MUMBAI: Indian cricket team skipper Virat Kohli has topped the celebrity brand endorsers list for the fourth year in a row, a study by Duff & Phelps showed. The findings of the sixth edition of its celebrity brand valuation study 2020: Embracing the New Normal has revealed that Kohli’s brand value remained steady at $237.7 million in 2020 despite the Covid2019 pandemic.
Livemint reported that the cricketer’s social media following grew at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 35.4 per cent to 165 million across platforms while raking up 2.8 million engagements per post. Last year, Kohli signed two key partnerships with edtech platform Great Learning and Chinese smartphone brand iQOO.
Akshay Kumar has retained the second position with a brand value of $118.9 million (a jump of 13.8 per cent). Bollywood powerhouse Ranveer Singh has bagged the third spot again, with a brand value of $102.9 million. However, his lady love Deepika Padukone slid from the third to the fifth spot. Though she remained the top female brand endorser on the list, her brand value has declined from $93 million in 2019 to $50.4 million last year.
“While established celebrities continue to dominate our rankings, notable millennials with a strong social media presence continue to climb the ladder. Ayushmann Khurrana, Tiger Shroff and Rohit Sharma all jumped a few spots to grab the number 6six number 15 and number 17 spots, respectively. Further, Kartik Aaryan debuts on our list at number 20. These rising millennial celebrities were in greater demand during the pandemic owing to their popularity among the youth,” said Duff & Phelps MD Aviral Jain.
The overall brand value of the top 20 celebrities in 2020 is estimated at $1 billion, a dip of approximately five per cent from the year before. The number of endorsements by the top 20 celebrities also declined from 370 in 2019 to 357 in 2020.
“This year, the media and entertainment sector took a hit and witnessed significant slowdown in advertising spends as traditional media and outdoor entertainment were severely impacted by the pandemic. Digital marginally overtook print to become the second largest segment in the advertisement space, and it continues to witness traction among brands. The pandemic has also reinforced the fact that a strong social media presence is no longer a ‘good to have,’ but rather a ‘must have’ for celebrity endorsers. With celebrity-brand engagements becoming more digitally oriented, brands and celebrity endorsers are discussing innovative ways of collaboration,” Jain added.
The study provides a ranking of India’s most powerful celebrity brands based on brand values derived from their product endorsement portfolio and relative social media presence. It examines the impact of the pandemic on both brand value rankings and the celebrity endorsement space. The report also noted that many OTT video streaming creators and influencers have also emerged as a preferred choice for digital campaigns last year.
Duff & Phelps MD & valuation services leader Varun Gupta said, “2020 saw a boost in digital advertising, with celebrities leveraging their authentic and personal experiences for endorsements. In fact, many OTT stars and influencers are currently sharing the spotlight for digital ads, which is a new trend observed this year.”
