Virat Kohli is India's most valuable celebrity again: Duff & Phelps study

Duff & Phelps has released the fifth edition of its celebrity brand valuation study. The study provides India’s most powerful celebrity brands based on brand values derived from their endorsement contracts.

 

Virat Kohli retains the top position for the third consecutive year. His brand value rose by 39 per cent to reach USD 237.5 million.

 

In second is Akshay Kumar with a value of USD 104.5 million (up 55.3 per cent). Kumar replaced Deepika Padukone in second place. 

 

Padukone is joined by her husband and actor Ranveer Singh at number three. 

 

At number five on the list is Shah Rukh Khan. Salman Khan follows at number six. 

 

Alia Bhatt has moved one position, to rise ahead of Amitabh Bachchan. MS Dhoni and Ayushmann Khurrana complete the top 10.

 

The top 20 has only five women. Priyanka Chopra (13), Anushka Sharma (18) and Kareena Kapoor Khan (19) join Padukone and Bhatt on the list. 

 

According to the study, the total value of the top 20 celebrity brands stands at USD 1.1 billion, with the top 10 contributing about 75 per cent of the total value.

 

Aviral Jain, MD, 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 USD 87.5 mn. The industry saw a wave of new faces and concepts with the effective usage of digital media to capitalise 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 ‘starvestors’ (star investors), thus infusing capital in brands that resonated with their values."

 

Varun Gupta, MD 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.”