Ranveer Singh, Kohli top in brand value; South India stars rise: Report

South Indian celebrities increasingly becoming the face of India's leading brands, it says

Sport champions and South Indian movie stars closed the gap with Bollywood in 2022 in terms of the top 25 celebrities with brand value, said a report on Tuesday.

Bollywood stars in 2016 comprised 81.7 per cent of the brand value for India’s top 20 celebrities and the remaining 18.3 per cent was sports stars, said Kroll, an independent provider of global risk and financial advisory solutions

In 2022, Bollywood stars' share fell to 67.6 per cent in the overall brand value, sports stars comprised 28.9 per cent and the remaining 3.5 per cent went to Telugu movie personalities.

The top five celebrities in the country in terms of brand value in 2022 were Ranveer Singh ($181.7 million), Virat Kohli ($176.9 million), Akshay Kumar ($153.6 million), Alia Bhatt ($102.9 million) and Deepika Padukone ($82.9 million). The overall brand value of the top 25 celebrities in 2022 is estimated at $1.6 billion, an increase of 29.1 per cent from 2021. The study provides a ranking of India’s most powerful celebrity brands based on brand values derived from their brand endorsement portfolios and relative social media presence.

The rise of Southern celebrities comes at a time when six of the top ten movies in terms of collection came from the South Indian industry, with top four coming from Tamil and Telugu cinema: KGF-Chapter 2 ($153.5 million worldwide), RRR ($147.4 million), Ponniyin Selvan: Part I ($58.9 million) and Vikram ($51.6 million).

“This has created strong favorable tailwinds for South Indian celebrities to increasingly become the national face for some of India’s leading brands. It does appear that content and story are driving the box office,” said Aviral Jain, managing director, valuation advisory services, Kroll.

Among South Indian stars, Allu Arjun (KFC, RedBus, Coca Cola, Zomato), Ram Charan (Hero MotoCorp, Parle Agro), Rashmika Mandanna (Wakefit, boAt, Citibank, McDonald’s), Samantha Ruth Prabhu (MIVI, Dream11, Mamaearth, Myntra, PhonePe) and Tamannaah Bhatia (Hindware, SUGAR Cosmetics, Reebok, Volkswagen) lead in terms of celebrity brand value.

Spending on sports celebrity endorsement increased in 2022. According to Kroll’s report, Indian non-cricket sports persons accounted for 126 endorsement deals, out of the total 444 deals. Furthermore, sponsorships for emerging athletes increased by 79 per cent during the 2021 Olympics, accounting for 13 per cent of the total value of brand endorsements.

Among media segments, digital media is second, after television, in the ad market with around 36 per cent of the ad revenues in 2022 ($4.1 billion). It is further expected to become the largest segment and increase its contribution to $5.7 billion by 2024, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 17 per cent. Television segment is expected to increase from $4.5 billion in 2022 to $5.2 billion by 2024 and print from $2.1 billion to $2.2 billion.