Kohli tops $231 mn brand value list; Alia, Deepika, Kareena power women’s rise in Top 25

New Delhi: Virat Kohli has once again emerged as India’s most powerful celebrity brand, topping Kroll’s Celebrity Brand Valuation 2024 list with a brand value of $231.1 million. 

This marks yet another year of dominance for the cricketing icon, who has consistently leveraged his unmatched influence among fans and brands alike.

Actor Ranveer Singh retained the second spot with a brand value of $170.7 million, though his overall value saw a decline from last year. 

Shah Rukh Khan held steady at third place with his brand value rising by around 21% to $145.7 million. 

Actress Alia Bhatt, continuing her upward trajectory, climbed to the fourth position at $116.4 million, while cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar surged to fifth with $112.2 million, boosted by a spurt in endorsements.

The overall brand value of the top 25 Indian celebrities is estimated at $2 billion in 2024, reflecting an 8.6% increase from the previous year.

Women account for 9 of the Top 25 celebrity brands (36%), led by Alia Bhatt and Deepika Padukone, with Kareena Kapoor, Kiara Advani, Rashmika Mandanna, Anushka Sharma, Kriti Sanon, Tamannaah Bhatia and Ananya Panday rounding out the cohort. 

Together, they represent about $594.5 million in brand value, roughly 30% of the Top-25 total, signalling sustained demand for female-led endorsements that blend mainstream appeal with strong OTT and social reach.

Several celebrities witnessed significant upward movement. Kriti Sanon jumped to rank 19, Tamannaah Bhatia rose to 21, Jasprit Bumrah made a leap to 22, and Ananya Panday entered the top 25 at rank 25. Meanwhile, Salman Khan slipped from the top 10 to rank 16, with a brand value of $57 million.

The top ten also featured Akshay Kumar (6th, $108 million), Deepika Padukone and MS Dhoni (joint 7th, $102.9 million each), Hrithik Roshan (9th, $92.2 million), and Amitabh Bachchan (10th, $83.7 million).

The report highlights structural shifts in India’s entertainment industry. South Indian cinema’s share of the box office climbed to 47.7% in 2024, overtaking Hindi cinema, which dropped to 39.5%. Over-the-top (OTT) platforms now account for more than half of total revenues for major releases, even as big-budget films continue to attract audiences to theatres.

One striking trend was the success of nostalgia-driven re-releases. Bollywood titles such as ‘Jab We Met’ and ‘Tumbbad’ outperformed their original runs, with re-release collections contributing nearly 50% and 70% of total lifetime revenues, respectively. 

Similarly, Tollywood’s Ghilli drew audiences with re-release collections, making up about 35% of its total box office.

The list of the top 25 celebrity brands for 2024 is as follows:

Commenting on the findings, Umakanta Panigrahi, Managing Director, Valuation Advisory Services at Kroll, said, “In 2024, we witnessed that the future of Indian cinema lies in synergy. OTT content and theatres complement each other. Audiences can now have the best of both worlds: grand theatrical experiences and intimate storytelling at home. As the industry continues to adapt this hybrid model, it could very well become its strongest era yet. Finally, following a stagnant phase in the cinema business, re-releases have put film theatres back on the map. Cinemas have re-established their position as strong competitors, proving that nothing can replace the feeling of watching a film in a theatre.”