With 30 brands each, Kohli, Dhoni & Rohit Sharma rule Indian sports endorsements

• Overall, spending on sports celebrity endorsements has increased 20% by ₹124 crore to ₹749 crore in 2022, says GroupM ESP Sporting Nation Report 2023.
  
  
• About 85% of the total endorsement value, which is ₹640 crore, went to cricketers, and ₹109 crore went to other sports.
  
  
• A total of 505 brand endorsement deals took place, out of which 381 deals were with cricketers.
  

Indian cricketers are said to be enjoying the leverage that comes from the popularity of cricket – which is more of a religion in the country. Indian cricketers apparently not only earn a huge chunk from brand endorsements, but are among sport personalities to attract large endorsements.

Overall, spending on sports celebrity endorsements has increased 20% by ₹124 crore to ₹749 crore in 2022 from ₹625 crore in the previous year, says GroupM ESP Sporting Nation Report 2023.

About 85% of the total endorsement value of ₹749 crore, which is ₹640 crore, went to cricketers. The remaining ₹109 crore went to other sports.

A total of 505 brand endorsement deals took place, out of which, 381 deals were with cricketers.

The top athletes in sports celebrity brand endorsement are Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, Sachin Tendulkar, Neeraj Chopra, and PV Sindhu.

In fact, the average deal value involving cricketers is 1.8 times that of athletes from emerging sports.

Virat Kohli continues to be the topper of brand endorsements with 30 brands

From being a brand ambassador to ethnic wear brand Manyavar, wearables brands Noise, e-commerce platform Myntra and several others, Virat Kohli is said to be dominating the brand endorsement space.

“Talking of specific individuals in the team sport, recent years have seen Virat Kohli dominating the brand endorsement space in Indian sports, building a substantial lead over the others, in terms of earnings,” said GroupM ESP Sporting Nation Report 2023.

Former captain of the Indian cricket team MS Dhoni is another one on the list that makes a huge amount from brand advertisements followed by Rohit Sharma. Apparently, all three Indian cricketers have 30 brands each.

The report says that other Team India stars like Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan are also among the big scorers in the endorsement space, be it in terms of overall revenue, or with respect to acquisition of new brands too.

New ones on the pitch of brand endorsements are cricketers like Surya Kumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer.

“Cricketers with a more recent ascendancy to the world of stardom, like Surya Kumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer, can be considered to be the new favourites of brands and they are expected to score at a brisk rate in near future,” said the report.

As the Indian women’s team has progressed by leaps and bounds in the last few years, women cricketers like Harmanpreet Kaur, Mithali Raj and Smriti Mandhana are also attracting brand endorsements.

With the rollout of Women's Premier League from 2023, these women players are expected to pick up pace in the endorsement arena.

Share of other emerging sports in celebrity endorsement gradually picking up

Other emerging sports professionals are gradually picking pace in brand endorsement.

With the emerging popularity of other sports including Kho Kho, Kabaddi, Hockey and others, the share of cricket in sports celebrity endorsement has come down to 85% in 2022 from 87% last year.

While other emerging sports find new audiences, the sport personalities from these segments also find takers from brands. Olympic champion in javelin throw Neeraj Chopra is on the top of the list of athletes from other emerging sports to have mass following, and brands in his kitty.

With 12 brands under his belt, Chopra had the longest throw among non-cricketers. Badminton player PV Sindhu has 11 brands in her portfolio.

Apart from cricket leagues, as India hosted several other tournaments like Indian Super League, Pro Kabaddi, the Commonwealth Games, Prime Volleyball League, and Ultimate KhoKho and others have helped catch more eyeballs for other sports as well.