In its fifth edition, the Duff & Phelps study titled “New is Gold” rates India’s cricket captain at No. 1 in terms of his brand value, assessed at $237.5 million. Virat Kohli retains the apex slot for a third consecutive year, during the course of which his brand value rose by 39%.
At No. 2 is Akshay Kumar with a value of $104.5 million (up 55.3%), replacing Deepika Padukone, who comes in at No. 3 along with her husband and actor Ranveer Singh, each valued at $93.5 million.
Shah Rukh Khan comes in at No.4 while Salman Khan follows at No. 6.
Alia Bhatt replaces Amitabh Bachchan and moves to No. 7, followed by former India cricket captain M. S. Dhoni, and national award winner and Z-gen actor Ayushmann Khurrana.
The top 20 has five women. Priyanka Chopra at No. 13, Anushka Sharma at No. 18, and Kareena Kapoor Khan at No. 19 join Padukone and Bhatt on the list.
The total value of the top 20 celebrity brands stands at $1.1 billion, with the top 10 accounting for about 75% of the total value, says the Duff & Phelps study.
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 $87.5 million. 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, added, “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.”
The study also looked at the media and entertainment (M&E) market, which has over the past 10 years powered by India’s attractive demographic and economic factors, grown significantly. In 2019 alone, the M&E industry touched Rs. 1,631 billion, a growth of 13% over the past year. While TV continued its dominance as the largest segment in absolute terms, the digital segment experienced the fastest growth rate.
The study, quoting KPMG’s report, “India’s Digital Future: Mass of Niches”, says the Indian M&E industry is likely to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.5% between FY19 and FY24, with advertising revenues expected to grow at a CAGR of 14.5% during the same period.
The advertising industry, which essentially drives the M&E industry, also saw a significant growth in the past year, clocking a 37.6% growth over the previous year.
The No. 2 spot was retained by TV at 12.1%, followed by radio at 6.2%. Both print and out-of-home (OOH) advertising recorded marginal growth of about 5% owing to consumers’ deepening preference for data consumption via digital platforms.
According to a 2019 report on celebrity endorsements produced by TAM Media Research, more than 50% of the ads endorsed by celebrities were anchored by three sectors: Personal Care/Personal Hygiene, Food and Beverages (F&B), and Hair Care.
The average endorsing ratio by male and female celebrities for the top 10 sectors was 51:49. The leading sector, Personal Care/ Personal Hygiene, was primarily dominated by female celebrities with a 68% share. The F&B sector also came in with almost an equal ad share between male and female celebrities.
