Why brands are betting on stand-up comedians

It all started with the whispers and then the leaked rate cards. As India’s Got Latent Season 2 made its much-anticipated return in 2026, industry chatter exploded around multi-crore brand deals. Sources circulated figures that raised eyebrows! Samay Raina, the show’s driving force, was already commanding headlines for branded Instagram Reel. Suddenly, stand-up comedians weren’t just entertainers, they were the hottest property in Indian marketing.

As India's Got Latent returned for its much-anticipated second season in 2026, industry conversations were dominated by reports of multi-crore brand deals and leaked rate cards. With Samay Raina already making headlines for his branded collaborations and the show's reported 11-member legal team underscoring brands’ focus on safety, e4m reached out to marketers that have partnered with leading comedians, including Raina. What emerged was a more nuanced picture than the headline-grabbing numbers suggested. Far from mindless spending on virality, these marketers are making calculated bets on culture, trust, and measurable outcomes.

Nobody’s watching ads anymore

For marketers, the biggest appeal of comedians isn't simply that they command attention, but that they make brands feel like part of culture instead of advertising. Chetan Siyal, Chief Marketing Officer and founding team member of Snitch, summed up the impact of working with Samay Raina in one line: "Samay has definitely made Snitch look cooler than most billboards could."

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Explaining why comedy works, Siyal said, “I think the big shift is trust. Audiences today can smell advertising from a distance. Comedians, meme creators and culturally relevant entertainers don’t just ‘promote’ a brand, they place it inside a conversation people are already enjoying. That makes the brand feel less like an interruption and more like a part of culture."

For Bold Care, the shift is equally rooted in changing consumer attention. Rajat Jadhav, Co-founder & CEO, said, “Consumers today spend more time with creators than they do with traditional advertising, making creators an increasingly important source of attention and influence.”

Tanisha Jatia, Brand Leader & Founder of Urban Jungle, was even more direct: “Nobody’s watching ads anymore, that’s just the truth, and brands that haven’t accepted it yet are wasting money.”

Echoing the sentiment, Revant Bhate and Dhyanesh Shah, Co-founders of Man Matters, added, “At Man Matters, we don’t see comedians as replacing traditional advertising; we see them as a more natural way to enter conversations men usually avoid, hair loss, confidence, wellness, and self-care.”

A million views won’t build brands

Every brand stressed that virality alone has become an outdated success metric. Siyal explained, “On metrics, we don’t look at views alone. Views are hygiene now. What matters more is watch time, saves, shares, comments with intent, profile visits, search lift, direct traffic, new customer acquisition, repeat traffic, and most importantly, whether the conversation moves beyond the post. When people start organically associating a creator with your brand, that is a very strong signal.”

Jadhav shared a similar framework: “We don't evaluate creator partnerships on views alone. We look at metrics across the entire funnel, including branded search, engagement quality, traffic, conversion rates, customer acquisition costs, and sales.”

Urban Jungle found one metric especially revealing. As Jatia put it, “While we saw the usual spike in brand impressions and engagement, the number that actually made us sit up was our Amazon brand search jumping. That’s the metric that matters, people typing your brand name into a search bar because they remembered you.”

Man Matters also looks well beyond impressions. Bhate and Shah said, “The value goes beyond views. We look at brand recall, search intent, website/app visits, consultation interest, and whether the content moves users from confusion to informed action.”

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Comedy-first content gets skipped less

The common thread across marketers was that audiences reward creators who entertain, not brands that interrupt. Siyal believes comedians succeed because, “fashion is no longer only about aspiration. It is also about personality. People want to wear brands that feel current, sharp, self-aware and relatable. Comedians bring exactly that energy. They have influence because they understand timing, language, and the internet better than most traditional formats.”

For Bold Care, that translates into stronger business outcomes. Jadhav said, “Our collaboration with Samay Raina reinforced that when a creator is genuinely aligned with the brand, the impact extends well beyond reach because the content feels like entertainment first and advertising second.”

Jatia framed it through consumer behaviour: “Comedy-first content works because it’s the only format that gets skipped less. You’re not interrupting someone’s scroll, you’re entertaining them, and the brand rides along for free.”

For Man Matters, comedy lowers barriers around difficult conversations. As Bhate and Shah noted, “Comedians bring something unique: cultural credibility. They understand everyday male anxieties and make the brand conversation feel less forced.”

Digital forcing brand to be interesting or die?

While marketing budgets have undoubtedly shifted online, brands argue that the real transformation is cultural. Siyal described it as “not just a shift from traditional to digital. It is a shift from advertising to cultural participation. Digital is the medium, but the real bet is on relevance. A comedian works when their audience, tone and cultural space match the brand. Otherwise, it is just another paid reel.”

Jadhav agreed that digital explains only part of the phenomenon. “It is a combination of both. Marketing budgets have undeniably shifted towards digital, but that's only part of the story.” He added, “Comedians, in particular, have become effective because humour is highly shareable and lowers the barrier for conversations around categories like sexual wellness.”

Jatia believes the industry has reached an inflection point: “So no, this isn’t ‘budgets moved to digital’, this is digital forcing every brand to actually be interesting or die.”

Read On: Creator economy gains ground as influencers increasingly command premium over celebs

Comedians aren't replacing traditional ads

None of the marketers viewed comedy collaborations as one-off stunts. Jatia cautioned, “Anyone chasing a single viral moment is playing the wrong game. Brand equity isn’t built in one reel, it’s built in the fifth, the tenth, the twentieth time someone sees you show up in a format they actually enjoy.”

Jadhav also warned against seeing comedians as a silver bullet. “That said, comedians aren't a replacement for traditional advertising. They are one part of a broader marketing mix. The real value comes when creator-led storytelling is backed by strong distribution and performance marketing that can scale measurable business outcomes.”

Man Matters follows a similar philosophy. Bhate and Shah said, “We don’t focus too much on headline deal sizes; for us, the emphasis is always on finding the right creative fit and ensuring the collaboration delivers meaningful impact for the brand.” They added, “Ultimately, the real question is not how viral the collaboration gets, but whether it builds long-term brand equity.”

The real win starts after the BUZZ!

Strip away the headlines around creator fees, and a different story emerges. Brands aren't chasing comedians because they're funny, they're chasing what they unlock. The punchline, it turns out, is only the hook; the real KPI begins after the audience laughs.

That perspective was perhaps best captured by one prime sponsor of India's Got Latent. Asked to confirm the widely circulated figures around its sponsorship, the executive simply chuckled and, speaking off the record, said, “We are also watching the assumptions unfold. The Internet is internetting.”

And perhaps that's the real takeaway. The internet will continue to obsess over pay cheques and price tags, but brands are focused on something far more valuable: relevance. Because in today's attention economy, the biggest win isn't just getting people to watch, it's getting them to remember!