Virat Kohli's brand value decreases, MS Dhoni's gallops

Former Indian skipper Virat Kohli retained his position for the fifth consecutive year as the Most Valuable Celebrity in 2021 in India, according to the Celebrity Brand Valuation report, published by Duff & Phelps, A Kroll Business.

Virat Kohli, who recently stepped down from captaincy across all formats of the game, has topped the chart once again. Unfortunately, Kohli's brand value fell by almost 22 per cent to Rs 1,400 crore as per the report. However, Kohli's brand value in 2020 was USD 237.7 million.

Meanwhile, the newly-formed skipper Rohit Sharma across all the formats, is at no.13 in the elite list of most valuable celebrities in 2021. Legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar takes 11th position with a total valuation of USD 47.4 million.

However, most calm and composed, MS Dhoni finished fifth in 2021 with a 69 per cent increase in his brand value to USD 61.2 million. In 2020, Dhoni's was ranked 11th with a 36.3 million US Dollars brand value.

Although Bollywood stars are also in line to top the list, an ace cricketer Kohli beat them in this format too. Well-known actor Ranveer Singh has leapfrogged his older peer Akshay Kumar to become India's second most valuable personality. Akshay Kumar is now at the third spot with a brand value of USD 139.6 million.

At fourth position is Alia Bhatt, the youngest celebrity in the top 10 with a brand value of USD 68.1 million among female Bollywood actors. While Deepika Padukone is in seventh place on the list with USD 51.6 million worth.

Prominent Bollywood celebrities continue to feature on the list of top 20 celebrity brands, while sports persons or those associated with sports like Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma and PV Sindhu are also on the list, said Aviral Jain, managing director of the consultancy.

From the perspective of the surge in brand values, Ranveer Singh, Alia Bhatt, and MS Dhoni witnessed a stellar jump, he added.

"Businesses and brands have heavily leveraged social media and other online platforms for brand endorsements this year, too, with below-par weightage to traditional platforms," Varun Gupta, who heads the firm's valuation advisory services in Asia-Pacific, said.

He added, "These well-funded new-age companies have seen a significant increase in the number of endorsements from the top 20 celebrities, a growth of over 50% from 2020, and constitute approximately 12% of the overall brand portfolio." 

With a stellar performance at the Tokyo Olympics and another successful IPL season, Indian players are emerging as leading brand endorsers.

"Players have not only seen a significant jump in the number of ad deals, but they also leverage massive social media fan following and engagement as a result of less competition from movie stars with limited theatre releases," he added.

Adding Further, "celebrity" is no longer synonymous with just Bollywood actors or A-league cricketers but also includes a wide range of sports athletes and social media influencers under its umbrella, stemming from the significant increase in usage of digital platforms due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the firm said.

In the list of top 20 celebrities, five are from the sports fraternity, and the rest are from Bollywood and other entertainment industries.