After the Aussies, Virat Kohli now beats Shah Rukh and Aamir Khan

Virat Kohli beats Shah Rukh and Aamir Khan, becomes highest-paid celebrity in India

Virat Kohli

Team India captain Virat Kohli is looking to reap the benefits of his purple patch by hiking his endorsement fee.

The 28-year-old has reportedly hiked it to Rs 5 crore a day for new contracts, the highest charged by any celebrity in the country, according to a report in The Economic Times.

The Indian captain's fee had earlier ranged between Rs 2.5 crore and Rs 4 crore a day.

Two unnamed officials confirmed the news to hike was confirmed to the publication by two unnamed officials. According to them, this fee not only surpasses what Mahendra Singh Dhoni charged at his peak, but also the fees charged by Hindi film stars like Ranveer Singh and Ranbir Kapoor.

According to estimates, Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan charge approximately Rs 3-3.5 crore each per day.

Shah Rukh Khan

Based on industry standards, celebrities sign brand endorsement contracts that require them to make appearances for two to four days in a year. On these days, the celebs are asked to shoot the commercials, make appearances at events, address the media and/or speak with employees as the brand ambassador. In such a scenario, Kohli would get paid Rs 20 crore in a year to make appearances on four days for the brand.

Kohli revising his fees follows a report in the same publication that stated that Indians, it seems, can't have enough of the 28-year-old. We not only want to see him thrashing the opponents out in the field, but also on television selling soft-drinks, luxury cars and menswear.

Aamir Khan

According to the report, the cricketer endorsed as many as 20 brands of 13 different companies in 2016, and these brands advertised for 1,190 hours across multiple TV channels. That meant the cricketer was being seen, on an average, in 643 advertising slots every day.

"Brand Kohli has been steadily on the rise after the T20 event in 2012. This is obviously due to his on-field performance and, most notably, his best knocks that have come during tough chases," Ramakrishnan R, director at sports marketing firm Baseline Ventures, was quoted as saying in the article.

According to a viewership analysis by TAM Media Research, Kohli's per day exposure was at 196 minutes across all television channels. Interestingly, in 82% of these ads, Kohli was the only star. Compare these 2016 numbes to those from 2015, when by contrast, Kohli had appeared solo in only 40% of the ads and you get a clearer picture of his rising popularity.

Kohli had also recently overtaken his predecessor in Team India, MS Dhoni, and become the Indian celebrity with the second most highest brand value behind Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan.

According to a report published by 'Duff & Phelps' in October 2016, Kohli had moved up from the fourth position to be ranked number 2 in the list of Indian celebrities with the highest brand value. It is believed that his brand value went up by 20-25 per cent when he was appointed captain of India's One Day International and Twenty20 teams and it is likely to increase even more.

Kohli's current brand value is pegged at USD 92 million, second only to Shah Rukh's at USD 131 million, according to an October 2016 report on India's most valued celebrity brands published by Duff & Phelps, a global valuation and corporate finance advisory firm.

And he also recently set an endorsement record by signing a Rs 100-crore deal with Puma, becoming the first Indian sportsperson to bag such a huge deal with one brand.

Kohli currently endorses 18 brands which include Audi cars, MRF tyres, Tissot watches, Gionee phones, Boost milk drink, Colgate toothpaste and Vicks lozenges, among others.

He has also invested in a chain of gyms under the name Chisel, a tech startup called Sports Convo, a fashion label by the name of Wrogn and has a partnership with Nazara Technologies for online cricket games.