If you’ve watched India’s Got Latent Season 2, chances are you remember more than just the jokes. You probably remember AI+ Nova Smartphone, Flipkart Minutes or Avvatar too—not because they interrupted the show with commercials, but because they became part of the humour itself. The same is true of Zakir Khan’s Papa Yaar India tour, where SNITCH and Grameen Kulfi didn’t just sponsor the experience; they fit naturally into a world built on nostalgia, relationships and everyday stories.
It’s a subtle shift, but one that’s changing how brands think about advertising. Instead of competing for attention before, during or after the content, they’re increasingly finding ways to become part of the entertainment itself. From comedy shows and podcasts to creator-led YouTube formats, the line between content and marketing is beginning to blur. As audiences spend more time with creators than conventional media, marketers are beginning to realise that relevance often comes from participating in culture rather than shouting above it.
“Because attention today isn’t given, it’s earned,” says Masuma Siddique, Founder & Chief Strategist at InkCraft Communications. “Traditional ads interrupt what someone’s watching; entertainment-led integrations become part of what they’re watching. There’s already trust built into that environment, and the brand borrows a bit of it.”
“Content consumption today has become incredibly seamless and instinctive. Audiences are conditioned to engage with formats they enjoy—funny reels, sketches, stand-up clips, creator series and entertainment-led videos. Anything that feels like an interruption to that experience is often met with an immediate scroll, and more often than not, that includes traditional ads and overtly branded content,” says Aakash Goplani, Vice President - Business, SoCheers. “The objective is no longer to interrupt attention, but to participate in it naturally.”
That philosophy is increasingly shaping how brands allocate media budgets. Rather than investing solely in traditional television spots or digital display advertising, marketers are directing their spending towards creator-led intellectual properties, stand-up tours, podcasts and long-form YouTube formats where audiences are deeply engaged.
When brands become part of the story
For AI+ Smartphone, whose AI+ Nova Smartphone featured as the Powered-By Sponsor on India’s Got Latent, the opportunity extended far beyond brand visibility.
“People today are not just consuming content; they are participating in it, discussing it and sharing it,” says Archi Gogoi, Head of Brand, Marketing and Growth at AI+ Smartphone. “Instead of expecting audiences to engage with traditional brand messaging, we believe brands should become part of the stories, conversations and moments people genuinely care about. When that happens, the brand feels less like an advertiser and more like a participant in culture.”
The thought is similar at Grameen Kulfi, which partnered with Zakir Khan’s Papa Yaar India tour as the Co-Powered Sponsor. Rather than chasing reach alone, the dessert brand sought an emotional fit with Zakir Khan’s storytelling.
“At Grameen Kulfi, entertainment-first marketing is less about visibility and more about cultural relevance,” says Jeetendra Bhandari, Founder & CEO of Walko Foods. “His storytelling and our brand both celebrate warmth, familiarity and nostalgia, making it a natural way for us to connect with consumers.”
Authenticity over reach
As more brands enter creator-led entertainment, marketers agree that choosing the right creator has become more important than simply choosing the biggest audience. The success of these partnerships depends less on follower counts and more on whether the brand naturally fits into the creator’s world.
“The strongest collaborations start with the creator’s world, not the brand brief,” says Gayatri Sethi Jain, Founder of CtrlA India. She points to Avvatar’s integration with Rise and Fall, where an existing relationship between fitness creator Varun Yadav and contestant Aarush Bhola made the partnership feel like an organic extension of the story instead of a conventional sponsorship.
For regional OTT platform AAO NXT, entertainment-first isn’t simply a campaign strategy—it’s the foundation of the business.
“We don’t start with ‘how do we advertise this platform’; we start with ‘what story can we tell that people will actually stop scrolling for,’” says Kaushik Das, Founder & CEO of AAO NXT. He adds that trust matters far more than follower counts. “The first thing I look at is whether the creator has actually earned trust with their audience, not just built numbers.”
Akshaara Lalwani, Founder & CEO of Communicate India, echoes that view. “The most common mistake brands make is chasing a creator’s numbers rather than their narrative.”
The consensus extends to agencies working closely with brands on creator partnerships. For Viren Vesuwala, Lead – PR, Communications and Strategic Partnerships at White Rivers Media, the key lies in giving creators enough room to stay authentic. “Brands must give creators the freedom to communicate in their own voice. Audiences identify forced integrations quickly, while authentic partnerships drive higher credibility.”
Beyond impressions
Entertainment-first marketing is also changing how success is measured. While impressions and reach remain useful indicators, marketers are increasingly looking at engagement quality, sentiment, search behaviour and business outcomes to understand whether an integration has genuinely resonated. “Reach tells you who saw it. It doesn’t tell you who cared,” adds Siddique.
At Viral Pitch, Founder & CEO Sumit Gupta says marketers are now looking beyond traditional visibility metrics to understand whether entertainment-led collaborations are driving meaningful business outcomes. “Reach is table stakes, not the finish line. Marketers today are learning to track deeper engagement and behavioural signals such as watch time, audience retention, saves and shares, along with search uplift, website traffic and conversions. The industry has moved from asking ‘Were we seen?’ to ‘Did this move the needle?’”
Goplani says the real measure of an entertainment-led collaboration lies in what audiences do after seeing it. “Beyond reach and impressions, one of the strongest indicators of success is intent. Did the collaboration make people curious enough to actively seek out the brand afterwards? A spike in Google searches, website visits, app installs, or even Instagram profile visits often tells a much stronger story than view counts alone.”
For Vineet Recriwal, Founder & CEO of The Native, long-term brand recall is emerging as one of the strongest indicators of success. “We increasingly look at recall in unprompted brand surveys months later,” he says. “That’s where entertainment-led integrations tend to outperform straight media spends because the association sticks.”
