Vicky Kaushal, Taapsee Pannu most read emerging actors: Taboola Report

Taboola, the world’s leading discovery platform, today released its first 'Bollywood Actors Reader Engagement' findings, capturing Indian readers' preference for actors, in terms of engagement time reading about actors on the open web. The report analyzed reader engagement data of 37 Indian states and UTs for the leading 45 Bollywood stars, which includes 22 actors and 23 actresses. 

In terms of popularity, Shahrukh Khan was the undisputed winner, leading readers’ choice in 31 states and UTs out of 37, whereas Priyanka Chopra was the most popular female actor in 18 states and UTs. Aamir Khan emerged as the winner of most time spent on an actor by readers. Taboola's Bollywood Reader Engagement Findings' are based on its analysis of the open web searching leading Bollywood stars, which included 50 million readers, 40 thousand articles, 190 million-page views and 245 million minutes of reading.

(Actor & Actress - Number of Readers) - Shahrukh Khan and Priyanka Chopra dominate

In terms of number of readers, Shahrukh Khan lead the pack by a huge margin with ranking as the top actor in 31 states and UTs out of 37. Ranking second was Amitabh Bachchan, who lead among readers in 3 states and UTs among Bollywood male actors.

Among the female Bollywood stars, Priyanka Chopra was the most read in 18 states. She was followed by Shraddha Kapoor, who was most read about in 7 states and UTs.

(Actor & Actress - Time spent by Readers) – Aamir Khan and Priyanka Chopra score high

In terms of the amount of time Bollywood fans spent reading about their favorite stars, Aamir Khan made it to the top with 2.48 minutes per reader and 1.36 minutes per pageview. Shahrukh Khan held the second spot with an average of 2.41 minutes per reader and 0.39 minutes per pageview whereas Salman Khan came at number 3 with 2.16 mins per reader and 0.31 mins per pageviews.

Among female Bollywood celebrities, Priyanka Chopra topped the chart with 3.46 mins per reader and 0.27 mins per pageview. Surprisingly, Ileana D’ Cruz took the second spot with 3.32 mins per reader and 0.34 mins per pageviews, while Kareena Kapoor stood at strong third with 2.17 mins per reader and 1.18 mins per pageviews.

Bollywood Rising Stars

Intriguingly, rising actors like Vicky Kaushal with 1.10 mins per reader and 0.55 mins per pageviews and Kartik Aryan with 1.08 mins per reader and 0.58 mins per pageviews made it to the top 15 list and emerged as the Rising Stars of Bollywood. In female category, Taapsee Pannu with 1.14 mins per reader and 1.03 mins per pageviews and Radhika Apte with 1.09 mins per reader and 0.56 mins per pageviews made it to the top 15 list and arose as the Rising Stars of Bollywood.

(Actor & Actress - Male & Female Readers) - Emraan Hashmi, Sidharth Malhotra, Ilena D’Cruz and Kangana Ranaut lead   

This report also includes data on the most read about Bollywood actors by men and women. The actor with the largest percentage of male readers was Emraan Hashmi, with nearly 80% to 20% women.  In terms of the largest percentage of female readers, Sidharth Malhotra emerged as the top Bollywood male star with readers with nearly 46% of readership by women. 

Among female actors, Ilena D’Cruz came out as the most read star by men with a ratio of 90% men to 10% women which is higher than any other actress in the list. While for female readers, with 41% men to 59% women ratio Kangana Ranaut came out as the most read by female followers.