"Celebrity" Endorsement - Still a glory?

As per the latest TAM AdEx report, only 28% of the TV advertised content was endorsed by celebrities. However, KROLL in 2019 indicated this number to be almost 50% with a constant growth in ad volume YoY.?

A top rated movie star charges anywhere between 30 - 50 crs for a project and takes up a max of 1 or 2 movies in a year (we can exclude Akshay Kumar here). Where, while signing up TV Commercial deals, they only have to commit a day or 2 and hence end up working for 30-40 different brands in a year for which they charge 3 to 5 crs per endorsement taking their total earning over 200 crs.

Clearly, earnings from Endorsements is almost 2X of their core profession.

Another top celebrity like Katrina Kaif is a preferred choice of a few premium-ish categories and is endorsing 18-20 big and small brands however, she does not feature even in the top 25 celeb list even after holding a Brand Value of $15-20 million.

Then what changed

• More realistic ad content with the product being the hero rather than a celebrity.
• Stronger interferences from governing bodies like ASCI and FSSAI
• Diversification of Earning - Celebs becoming entrepreneur with equity deals
• Quick referral earnings from Social Media (takes only 30 minute shoot at home against an 8 hour commitment for a TV Commercial)
• More competition with brands getting spoilt for choice, new age young celebs taking up more projects and getting more recognition being closure to the target audience
• Celebrities getting busier with more and more work (accepting projects on OTT)

The list seems to go on.

However, still, the effect is going to take some more time as the exponential penetration of Digital medium in the wider geographies is acting as a reverse catalyst (Internet users are at 50%+ and Social Media users are at 30%+ of the total population)

Here are some facts:

• Amitabh Bachchan is still at the top with 53 brand endorsements in 2023.
• 1.6B USD → Brand value of the top 25 celebrities in India (2022), this is 29% higher than 2021.
• Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar and Virat Kohli play the battle for the top spot with more than $150mn valuation every year.
• Now, athletes apart from Cricket like Neeraj Chopra and PV Sidhu at a valuation of 25+ Million USD are apparently earning more than the Diva Katrina Kaif.
• With a trend of language diversification in Movies within India also, celebrities from the South are getting a bigger recognition nationally.?
• Shahrukh Khan with the biggest fan following of any Indian Celeb across the globe is at the bottom of the list of top 10 (Brand Value).

Question is, with such a dynamic advertising structure in India where the consumption is huge and is ever growing, this declining trend will lead to what direction? More interestingly, whether AI is going to have some control here as well and further make it difficult for these celebs to maintain a standing?

https://brandequity.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/marketing/elevating-brands-the-katrina-kaif-effect-in-marketing/108213124