Over 25% of TV ads endorsed by celebs in H1 2021; Akshay Kumar is most visible celeb

Celebrity endorsements have been prevailing in India for a very long time, even as there is an increasing challenge for brands to capture people’s time and focus. According to the some reports, 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 personalities, TV actors and actresses.

In its analysis of celebrity endorsement during the January-June 2021 period, TAM AdEx’s report reveals that more than 25% share of the advertisements telecast on TV were endorsed by celebrities from different professions. From the Celebrity professions, Film Stars, that is, Actors and Actresses together accounted for more than 85% share of advertising during H1 2021, followed by Sports personalities and TV stars that added 12% and 3% share, respectively.

Compared to the Jan-Jun’19 period, Celebrity endorsed advertisements had decreased by 26% during Jan-Jun’20, whereas it grew by 23% in Jan-Jun’21. During Jan-Jun’21, 65% growth was seen in Celebrity ad volumes compared to Jan-Jun’20. The highest ad volumes were observed during the month of March for both the periods, that is, H1’20 and H1’21 – it had grown by 16% in Mar’20 compared to Feb’20 and then a sudden drop was observed during Apr-May’20, when the COVID-19 pandemic struck India and a strict lockdown was imposed across the country.

This year, Celebrity ad volumes decreased by 21% in May’21, compared to Apr’21, while it had grown by 3% in May’20 over Apr’20.

The Food & Beverages sector topped in terms of Celebrity endorsed ads with more than 1/4th of total Celebrity ad volumes share, followed by 20% share added by the Personal Care/ Personal Hygiene sector during Jan-Jun’21.

More than 50% of the ads endorsed by celebrities fall under the Top 3 sectors and about 3/4th of the ads fall under the Top 7 sectors.

Average ad endorsing ratio of Male and Female celebrities for the Top 10 sector was 55:45. Young Female Celebrities were preferred over their Male counterparts, but the scenario changes when it comes to celebrities of age 35+ group.

Ads under the ‘Education’ sector were only endorsed by Male Celebrities.

F&B sector’s advertisements were dominated by Male celebrities at 59%, while Personal Care/ Personal Hygiene was dominated by Female celebrities at 75% during Jan-Jun’21.

Top 10 Categories accounted for 39% share of total celebrity ad volumes during Jan-Jun’21. Toilet Soaps was the top category with 7% share of celebrity ad volumes during H1 2021, followed by Toilet/ Floor Cleaners with 6% share.

Ecom-Gaming was the top category for which maximum celebrities from different profession endorsed brands under it, followed by Ecom-Media/ Entertainment/ Social Media. A total of 26 celebrities endorsed brands in the Ecom-Gaming category. In Ecom-Gaming category, more than 80% of the advertisements were endorsed by Sports celebrities.

Most visible endorsers in H1 2021

With an average visibility of 33 hrs/day across all channels, Akshay Kumar topped the list of the most visible celebrity, followed by Kiara Advani with 18 hrs/day through endorsements done on TV.

Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni are the only two Sports celebrities among the Top 10 celebrities. MS Dhoni endorsed maximum number of brands in both the periods, that is, Jan-Jun’20-21.

Six out of the Top 10 celebrities were endorsing more brands in Jan-Jun’21, compared to Jan-Jun’20; viz, Akshay Kumar, Kiara Advani, Ranveer Singh, Kareena Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan and MS Dhoni.

More than 50% ads were endorsed by two celebrity couples – Akshay Kumar/ Twinkle Khanna and Kareena Kapoor/ Saif Ali Khan, and both the couples had endorsed 39 and 19 brands, respectively, during Jan-Jun’21. Celebrity Couples endorsing maximum number of brands during H1 Y2021 were Akshay/Twinkle with 39 brands, followed by Deepika Padukone/ Ranveer Singh with 32 brands.

The News channel genre had the maximum share of celebrity advertising volumes at 30%, followed by the GEC genre with 26% share.

Top sports celebrity during H1 2021

Virat Kohli was on top with 26% share of advertisement, followed by MS Dhoni had 23% share in Jan-Jun’21, both the sports celebrities were also present in the overall celebrity advertising list.

The Top 5 sports celebrities together added more than 45% share of ad volumes during Jan-Jun’21. There were 45+ male Sports celebrities who were seen during Jan-Jun’21, in comparison to only 8 female Sports celebrities during this period. Out of these 8 female Sports celebrities, cricketer Mithali Raj topped the list, followed by shuttler Saina Nehwal.

Celebrity advertisement during different phases of COVID-19

Celebrity advertisement decreased by 41% during COVID-19 Wave 1 phase, whereas it grew by 15% and 23%, respectively, compared to the pre-COVID-19 phase. Compare to Wave 1, 96% celebrity ad volumes increased during the Unlock period and 2.1x growth observed in ad volumes in Wave 2.

Compared to the pre-COVID-19 phase, count of advertisers and brands decreased during the other three COVID-19 phases.

F&B is the leading sector in the pre-COVID-19 and Wave 1 and 2 phases, whereas Personal Care/ Personal Hygiene sector was on top during the Unlock phase, which was the festive period.

Toilet Soaps and HUL topped the consistent categories and advertisers’ list, respectively. There were more than 110 and 125 consistent categories and advertisers seen during all phases.

Out of the Top 10 growing categories, highest growth was observed in Corporate/ Brand Image, which grew 39x and a whopping 587x during Wave 2 over Wave 1 and Wave 2 over Dec’20-Feb’21, respectively.

During Wave 2, more than 120 new advertisers and 225 new brands were seen compared to Dec’20-Feb’21 and more than 175 new advertisers and 375 new brands observed as compared to Wave 1.

Key findings:

• Compared to Jan-Jun’19, celebrity endorsed ads grew by 23% in Jan-Jun’21, whereas it decreased during Jan-Jun’20.
• 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.
• F&B sector’s advertisements were dominated by Male celebrities, while Personal Care/ Personal Hygiene was dominated by Female celebrities during Jan-Jun’21.
• With an average visibility of 33 hrs/day across all channels, Akshay Kumar topped the list of the most visible celebrities.
• More than 50% of the ads were endorsed by two celebrity couples – Akshay Kumar/Twinkle Khanna and Kareena Kapoor/Saif Ali Khan.
• Celebrity advertisements were done maximum on the News channel genre, with 30% share of the celebrity ad volumes.
• Top 5 sports celebrities together accounted for more than 60% share of the ad volumes during Jan-Jun’21.
• Celebrity ads decreased by 41% during the Wave 1 phase, whereas it grew by 15% and 23%, respectively, compared to the pre-COVID-19 phase.