Akshay Kumar dominated TV advertising in 2024: TAM Media

In India, celebrity endorsements have been a prevalent marketing strategy for a long time. However, brands are facing an increasing challenge in capturing people's attention and time. Marketers believe that brand ambassadors provide a higher degree of consumer recall due to the star-struck nature of Indians towards movie stars, sports personalities, TV actors, and actresses.

Celebrities had a strong influence on television advertising, endorsing over 25% of all ads aired in 2024. From the Celebrity professions, Film stars together added 77% share of the advertising during 2024, followed by Sports person and TV stars that added 14% and 9% share, respectively. Male movie actors played a significant role in brand endorsements, commanding 42% of the total ad endorsement market.

In 2024, there was an 3% increase in the ad volumes for ads that featured celebrity compared to 2023, highlighting the sustained influence of star power in advertising. The celebrity-endorsed ads witnessed a decline of 8% in 2023 and 6% in 2024 compared to 2022. The IPL season significantly boosted advertising activity, making the April-June 2024 quarter the peak period for daily ad volumes (measured in hours).

Highest Ad Volumes share was observed during May’24 and lowest share seen during Dec’24. An average share of ad volumes during 1st half of Y 2024 was 9%, while in 2nd half it was decreased and registered 7.7% share.

During Apr-Jun’24, highest Celebrity endorsement ads were seen compared to other three quarters of Y 2024.

More than 50% of the ads endorsed by celebrities fall under Top 3 sectors and 80% of the ads fall under Top 7 sectors. ‘F&B’ sector had highest share of celebrity ad volumes, followed by ‘Personal Care/ Personal Hygiene’. Four out of Top 10 sectors have same rank position for current Year to last year.

Average ad endorsing ratio of Male and Female celebrities for the Top 10 sectors was 60:40. In 2024, the F&B sector saw a strong male celebrity presence in advertisements, while Personal Care/ Personal Hygiene was predominantly endorsed by female celebrities, reflecting gendered marketing trends in these industries. Advertisements in the Agriculture, Telecom/ Internet Service Providers, and Media sectors exclusively featured male celebrity endorsers, highlighting a lack of female representation in these categories.

The Top 10 advertising categories collectively contributed 35% of all celebrity-endorsed ads. ‘Toilet/ Floor Cleaners’ emerged as the leading category in 2024, commanding 9% of celebrity ad volumes, followed by ‘Toilet Soaps’ at 5%, highlighting the strong reliance of hygiene-focused brands on celebrity endorsements.

‘Ecom-Gaming’ emerged as the most sought-after category, attracting celebrity endorsements from a diverse range of professions, followed closely by ‘Spices’, reflecting the broad appeal and marketing potential of these sectors.

Akshay Kumar dominated TV advertising in 2024, with 20 hours of daily visibility across all channels, making him the most visible celebrity. Shah Rukh Khan followed close behind with 16 hours per day, reinforcing his enduring influence in brand endorsements. The Top 10 most visible celebrities comprised 6 male and 4 female stars, showcasing a strong male presence in brand promotions. MS Dhoni, Kiara Advani, and Ranbir Kapoor were new entrants in the 2024 Top 10 list, compared to 2023.

Notably, MS Dhoni emerged as the most sought-after celebrity, endorsing the highest number of brands in 2024. Four celebrities – MS Dhoni, Kareena Kapoor, Kiara Advani, and Madhuri Dixit – expanded their brand associations in 2024, securing more endorsements than in 2023.

50% ads were endorsed by four celebrity couples – Akshay Kumar/ Twinkle Khanna, Ranbir Kapoor/ Alia Bhatt, Anushka Sharma/ Virat Kohli, and Amitabh Bachchan/ Jaya Bachchan, who had endorsed 35, 46, 28 and 51 brands, respectively, during Y 2024.

Also Read: Catch Spices unveils new TVCs starring Akshay Kumar and Rajpal Yadav