Bollywood stars Deepika Padukone and Alia Bhatt earned more from advertisements last year than veteran male actors Shahrukh Khan or Salman Khan.
Twenty-six-year old Bhatt earned Rs68 crore ($9.75 million) from brand tie ups while Padukone, 33, earned Rs75 crore, according to ESP Properties, a part of marketing services conglomerate GroupM.
The Khans earned less than Rs56 crore in this time. These male stars in their 50s charge around Rs50 crore per movie. Bhatt charges nearly a tenth of that and Padukone, Bollywood’s highest-paid actress, got Rs13 crore for the 2018 release Padmaavat.
Who’s who?
The Khans are going through a lull.
“While the Bhai (“bro”) of Bollywood (Salman Khan) slid out of the top five race the previous year (2017), Badshah (“emperor”) (Shahrukh) Khan slipped out of the top three for the first time after a five-year streak (2013–2017),” the report noted. “Also, for the first time in 12 years, 2018 registered no top performing movies from the Khan duo—Salman and Shah Rukh.”
Akshay Kumar topped the list with brands like Adani Wilmar’s Fortune Basmati Rice, Sun Pharma’s Revital H, Lodha Group, Paisabazaar.com and Policybazaar.com in his kitty. Power couple Ranveer Singh-Deepika Padukone followed.
Bhatt, the youngest person on the list, was a new entry in the top 10 after being taken on as the ambassador for major brands like Frooti, Uber Eats, Nokia, and Frankfinn as advertisers increasingly focusing on connecting with the youth. Varun Dhawan, who does the Frooti campaign with Bhatt now, also emerged as a fresh face this year.
Overall, celebrity endorsement ticked up significantly in 2018 with the industry nearing the Rs1,000-crore milestone. The top 10 celebrities’ endorsement value grew to Rs605 crore during the year, up 20% from 2017.
What are they selling?
Food and beverage create the largest impact in terms of gross rating points (GRPs), a metric used to measure the impact of advertising campaigns. Personal care and services are a close second.
The service sector made the biggest jump while durables, banking, and telecom products declined since 2017.
Tourism also got a boost from star power. For instance, “Indian visitors to Australia had grown at an average of 21% since the appointment of Parineeti Chopra as a ‘Friend of Australia,’ compared to 15% growth experienced during the prior six months,” the report noted. “Similarly, the Alpine nation of Switzerland saw an immediate upsurge in Indian traffic after Ranveer Singh came on board.”