Ranveer Singh pips Virat Kohli as most valued celebrity in 2022
3 min read 21 Mar 2023, 02:08 PM ISTKohli’s brand value has seen a decline for two consecutive years, especially after he left the captaincy of the men’s cricket team
PremiumNew Delhi: Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh has become the most valued celebrity for endorsements in 2022, replacing Indian batter Virat Kohli, according to a new ‘Celebrity Brand Valuation’ report by corporate investigation and risk consulting firm, Kroll.
Singh’s value has gone up to $181.7 million, compared to former Indian skipper’s $179.6 million. Kohli’s brand value has seen a decline for two consecutive years, especially after he left the captaincy of the men’s cricket team. He was valued at $237.7 million in 2020 and saw a steep fall of 21% in 2021 at $185.7 million.
In absolute terms, celebrity brand valuations accounted for $1.6 billion in 2022 as compared to $1.4 billion in 2021.
Aviral Jain, managing director of the valuation advisory services at Kroll, said while Singh had fewer movies last year, and that Bollywood has also not been doing very well overall, Singh has spent a lot of time in advertising. Today he has about 40 brands which he endorses including some international names like NBA, Yas Island in Abu Dhabi and others. Recently, he was also roped in by PepsiCo as its brand ambassador.
"We saw a good fit with 'Brand Ranveer Singh' at a very early stage of his career and brought him on board for Ciaz, our premium sedan in 2014. It helped us establish the brand in the market making it a bestseller. As Ranveer has cemented his position as one of India's top celebrities, his partnership for our brand Nexa has helped us retain and gain new customers, contributing to over 20% of the company's sales," said Shashank Srivastava, senior executive officer, marketing and sales, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.
Actors Akshay Kumar and Alia Bhatt retained their third and fourth spots on this year’s list, at $153.6 million and $102.9 million, respectively, while Deepika Padukone moved up a couple of ranks -- from number 7 to number 5 -- this time, valued at $82.9 million. However, since the report was compiled, Padukone has also become the brand ambassador of Qatar Airways and PotteryBarn.
As far as Kohli is concerned, his performance on the field could have also affected his endorsements. While he has had some good knocks towards the end of 2022, his endorsements have plateaued. The applicable endorsement fee has also been reduced in the last year, said Jain.
“There is a higher risk associated with the brand Kohli now and that has had some negative impact. His value has been set back by about 5%," he said. A lot of his newer campaigns are along with Anushka Sharma, his wife and this could be where his brand image changes to incorporate more of his non-cricketing side rather than just his performance on the field.
Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra made it to the top 25 list, but towards the end at spot 23 at $26.5 million in brand value. He tied with PV Sindhu.
Karthik Srinivasan, a communications strategy consultant, pointed out that the list reflects that there are only six sports stars in the top 25 most sought-after celebrities, of which four are cricketers. “This is despite the kind of performance India displayed in the Olympics and non-cricket sports in recent times. Also, none of the female cricketers made it to the top. We perhaps need to give the Women’s Premier League more time to sink in," he said.
Srinivasan said that India should go beyond cricket. For instance, the biggest celebrities in the US are all associated with music. And in India, it is clear that there is not a single music-related celebrity in the top 25 list. He said a lot of the top celebrities are exclusive TV and streaming stars, but despite the popularity of television, and to some extent, streaming, in India, there are no top or leading celebrities from the small screen on this list.
On the list are also two south Indian stars, Allu Arjun and Rashmika Mandhana, both of whom are new entrants on the list. The report added that since 2016, Bollywood has reduced in importance in terms of the valuation split. That year, Bollywood actors constituted 81.7% of the overall brand value for India’s top 20 celebrities, while the remaining 18.3% was comprised of sports stars. However, in its current analysis, the share of Bollywood stars has fallen to 67.6% in the overall brand value, with 28.9% comprising sports celebrities, and the remaining 3.5% belonging to Tollywood stars.
