Virat Kohli maintains his status as India’s highest value celebrity brand for the third year in a row with a brand value of $231.1 million, according to Kroll’s latest report on the nation’s most influential celebrity brands, which identifies the combined brand value of the top 25 stars jumping beyond two billion dollars in 2024.
Top ten
Ranveer Singh maintained his second position with a brand value of 170.7 million dollars, although this represented a decrease from last year. Shah Rukh Khan, supported by a successful comeback to the box office, clung on to third position with his brand value rising by almost twenty-one per cent to 145.7 million dollars. Alia Bhatt sustained her growth, rising to fourth spot with a brand value of 116.4 million dollars, as Sachin Tendulkar stunned most by leaping to the fifth spot at 112.2 million dollars on the strength of a renewed endorsements wave.
The balance of the top ten was occupied by traditional names. Akshay Kumar took sixth place with 108 million dollars, with Deepika Padukone and MS Dhoni tied for seventh place with 102.9 million dollars each. Hrithik Roshan improved to take ninth place with 92.2 million dollars, while Amitabh Bachchan brought up the rear at 83.7 million dollars.
Major jumps
Apart from the star players, a few celebrities took giant strides in 2024. Kriti Sanon leaped from twenty-seventh to nineteenth rank, Tamannaah Bhatia rose to twenty-first, Jasprit Bumrah rose to twenty-second, and Ananya Panday entered the top twenty-five for the first time at twenty-fifth, having risen from forty-sixth. These movements tell how rapidly emerging stars and sportspersons are transforming India’s celebrity culture.
The rankings also reflect the wider shifts that have been happening in the entertainment sector. Hindi film’s box office share dipped to 39.5 percent in 2024, as South Indian film shot ahead with 47.7 percent, a clear indication of shifting audience preferences. Meanwhile, over-the-top platforms accounted for more than half of overall revenues for high-profile releases, reflecting the increasing predominance of digital distribution even as big-budget spectacles still packed out cinemas.
In 2024, we saw that the future of Indian cinema is in collaboration; in fact, OTT content and cinemas are complementary. People can now enjoy the best of both worlds: big theatrical experiences and close-up storytelling at home. As the industry keeps evolving this hybrid format, it might well turn into its most powerful phase ever.”. Last but not least, after a phase of stagnation in the cinema industry, re-releases have once again placed movie theatres on the map. Therefore, cinemas have also firmly regained their place in the business as a viable contender, demonstrating that nothing can compare to the experience of viewing a movie at a theatre.
Umakanta Panigrahi, Managing Director, Valuation Advisory Services, Kroll, stated. One of the most striking of the year’s trends was the revival of nostalgia-fueled re-releases. Bollywood hits like Jab We Met and Tumbbad not only made a comeback to cinemas but did even better than they did the first time around, with re-release collections raking in almost half and seventy per cent of their overall revenues respectively.
In the South, Ghilli captivated audiences with the same passion as when it first premiered, proving again the strength of movie nostalgia to bring back fans to the cinema experience.
