In the first half of 2024, celebrity endorsements made up 32% of all advertisements aired on Indian television, revealed TAM AdEx report. Film stars led the way, accounting for more than 75% of the total celebrity-endorsed ads, followed by athletes at 14% and television stars at 11%. Furthermore, the volume of celebrity-endorsed ads decreased in January-June 2023 as compared to the same period in the previous year but remained consistent in January-June 2024.
More than 50% of ads endorsed by celebrities belong to the top three sectors—food and beverages, personal care, and household products, while the top seven sectors are consolidated under 81% of ads, which include these three along with other categories during January-June 2023-24. The report also revealed that during January-June 2024, the top two sectors, food and beverages and personal care/personal hygiene, were primarily endorsed by male and female celebrities, respectively, with male celebrities accounting for 60% of food and beverage ads and female celebrities comprising 65% of personal hygiene ads; the overall average ad endorsement ratio stood at 60% male to 40% female.
In January-June 2024, five out of the top ten categories in celebrity ad volumes were from the food and beverages sector, which collectively accounted for 38% of total celebrity ad volumes. ‘Toilet/Floor Cleaners’ emerged as the leading category with an eight per cent share with Toilet Soaps at the second rank with five per cent ad share. Ecom-Gaming topped the list as the category with the highest number of celebrity endorsements from various professions, featuring 45 celebrities, followed by the Spices category, which saw endorsements from 24 celebrities.
Akshay Kumar led the visibility rankings with an average of 22 hours per day across all channels, followed by Shahrukh Khan with 20 hours per day through TV sponsorships. Alia Bhatt and Sara Ali Khan also made the list, averaging 12 hours and 10.9 hours of visibility per day, respectively. The Top 10 featured 6 male and 4 female celebrities, the report highlighted. Additionally, In Jan-Jun 24, six of the top ten celebrities, including M S Dhoni, Amitabh Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Kiara Advani, and Madhuri Dixit, sponsored more firms than in the same period in Jan-Jun 23, with three of the top ten celebrities hailing from the sports profession.