Akshay Kumar most visible celeb; MS Dhoni endorsed maximum brands in 2020: TAM AdEx

Celebrity endorsements have been prevailing in India for a very long time, and there is an increasing challenge for brands to capture people’s time and focus. According to the ‘Celebrity Endorsement Report 2020’ by TAM AdEx, marketers believe that brand ambassadors provide a higher degree of consumer recall. This is based on a pretty simple logic as India is a country where people are star-struck by Movie Stars, Sports Personality, TV Actor & Actress.

People idolise them and so, when they are seen in an advertisement promoting a product, it helps in building better brand image, spreading awareness, connecting consumers emotionally, creating unique identity and in turn increase product usage.

The report encompasses all the aspects of Celebrity Endorsement on TV during the year 2020. The study provides a comprehensive information about trends of Celebrity endorsement done on TV over last 5 years. The key aspects of this report are Most Visible Celebrity through Endorsement, Quantum of Sector, Categories and Brands endorsed, ratio of Ads with/without Celebrity endorsement, Monthly and Yearly Celebrity Endorsement trend, advertising theme appeal differs by Age and Gender, etc.

According to TAM AdEx, more than 20% share of the ads telecast on TV were endorsed by celebrities. From the Celebrity professions, Film stars together added more than 80% share of advertising during 2020, followed by Sports person and TV stars that added 14% and 4% share, respectively.

However, celebrity endorsed ads slid down in both 2019 and 2020 as compared to 2018. The year 2020 witnessed a 7% drop compared to 2019.

With an average visibility of 17 hour per day across all channels, Akshay Kumar topped the list of the most visible celebrity, followed by Virat Kohli with 14 hours per day through endorsements done on TV. Kareena Kapoor was the only female celebrity among Top 5, whereas there were equal numbers of male and female celebrities in the Top 10 list. Interestingly, more than 40% of the ads were endorsed by two celebrity couples – Anushka Sharma/Virat Kohli (popularly known as Virushka) and Akshay Kumar/Twinkle Khanna, and both the couples had endorsed 53 and 43 brands, respectively during 2020.

MS Dhoni endorsed the maximum number of brands in 2020. He had also topped in 2019. Three out of the Top 10 celebrities were endorsing more brands in 2020, as compared to 2019 – viz, Akshay Kumar, Kiara Advani and Tapsee Pannu.

During the pre-COVID-19 period, that is, January-March 2020, celebrity endorsement was more compared to the same period of 2019. The period during complete and partial lockdowns, ads endorsed by celebrity saw a dip compared to same period of 2019. With the beginning of the festive period, that is, August 2020 onwards, celebrity endorsement ads again sailed above the mark of the same months of 2019.

More than 50% of the ads endorsed by celebrities fall under the Top 3 sectors – Personal Care/ Personal Hygiene, Food & Beverages, and Services, while about three-fourth of the ads fall under the Top 7 sectors. Only the Top 2 sectors rank the same position for the current year to last year, while the remaining 8 sectors’ ranks have changed.

Key Findings:

Among celebrity endorsed ads, Film stars had the bigger share of ad volume, i.e. 82%.
The year 2018 witnessed highest growth of 40% compared to 2016.
The highest ad volumes share registered during October and December period (Festive Season).
More than 50% of the ads endorsed by celebrities fall under Top 3 sectors and about 3/4th of the ads fall under Top 7 Sectors – Personal Care/Personal Hygiene, F&B and Services.
The top sector ‘Personal Care/Personal Hygiene’ was dominated by Female Celebrities, whereas in the 2nd top sector ‘F&B’, Male Celebrities had marginal upper hand over their female counter-part.
Top 10 categories contribute 34% share of overall ads carrying celebrity to endorse it.
E-Comm-Media/ Entertainment/ Social Media was the top category for which maximum celebrity from different profession endorsed brands under it.
With an average visibility of 17 hrs/day, Akshay Kumar topped the list of the most visible celebrity through endorsements done on TV.
Akshay Kumar was the top Celebrity among all professions to endorse maximum number of categories in 2020.
More than 40% ads were endorsed by two celebrity couples – Anushka Sharma/Virat Kohli and Akshay Kumar/Twinkle Khanna.
Virat Kohli was the top visible Sports Person in 2020.
Young Female Celebrities were preferred over their male counterparts, but the scenario becomes completely opposite when it comes to celebrities of the 50+ age group.