Ananya Panday overtakes Shahrukh Khan as IPL 18’s most visible celebrity endorser: TAM
Film actors continued to dominate, claiming 41% of the ad volume, followed by sports personalities at 35%.
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Compared to IPL 17, IPL 18 saw a decline in the total number of individual celebrity endorsers, including sports celebrities. However, the share of ads endorsed by celebrities grew by 2%, indicating a sharper focus on fewer, high-impact names. Despite this uptick, the overall celebrity to non-celebrity ad ratio remained constant at 61:39.
Film actors continued to dominate, claiming 41% of the ad volume, followed by sports personalities at 35%. Ananya Panday emerged as the top celebrity endorser in IPL 18 with a 9% share, overtaking Shahrukh Khan, who had led in IPL 17 with 12%. Interestingly, Shahrukh was the only celebrity to feature in the top five endorsers in both seasons, underscoring his enduring brand appeal.
Sports celebrities gained greater individual visibility in IPL 18. MS Dhoni topped the sports chart with 15.1%, while Siraj, Jaiswal, and Rinku Singh followed with 9.8% each. In comparison, the top sports celebrities in IPL 17 each hovered around 7.4%. Notably, no sports celebrity was common to the top five in both years.
Overall, more than 70% of celebrity-endorsed ad volumes came from just five product categories, including ecom-gaming, biscuits, and pan masala, while 60% of ad volumes were driven by five advertisers, led by Dream11 (Sporta Technologies) and Playgames 24x7.
The 18th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has kicked off with a notable uptick in advertising momentum. According to TAM Sports data covering the first five matches (March 22–25), IPL 2025 has already clocked a 29% increase in the number of advertisers compared to the same period last year. The count of active advertisers rose from 40+ in IPL 17 to 55+ this year, signaling early-season confidence from marketers across categories.
The number of advertising categories also increased from 40+ to 45+, representing a 12% jump year-on-year. Notably, the report highlights the entry of 20+ new categories, suggesting that brands which previously sat on the fence—particularly in digital-first and regional sectors—are now testing the waters with India’s biggest tentpole property.
