Virat Kohli beats Akshay Kumar, Salman Khan, SRK; tops Celebrity Brand list with brand value of $237.5 mn

Virat Kohli has made a hat-trick by scoring over his brand rival Akshay Kumar, Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh, Shahrukh Khan, Salman Khan and many more Bollywood sensations in the Indian Celebrity Brand list. Duff & Phelps, the global brand advisor, today released key findings from the fifth edition of its Celebrity Brand Valuation Study 2019: “New is Gold”. The study provides a ranking of India’s most powerful celebrity brands based on brand values derived from their endorsement contracts.

In the fifth edition of the Celebrity Brand Valuation Study 2019: “New is Gold” released by Duff & Phelps; Virat Kohli is way ahead of Akshay Kumar, Shahrukh Khan, Salman Khan and Deepika Padukone with net brand value at $237.5 million, Akshay Kumar is distant second with brand value standing at $104.5 million while Ranveer Sigh and Deepika Padukone are joint third with their respective brand value of $93.5 million. Ranveer and Deepika are followed by Shahrukh Khan with a brand value of $66.1 million while Salman Khan is at the 5th spot with his brand value standing at $55.7 million. Alia Bhat and Amitabh Bachchan also figure in the list with their respective brand value of $45.8 million and $42.5 million.

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Among the cricketers who figures in this list, Virat Kohli is followed by Sachin Tendulkar, who stands at 15th spot with brand value of $25.1 million. Rohit Sharma is at a distant 20th spot with his brand value standing at $23 million.

Among the new entrants who have made a cut in the top 20 list of Celebrity Brand Valuation Study 2019: “New is Gold” are Ayushmann Khurrana, Tiger Shroff and Rohit Sharma. Ayushman Khurrana is at 10th spot with his brand value standing at $40.3 million while Tiger Shroff is at 17th spot with brand value standing at $24.2 million.

Speaking on the fifth edition of its Celebrity Brand Valuation Study 2019: “New is Gold” Aviral Jain, Managing Director, Duff & Phelps said, “This year we saw the new generation celebrities make it to the top 20. Apart from the celebrities who were featured in last year’s study, this year, we have Ayushmann Khurrana (rank 10), Tiger Shroff (rank 17) and Rohit Sharma (rank 20) with a cumulative brand value of $87.5 mn,” adding, “The industry saw a wave of new faces and concepts with the effective usage of digital media to capitalize on millennials and Gen Z. Even though brands changed their approach of sticking to established actors by roping in new faces, overall the industry managed to stay on course with the perfect blend of traditional and new. The new pedigree of stars also ventured into investments by emerging as ‘star vectors’ (star investors), thus infusing capital in brands that resonated with their values.”

See the full list below:

Source: Duff & Phelps

According to Jaagriti Seth, Director at Meltwater India, “Cricket and Bollywood are national passions for India. The volume of conversations on these topics run in millions daily, ranging from press coverage to fan accounts and from serious discussion forums to meme pages." She further added, "Today, the popularity of a celebrity is not guesswork but easily measurable. In a few clicks, one can immediately gauge the impact of any action taken by a celebrity. This is why many brands and celebrities are actively using our product suite to listen and analyse conversations so that they can grow their network effectively”.

Commenting on the changing nature of the endorsement market in India, Varun Gupta, Managing Director and Asia Pacific Leader for Valuation Services, Duff & Phelps said, “This is the dawn of a new era for the media and entertainment sector. The industry has seen experimentation, be it celebrities moving from traditional mainstream endorsements towards investments in brands, the rise of digital format advertising campaigns, or the onset of over-the-top (OTT) stars who are breaking new ground in endorsements. Brands and celebrities have parallelly adopted the path of conscious advertising and filmmaking by choosing uplifting topics and making the narrative less window dressed, an important facet for today’s Gen Y and Gen Z.”

Further, the study focuses on the rising trend of OTT since the upgrade of the India’s digital demography. Regional industries created ripples nationally and globally with OTT proving regional content is no longer a desired state, but a prerequisite for today’s consumer. The study also highlights the new tribe of celebrity endorsers who have become digital stars; they actively involve themselves in social causes and promote brands inclined towards fitness, health and wellness.

Key findings from the report include:

1] Virat Kohli retains the top position for the third consecutive year. His brand value rose by 39 per cent to $237.5 million (mn) in 2019.

2] Akshay Kumar jumps to the second position with a brand value of $104.5 mn (a jump of 55.3 per cent).

3] The dynamic power couple, Ranveer and Deepika, claim the third spot with a brand value of $93.5 mn each. Deepika retains her most valuable female celebrity status for the second consecutive year whereas Ranveer moves up a spot, to now occupy the same position as Deepika Padukone.

4] The total value of the top 20 celebrity brands stands at $1.1 billion, with the top 10 contributing about 75 per cent of the total value.