Comedy creators pack a punch in GroupM's 'Top 100 digital stars of 2024'

Delhi-based fashion and lifestyle content creator, Nancy Tyagi, emerged as India's top influencer in the 'Top 100 Digital Stars of 2024' list released by GroupM's The Goat Agency. 22-year-old Sakshi Keswani and Pune's Danny Pandit won the No 2 and No 3 positions, respectively.

Seven influencers in the top 10 list belong to the 'comedy' category’. In addition to Tyagi, Keswani and Pandit, they include Delhi's Dharna Durga, Mumbai's Mahesh Keshwala, Gurgaon's Harshita Gupta, Saharanpur's Rajvardhan Grover, Mumbai's Apoorva Mukhija, and Kolkata's Kiran Dutta . Tarini Peshawaria, a 34-year-old influencer specialising in beauty content, grabbed the ninth position.

The list, which was prepared in collaboration with Forbes India, featured the country's most influential digital personalities across segments like comedy, fitness, food, technology, travel, social work, beauty, fashion, business, and finance.

This year’s selection criteria were expanded to include all creators including the verified or non-verified ones. This was done to acknowledge the impact of genuine creators irrespective of their verification status. This shift also recognises the importance of diverse voices in the creator economy, as all creators contribute to the evolving digital narrative.

Kunal Sawant, business head-The Goat Agency at GroupM India, said that the list celebrates the diverse and dynamic voices shaping India’s digital landscape. "By expanding our criteria this year, we are ensuring a more inclusive and data-driven approach so that the true impact of these digital stars is highlighted, reflecting a broader understanding of influence in today’s creator economy. Inclusion of Goat Changemakers also aligns with our responsible investment framework,” he noted.

The Goat Agency is the influencer marketing agency owned by GroupM, a media investment arm of WPP. Its proprietary scoring algorithm was used to rank creators by category, type, and audience size based on engagement rates. By employing a multi-level selection process, the Goat team examined the engagement rates and follower counts to spot the top creators across nine categories each. The metrics including reach, impressions, and follower numbers further filtered out the entries to arrive at the top 100 influencers list.

Ashwin Padmanabhan, chief operating officer of GroupM South Asia, said, “The third edition of The Top 100 Digital Stars features a data-driven selection of India’s most influential digital personalities. This year, we emphasise diverse voices in the creator economy, ensuring that every creator can contribute to and be recognised in the evolving digital narrative.”