Ace cricketer Virat Kohli has been ranked as the most valuable celebrity for the fourth consecutive year in 2020 with a brand value of USD 237.7 million, and the second and third slots have gone to Hindi film actors Akshay Kumar and Ranveer Singh, according to an industry ranking.

Of the top ten most-valued celebs, only Kohli is outside of the filmdom and of the nine-film stars, only two are females in the 2020 ranking.

While Kohli's brand remained the same, the top 20 celebs lost 5 per cent of their combined value to USD 1 billion in 2020, Duff & Phelps, which specialises in brand valuation, said in a statement on Thursday.

Kohli remains the most valued celebrity for the fourth consecutive year with a steady brand value of USD 237.7 million in 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic, it said.

While Akshay Kumar retains the second position with a brand value of USD 118.9 million, a jump of 13.8 per cent, Ranveer Singh also retains his third position again for the second year, with a brand value of USD 102.9 million, the agency said in its sixth edition of celebrity brand valuation study.

The overall brand value of the top 20 celebrities in 2020 is estimated at USD 1 billion, down 5 per cent from 2019 as the pandemic crippled all activities, the study added.

The study is based on brand value derived from their product endorsement portfolio and relative social media presence. It examined the impact of the pandemic on both brand value rankings and the celebrity endorsement space.

With a valuation of USD 51.1 million, Shah Rukh Khan has improved his ranking by a notch to the fourth slot in 2020, while Deepika Padukone is the fifth most valued celeb with USD 50.4 million but down from the third slot in 2019; Alia Bhatt has improved to the sixth slot from seventh in 2019 with USD 48 million.

Ayushmann Khurrana has moved up four notches to the sixth rank with a valuation of USD 48 million, but Salman Khan slipped two notches to the eighth slot with a value of USD 45 million, while Amitabh Bachchan is ninth (USD 44.2 million) and Hrithik Roshan is ranked 10th (USD 39.4).

“While established celebrities continue to dominate the rankings, notable millennials with a strong social media presence continue to climb the ladder. Ayushmann Khurrana, Tiger Shroff and Rohit Sharma jumped a few spots to the sixth, 15th and 17th ranks, respectively, and Kartik Aaryan debuts on the list at 20th.

“These rising millennial celebrities were in greater demand during the pandemic owing to their popularity among the youth,” Aviral Jain, managing director of Duff & Phelps said.

In 2020, the media and entertainment sector took a hit and witnessed a significant slowdown in advertising spends as traditional media and outdoor entertainment were severely impacted by the pandemic. Digital marginally overtook print to become the second-largest segment in the advertisement space, and it continues to witness traction among brands, according to Jain.