kulshrestha, founder of TukTuki Entertainments. "Advertising is now built around consent and context, not surveillance-style targeting."
Her platform, like many others, now focuses on brand partnerships through story integrations and sponsorships. These methods use anonymized insights rather than hyper-personalized ads stitched from third-party data.
Navigating Compliance and Content Challenges
These young platforms face unique hurdles under the new law and existing IT rules. Key challenges include implementing robust age-gating, clear content classification, effective parental controls, and moderating mature themes within short-form narratives.
To address these, platforms are deploying several strategies:
- Age verification during user onboarding
- Episode-level content descriptors
- PIN-based parental control tools
- Continuous content monitoring systems
Arzu Chimni, a managing associate at Obhan & Associates, notes that many platforms are still building basic compliance layers. "A notable shift is 'compliance by design'," she explained. "Creators receive upfront guardrails on themes and visuals to reduce regulatory risk later."
The Business Impact and Brand Response
This transition affects how advertising agreements are structured. Hardeep Sachdeva, senior partner at AZB & Partners, calls this an inflection point for the industry. "The DPDP Act has introduced sharper obligations around consent and data use," he stated.
Brands are adapting. Conversations with marketers are evolving. The focus is shifting from granular targeting to guaranteeing a brand-safe, consented environment. Neha Markanda, chief business officer at ShareChat and Moj, confirms this trend.
"Advertising agreements are evolving to capture the nuances of this format," Markanda said. "Contracts increasingly focus on contextual relevance, which has led brands to lean into the format rather than resist it."
An example is the micro-drama Pookie by Terribly Tiny Tales. Released in September and powered by Maybelline New York, it integrates products naturally into the storyline. Jessica Rode, General Manager of Maybelline New York India, said the format helped establish a real connection with young audiences.
Costs, Trust, and the Road Ahead
Compliance introduces new costs. Pratap Jain, founder of ChanaJor, points out fixed operating costs for consent management and grievance redressal. These often come before monetization scales.
However, industry leaders see this as a necessary investment. Shubh Bansal, founder of ReelSaga, views it positively. "Compliant platforms tend to attract greater brand trust and higher-quality advertisers," he said. "It's an investment to future-proof the platform and build trust."
The ministry of electronics and information technology notified the DPDP rules in November. It also established a four-member data protection board, bringing the Act into full effect.
Micro-dramas have gained impressive traction in India. Media consulting agency Ormax reports 73.2 million viewers in less than a year. Rural India accounts for 55% of this audience. The format leans heavily on advertising video-on-demand, with 75% of viewers coming from AVoD segments.
As platforms integrate robust data processing and consent clauses into their operations, the industry is charting a new course. The priority is clear: protect user privacy while delivering engaging, short-form content to a rapidly growing audience.
