Virat Kohli pips Deepika Padukone for the most valuable Indian celebrity in 2018

Indian captain Virat Kohli tops the most valuable celebrities list in 2018 with a brand value of 179.8m USD. Kohli has endorsed as many as 24 brands in 2018 till November and the right-hander has topped the list among the Indians for the second year on the trot. According to a PTI report, his current value is at $170.8 million in 2018, which is an 18 per cent increase from the previous year.

Kohli, who recently led India to a historic Test series win in Australia, is followed by actress Deepika Padukone, who gained a place from the last year's ranking, with a valuation of $102.5 million and has endorsed 21 brands as of November 2018.

Both Kohli and Deepika are the only ones to be valued at over $100 million while the total value of the top 20 celebrity brands is $877 million, and out of that, the top 10 alone contributes more than 75 per cent of the total value. The likes of Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar, PV Sindhu and MS Dhoni have collectively contributed $241 million out of the total valuation.

The main reason for Kohli and Deepika being at the top is that they have an equity element, which in turns helps them maintain a long-term association with the brand.

"The celebrity endorsement market in India has matured from vanilla endorsement deals to full-fledged partnerships through innovative routes such as equity deals and strategic partnerships... Millennial celebrities continue to be the first choice for brand endorsements as companies want to have a greater focus on the youth segment fuelled by demand in sectors such as e-commerce, retail, FMCG and smartphones, among others," Duff & Phelps managing director and Asia Pacific leader for valuation services Varun Gupta said.

Since the brands want to target the youth, they use power couples to create an impact among their target audience.

"The coming together of a power couple creates a larger platform that brands want to leverage to target the youth. This year, power couple Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma have endorsed around 40 brands together such as Head and Shoulders, Manyavar, Pepsi, Celkon, Boost, Audi, Fastrack, Goinee, Wrogn and Polaroid," the report said.