On the eve of their standup comedy takeover of the 2025 South By Southwest festival in Austin, TX, The Stand Group, Inc. announce a partnership with leading independent entertainment studio, Cineverse and their fast-growing podcast arm to maximize distribution platforms, sponsorships, programmatic demand and additional avenues. The partnership also includes the creation of a development slate for the companies to build new IP together through podcasts and live entertainment.
After successfully launching the WITZ Comedy-TV FAST channel and digital content library in 2022 with partners Best Ever Channels (BEC), The Stand Group is now expanding its reach through podcast creation and distribution. Through the launch of the WITZ Podcast Network – a new comedy label operated through the Cineverse Podcast Network – BEC partners Barry Gordon and Jonathon Barbato matched The Stand/WITZ sensibilities with Cineverse’s ability to support and build brands.
“Together we will maximize marketing, promotional and sales initiatives for shows we bring into the network for new creators and original IP,” says BEC’s co-CEO Barry Gordon.
This marks a significant expansion of Cineverse’s audio business into comedy, after becoming a top-10 podcast network driven by its horror, true crime and entertainment content. According to Edison Research, comedy is the No. 1 most popular podcasting category in the U.S., and the Interactive Advertising Bureau has reported that the genre – which is now more popular than news or sports – grew its revenue share by four points from 2022 to 2024, gaining 300 new advertisers in Q3 2023 alone.
Adds The Stand/WITZ partner Cris Italia, “After 20 years of building live experiences for audiences and securing our standing with some of the best comedians in the world, we are ready to step it up and continue to nurture talent both in the podcasts and independent content creation. We’ve always considered ourselves as an incubator for talent, and partnering with Cineverse can now bring it all to life.”
The WITZ Podcast Network launches in style at SXSW. The brands will come together to celebrate the new venture along with Cineverse’s highly-anticipated, wide, unrated release of The Toxic Avenger, directed by Macon Blair and starring Peter Dinklage, and coming to theaters this summer. The kick-off event will feature appearances by comedians, podcast talent, musicians and stars from the upcoming film.
“Not only does partnering with comedy leaders like The Stand Group/WITZ make us instantly credible in a genre that has proven itself time and time again as a major force in podcasting, but it also allows us to move quickly into this space,” says Cineverse President and Chief Strategy Officer Erick Opeka.
“We are quite proud of how successful the Cineverse Podcast Network has quietly become, particularly among horror fans, and with our upcoming release of crossover horror/comedy film, The Toxic Avenger, the timing of this expansion couldn’t be more perfect. We look forward to leveraging the WITZ Podcast Network not only to promote our content, but as a valuable addition to our ad sales arsenal, for other studios and brands looking to tap into the power of podcasting as an effective part of their promotional campaigns.”
The Stand has worked with some of the funniest and most popular stand-up comedians in the business, including: Dave Chappelle, Pete Davidson, Nate Bargatze, T.J. Miller, Sam Jay, Janeane Garofalo, Laurie Kilmartin, Andrew Dice Clay, Shane Gillis, Bill Burr, Sal Vulcano, Jim Gaffigan, Ramy Youssef, Bonnie McFarlane, Rich Vos, Ian Lara, Tim Dillon, Marcello Hernandez, Nikki Glaser, Mark Normand, Ralph Barbosa, Hannah Berner, Cipha Sounds, Aida Rodriguez, Derek Gaines, Sienna Hubert-Ross and many more.
