Advertising industry regulator ASCI to set up task force for monitoring OTT ads

New Delhi: Advertising industry regulator ASCI is setting up a task force to monitor and regulate advertising on over-the-top (OTT) streaming platforms, at a time when OTT platforms such as Amazon and Netflix are exploring advertising revenue options to move beyond subscription-only models, while others such as Zee5, Disney+Hotstar, Sony Liv and Voot, which are already large platforms for advertising, continue to increase their user bases.

“Advertising on OTT was not part of ASCI guidelines earlier; we are now working with the ministry of information & broadcasting to form guidelines and processes, which will monitor advertising on these platforms,” ASCI chairman Subhash Kamath said.

While Amazon is planning advertising-funded video-on-demand for Prime Video, OTT giants Amazon and Netflix are both exploring advertising revenue options in India to move beyond subscription-only models and have been in talks with large advertisers for the same, two people directly aware of the developments said.