iWorld
OTTs give much needed fillip to stand-up comedy
MUMBAI: Even as recently as a decade ago, making a decision to become a full-time stand-up comedian in India was fraught with uncertainty. Today, however, the business of being funny is taken seriously.
The genre is still just beginning to get popular in semi-urban and rural areas and the growth of over-the-top (OTT) platforms has given it a much-deserved boost. Offline stand-up shows have time, place and ticket constraints whereas the web takes away all these pains and enables access on a click.
Comedy as a genre is a hit in India in both movies and TV shows since the 1950s. The stand-up comedy era is a new one and is increasingly being banked upon Youtube, Facebook, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and ALTBalaji among other digital platforms.
Women like Aditi Mittal, Mallika Dua, Radhika Vaz, Sumukhi Suresh, Kaneez Surka and Neeti Palta have proved that they can tickle your funny bone too. In mid-2017, TLC India launched an all-female stand-up comedy show to break the stereotype that women cannot be inherently funny.
Most comedians get a breakthrough from YouTube and Facebook where anyone can upload their content. These platforms are open for beginners as well as professionals and have helped transform amateurs into professionals. One of the most viewed and subscribed channels on YouTube in India is ‘BB Ki Vines’ that belongs to comedian Bhuvan Bam, who started his career as a YouTuber and is a celebrity now.
Amazon Prime India continues to bet heavily on comedy for its original content in India. After the streaming service released a slew of stand-up specials last year, betting high on faces like Kanan Gill, Biswa Kalyan Rath, Kenny Sebastian and others, it has released a new special with 23 acts from 16 March. The new show features Indian artists like Kunal Rao, Sorabh Pant, Zakir Khan and Sumukhi Suresh, among others, as well as sketch shows like The Improvisers, Put Chutney and Sketchy Behaviour featuring well-known comedians from all over the country.
Since its entry, Netflix has delivered a high-profile comedy special every week. Aditi Mittal is the first Indian female comedian who made her debut on Netflix with Things They Wouldn’t Let Me Say. On the international front, Netflix has Indian-origin comedians like Vir Das, Hansal Minhaz and Brahman Naman to convert the chuckles into belly laugh.
Looking at the Indian platforms, ALTBalaji has been at the forefront of regional language stand-up shows which has tremendous scope as cultural nuances in India are far and wide. ALTBalaji is the only platform to launch regional stand-up comedy videos in Marathi, Punjabi, Gujarati, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu languages. It focuses more on the last two languages for now because of their presence in India and abroad. In all, it has short, snacky and hilarious videos with 65 episodes and five hours 30 minutes of content featuring famous comic artists like Bharat Ganeshpure, Sagar Karande, Anirudh Madesia, Suresh Albela, Pratap Faujdar, Amit Khuva, Dharsi Baredia, Shanti Kumar, Shaik Baba Sharifuddin, Baggy, Manoj and Mervyn.
ALTBalaji CMO Manav Sethi says that the platform saw viewership rise by 10-15 per cent after adding these comedy bits into its content lineup. He further added, “We have seen significant double-digit growth in this genre especially in 18-40 age segment from top 30 cities. We have seen new consumers coming to our platform because of our comedy content.”
ALTBalaji COO Sunil Nair believes, “Users on ALTBalaji consume snacky content during commute time and we see a jump in consumption of stand-up acts during these time periods.” Sethi adds that by adding comedy content from various languages, each with its own flavours, they have been able to hit the sweet spot.
Earlier, comedy was driven by broadcaster demands who would decide on the content and even own the intellectual property. But OTT platforms are willing to experiment with unconventional content.
By far, stand-up comedy is emerging as a high growth genre for web audiences. Until a few years ago, career and stand-up comedy in a sentence together would only come up as an example of an oxymoron. But gladly times have changed and people have become more audacious, informed, and most importantly accepting and online platforms have been quick to realise the hidden potential in it.
Also Read :
Localised content the way forward for Netflix in India
2017: The year OTTs went regional in India
Regional OTT content more than just catch-up TV
Indians among top commute streamers for Netflix
Gaming
India’s new online gaming rules take effect today, banning money games and creating a regulator
The rules, in force from today, separate e-sports from gambling and impose jail terms and stiff fines on violators
NEW DELHI: India’s online gaming sector woke up this morning to a new reality. The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Rules, 2026, came into force today, May 1st, turning a year of legislative intent into enforceable law. The message from New Delhi is blunt: e-sports and social games are welcome; online money games are not.
The rules operationalise the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming (PROG) Act, passed by Parliament in August 2025. Together, they represent the most sweeping regulatory intervention India has made in its booming digital gaming market, one that generated Rs 23,200 crore in 2024 and is projected to grow at a compound annual rate of 11 per cent to reach Rs 31,600 crore by 2027. The stakes, in every sense, could not be higher.
A sector out of control
The urgency behind the legislation is not hard to find. An estimated 45 crore Indians have been affected by online money gaming platforms, with losses exceeding Rs 20,000 crore. Addiction, financial ruin, money laundering, and suicides have all been linked to the sector. Seventy-seven per cent of the market’s revenues came from transaction-based games, a figure that made regulators deeply uneasy.
The government’s response, effective as of today, is categorical. Online money games, whether based on chance, skill, or any mix of the two, are banned outright. So is their advertising, promotion, and facilitation. Banks and payment processors are barred from handling related transactions. Unlawful platforms can be blocked under the Information
Technology Act, 2000.
The penalties are designed to sting. Offering or facilitating online money games can attract up to three years in jail and a fine of up to Rs 1 crore, or both. Repeat offenders face a minimum of three years, extendable to five, with fines between Rs 1 crore and Rs 2 crore. Advertising such games carries up to two years in prison and fines of up to Rs 50 lakh, with repeat violations attracting higher penalties still. Cyber cell officers at state and union territory levels, including at police station, district, and commissionerate levels, are empowered to investigate offences.
The new sheriff in town
At the centre of the new framework sits the Online Gaming Authority of India, a digital-first regulator constituted as an attached office of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, headquartered in Delhi. It is chaired by the additional secretary of MeitY and includes joint secretary-level representation from home affairs, finance, information and broadcasting, youth affairs and sports, and law and justice, a deliberately multi-sectoral design built for a complex sector.
The authority’s powers are broad. It will maintain and publish lists of online money games, investigate complaints, issue directions, orders, and codes of practice, hear appeals on user grievances, and coordinate with financial institutions and law enforcement to ensure effective and timely action.
Its decisions on game classification are to be completed within 90 days, a time-bound commitment that industry players have welcomed after years of regulatory ambiguity. Classification can be triggered by the authority acting on its own initiative, by an application from a service provider, or by a notification from the central government. Games will be assessed on objective factors: whether stakes are involved, whether players expect monetary winnings, the revenue model, and whether in-game assets can be monetised outside the game. The outcome is recorded in a determination order specific to the game and provider.
E-sports gets its moment
While the crackdown on money gaming dominates today’s headlines, the rules also carve out a structured path for e-sports and online social games. Registration, required when notified by the central government, applies to all games offered as e-sports and is based on factors including risk to users, scale, financial transactions, and country of origin. A successful application yields a digital certificate of registration with a unique number, valid for up to ten years. Service providers must display registration details, designate a point of contact, comply with data retention requirements, and follow directions on facilitating payments.
Online money games are explicitly ineligible for recognition or registration as e-sports under the National Sports Governance Act, 2025. The separation is deliberate, and the industry has noticed.
Akshat Rathee, co-founder and managing director of NODWIN Gaming, called today’s operationalisation “encouraging,” pointing to publisher-led registration of esports titles and a time-bound determination process as creating “much-needed certainty for all stakeholders.” He added that the “continued emphasis on clearly separating esports from online money gaming is critical in preserving the integrity of competitive gaming as a skill-driven discipline.” He described it as “a proud moment to see official acknowledgement of the broader benefits of responsible esports and gaming, from building confidence, discipline, and teamwork to creating new career pathways for young talent,” and said the framework sets “a strong foundation for the ecosystem to scale in a more structured and globally competitive manner.”
Animesh Agarwal, co-founder and chief executive of S8UL, was equally bullish. “This clarity is critical in unlocking investor confidence and attracting multi-genre brands, while also enabling organisations to take a more long-term view, whether in investing in talent, scaling teams, or building globally competitive formats,” he said, adding that it “strengthens trust among audiences and mainstream stakeholders, positioning esports not just as a sport, but as a fast-growing youth entertainment category in India.”
But Agarwal urged caution on several fronts. There remains limited clarity around financial frameworks, particularly in how esports earnings are treated by banks and financial institutions. A well-defined pathway for the formal recognition or registration of esports teams is still evolving, as are structured player protections. He also called for smoother visa processes for esports athletes competing in international tournaments and for government support in developing infrastructure, including bootcamps, training facilities, and access to high-performance equipment across titles.
Vishal Parekh, chief operating officer of CyberPowerPC India, pointed to downstream effects on education and careers. “With formal recognition and policy backing, colleges and institutions are more likely to take the sector seriously, whether through dedicated esports infrastructure, training programmes, or curriculum integration,” he said, adding that this helps students view gaming as a viable career spanning roles across competitive play, content, game development, and allied industries. He noted that as esports gains prominence in global multi-sport events, the framework strengthens India’s position in international competitive gaming, and called on the ecosystem to provide the right infrastructure and access to high-performance hardware to unlock opportunities in talent development and job creation.
Protecting users, one safeguard at a time
The rules introduce a layered system of user protections calibrated to the risk profile of each game. These include age verification, age gating, time restrictions, parental controls, user reporting tools, counselling support, and fair-play and integrity monitoring. Service providers must disclose their safety features and internal grievance mechanisms when applying for determination or registration.
A two-tier grievance redressal system sits atop these safeguards. Users who are dissatisfied with a platform’s resolution can escalate to the authority within 30 days. The authority aims to dispose of such appeals within a further 30 days. A second appeal lies before the secretary of MeitY, who must also endeavour to resolve matters within 30 days. Enforcement proceedings will be conducted in digital mode wherever possible, with cases targeted for resolution within 90 days from receipt of a complaint.
Penalties under the framework are proportionate, taking into account gain from non-compliance, loss to users, the gravity of the offence, and whether violations are recurring. Mitigation efforts by service providers will also be considered when determining penalties. All penalties imposed under the Act will be credited to the Consolidated Fund of India.
The money follows the rules
For investors and founders, the implications are immediate and significant. Sagar Nair, head of incubation at LVL Zero Incubator, a 100-day sprint designed to accelerate early-stage gaming startups across India, argues that with real-money gaming now prohibited, capital will shift “away from transaction-driven models toward content-led, IP-driven, and global-first gaming businesses.” He acknowledged trade-offs: for operators with exposure to real-money formats, the market becomes more restrictive in the near term. But he argued that by clearly separating esports and non-money gaming from online money gaming, “India is positioning itself as a hub for responsible, creative, and scalable game development.” The opportunity, he said, is “to view India not just as a monetisation-first market, but as a talent, IP, and scale market,” adding that “for founders and investors willing to adapt, this shift could ultimately strengthen India’s position in the global gaming landscape.”
The government frames the wider impact in equally ambitious terms: a boost to India’s creative economy and digital exports, new career pathways for young people, protection for families from predatory platforms, and a stronger voice in global digital governance. India, it argues, offers a model for other countries grappling with the same tensions between gaming’s economic promise and its social risks, one that shows innovation and strong safeguards need not be mutually exclusive.
Whether the framework delivers on those promises will depend on enforcement, always the hardest part. But from today, the architecture is firmly in place: a regulator with teeth, a classification system with deadlines, penalties designed to deter, and a clear dividing line between games that build careers and games that destroy finances. For a sector that has grown fast and governed itself loosely, May 1st, 2026 is the day the free ride ends.
