Virat Kohli is on our television screens for almost three hours every day

What’s the story?

Virat Kohli might be sitting out of the 4^th Test against the Australians being played at Dharamshala but that does not stop him from grabbing three hours of screen time every day, according to reports.

Yes, Indians not only love him smacking the bowlers out of the park but also adore him in television where he is selling mobile phones, bags, men’s wear, soft drinks etc.

"Brand Kohli has been steadily on the rise after the T20 event in 2012. This is obviously due to his on-field performance and, most notably, his best knocks that have come during tough chases," Ramakrishnan R, director at sports marketing firm Baseline Ventures, was quoted as saying in an article in the Economic Times.

In case you did not know

The article also stated that the Delhi-born cricketer endorsed around 20 different brands of 13 organizations last year. Now, these brands have advertised for 1,190 hours across multiple TV channels. Therefore the Indian skipper was being seen, on an average, in 643 advertising slots daily.

It is also believed that his brand value went higher by 20 to 25 percent after being given the captaincy in the limited overs format and that percentage is on the rise. He also recently signed a whopping 100 crore deal with sports goods manufacturing giants Puma.

The heart of the matter

According to another viewership research by TAM Media Research, Kohli was on all TV channels for around 196 minutes per day. Also in 82 per cent of these advertisements, Kohli was the sole star. When you compare them to figures from 2015 Kohli was the only star in just 40 percent ads. Now that’s quite a rise in a year and few months.

This is also due to the fact that prior to this series against Australia Kohli had been in the form of his life. He started off 2016 by notching few hundreds in Australia, was sensational for India in the world T20s and then scored 4 centuries in the IPL.

In Tests matches too he scored 4 four double hundreds in four consecutive games. Now that’s quite a record.

What’s next?

In an October 2016 reports published by Duff and Phelps Kohli surpassed MS Dhoni and is now the Indian celebrity with the second highest brand value behind Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan.

Kohli is currently valued at USD 92 million while Khan is at USD 131 million. And with the stocks growing with each passing day we would not be surprised if he overtakes Khan soon.

Author’s take

As a premier batsman and captain of the side who has a strong presence on screen, Kohli deserves all the attention he is getting right now. Well about his on-field form? I am sure he is going to bounce back soon.