India's online gaming ecosystem is growing rapidly, covering skill-based formats such as fantasy sports and rummy. It has increasingly adopted programmatic advertising, powered by ad agencies that maintain repositories of pre-approved creatives (banners, videos, taglines, etc.), which algorithms use to automatically choose and display the most effective ads.
These repositories enable algorithms to dynamically deliver the most relevant ads based on user profiles and real-time bidding.
However, this automated system also brings heightened regulatory responsibilities for advertisers, intermediaries, and ad-tech providers; concerning brand safety, which focuses on preventing ads from appearing next to harmful or inappropriate content.
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With programmatic ads served across thousands of websites and apps, tools like blacklists, whitelists, and contextual filters demonstrate due diligence, a legal necessity under Indian regulations.
Regulatory and Legal Framework for Gaming Advertisements in India
In this context, several key laws and guidelines govern gaming advertisements in India:
- Consumer Protection Act, 2019 – prohibits misleading advertisements and ensures consumer rights.
- Guidelines on Misleading Advertisements (2022) – holds advertisers and endorsers strictly liable, even for algorithm-driven placements.
- IT Rules – impose content moderation and intermediary responsibilities.
- ASCI standards – prohibit claims that overstate winnings, depict gaming as livelihood, or target minors; mandate health disclaimers such as "This game involves financial risk and may be addictive".
Advertisers and endorsers are now strictly liable, even when algorithms select the placement or creative. Issues like trademark misuse, defamation, and privacy also arise when ads appear near objectionable third-party content.
Mandatory Disclaimers and Content Restrictions
All gaming ads, including those deployed automatically from ad banks, must avoid misleading claims, overstatement of winnings, depiction as a source of livelihood, or content appealing to minors. Mandated health disclaimers (e.g., "This game involves financial risk and may be addictive") are required, and failure to comply could result in takedowns, penalties, or escalations.
Conclusion
In the online gaming space, brand safety and sustainability in adaptive advertising campaigns have moved beyond best practices to become legal and strategic imperatives. Regulators now expect gaming advertisers and intermediaries to embed compliance at every stage, from creative development and ad-bank vetting to programmatic deployment and contextual placement.
As gaming platforms continue to leverage automation and scale through programmatic systems, well-structured compliance and brand-safety mechanisms are becoming essential components of sustainable ad operations.
Co-authored by Hanshika Tiwari, Intern
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