Tobacco Imagery in Movies and Web Series Streaming in India and Their Compliance With the Recent Anti-tobacco Rules for Over-the-Top (OTT) Platforms.

Introduction: Internet access, smartphones, and televisions have significantly boosted over-the-top (OTT) movies and web series viewing in India, especially among youths. Despite restrictions, OTT platforms continue to promote tobacco products. India has recently enforced the revised OTT Rules 2023 effective September 1, 2023, to counter tobacco promotion in OTT shows. This study explores compliance with the OTT Rules 2023 in popular movies and web series on select OTT platforms in India.

Methods: About 29 movies and 31 web series from seven popular OTT platforms as of September 26, 2023, were analyzed in this study. The incidence of tobacco imagery and compliance with the OTT Rules 2023 were assessed using a standardized format with the help of seven trained coders. Descriptive statistics were used to describe instances of tobacco imagery and violations of the provisions of Indian law.

Results: The average incidence of tobacco imagery per included show was 3.95. None of the movies and web series fully complied with the provisions of health spots and audio-visual warnings. Only 35.7% of the shows (movies: 57.1%, web series: 14.3%) fully complied with the anti-tobacco static message provisions. The foreign-origin movies had zero compliance with static messages, though they had fewer tobacco images. Half of the shows for children up to 12 years old had tobacco imagery but fully complied with the static warning message provisions.

Conclusion: The portrayal of tobacco imagery in OTT shows is prevalent, and their poor compliance with the OTT Rules 2023 is a concern. Therefore, monitoring and stricter enforcement of the OTT Rules should be given priority to protect viewers from tobacco promotion in OTT shows.