PremiumNEW DELHI: With an average visibility of 33 hours per day across TV channels, actor Akshay Kumar topped the list of the most visible celebrities in the first half (January-June) of 2021, as far as celebrity endorsed ads on TV go. Not just that, he was seen endorsing 36 brands during this period compared to 26 in January to June 2020.
Kumar was followed by actor Kiara Advani with an average visibility of 18 hours per day across channels through endorsements in TV ads. The data was shared by AdEx India, a division of TAM Media Research.
More than 25% of ads on TV were endorsed by celebrities from different professions, with film actors accounting for more than 85% share, followed by sports personalities and TV stars that added 12% and 3% share respectively. Compared to January-June 2019, celebrity endorsed advertisements grew 23% in the first half of 2021, while fell 26% during the same period in 2020.
The report said more than 50% of the ads endorsed by celebrities fell under three sectors including food and beverages (F&B), personal care or hygiene and services.
F&B topped with more than one-fourth of total celebrity ad volume share.
The gender split in these categories is revealing: While 59% of F&B ads featured a male celebrity, 75% of personal care ads were led by females. Ads under ‘education’ sector were only endorsed by male celebrities. The report also said that young female celebrities were preferred over their male counterparts, but the scenario changes when it comes to celebrities in the 35 plus age group.
The list of top 10 endorsers, led by Kumar and Advani, features only two sports personalities, Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni. Six of the top 10 celebrities were endorsing more brands in January to June 2021 compared to 2020, including Kumar, Advani, Ranveer Singh, Kareena Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan and Dhoni.
Among sports celebrities, Virat Kohli ranked first with 26% share of advertisements followed by Dhoni with 23% share in the first half of 2021. The list of top sportspersons included more than 45 men compared to eight women.
News channels gained the maximum share of celebrity ad volumes at 30% followed by GECs at 26%. Celebrity advertisements had decreased by 41% compared to pre-covid during the first covid wave phase, whereas they grew by 15% and 23% respectively when unlock first started last year and during the second wave this year, the report said.
Within the celebrity endorsement category, male actors took the lion’s share at 46%, followed by female actors at 40%, sports personalities at 12%, TV actresses and actors at 2% and 1% respectively. Overall, celebrity endorsements on TV grew by 65% in ad volumes this year compared to January to June 2020. Highest ad volumes were observed during the month of March for both periods, that is, the first half of 2020 and 2021. The same grew by 16% in March 2020 compared to February and then a sudden drop was observed during April and May due to the covid-19 pandemic.
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