Virat Kohli pips Ranveer Singh and MS Dhoni as ‘Most Valuable Celebrity’ as brand value crosses Rs 1400 crore

MS Dhoni (left) and Virat Kohli. (Source: Twitter)

Former India and Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli has pipped the likes of Bollywood star Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar and former Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni as the ‘Most Valuable Celebrity’. Kohli’s value according to Duff & Phelps’ Celebrity Brand Valuation Study 2021 titled ‘Digital Acceleration 2.0’, is billed at over Rs 1400 crores. 

The seventh edition of 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. It recognizes the impact of the second year of the pandemic on the overall celebrity endorsement space and the evolving Indian media and entertainment industry. Virat Kohli led the list while fellow cricketers MS Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma came in at fifth, 11th and 13th positions. 

Here’s the Top 10 Celebrity ranking...  

1. Virat Kohli – Rs 1,412 crore 

2. Ranveer Singh – Rs 1,202 crore 

3. Akshay Kumar – Rs 1,060 crore 

4. Alia Bhatt – Rs 517.3 crore 

5. MS Dhoni – Rs 464 crore 

6. Amitabh Bachchan – Rs 411 crore 

7. Deepika Padukone – Rs 392 crore 

8. Salman Khan -- Rs 392 crore 

9. Ayushmann Khurrana – Rs 374 crore 

10. Hrithik Roshan – Rs 368 crore 

“While prominent Bollywood celebrities continue to feature in our list of top 20 celebrity brands, this year we saw some notable changes. Ranveer Singh, Alia Bhatt, and MS Dhoni witnessed a stellar jump in their brand values and they seem to have hit the right chords with the audience in 2021. We also saw more sportspersons rising in the top celebrity rankings, including the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma, and PV Sindhu. This significant jump was because of the lesser competition from Bollywood celebrities since there were fewer theatrical releases in 2021,” Aviral Jain, Managing Director, Duff & Phelps, A Kroll Business, commented.  

Legendary captaincy tenure in yellow skip. A chapter fans will never forget. Respect always. @msdhoni pic.twitter.com/cz5AWkJV9S

— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) March 24, 2022

“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. 2021 also saw the emergence and growth of several startups in the fintech and direct-to-consumer (D2C) business segments that significantly contributed to the overall number of brand endorsements undertaken by the top 20 celebrities. As traditional as well as upcoming industries adopted the digital route to continue engaging with their consumers, we observed greater traction in fintech, social media and OTT platforms, and D2C platforms from a celebrity endorsement standpoint,” Varun Gupta, Head of Asia Pacific, Valuation Advisory Services, Duff & Phelps, A Kroll Business, said. 

Dhoni quit the Chennai Super Kings captaincy last week ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 opener last week.