Who commands a bigger premium - film stars or cricketers?
A: If you look at the average price the top five film stars command for an average endorsement and compare that to what the top five cricketers get, the film stars are way ahead.
Q: Could you share some figures?
A: Aamir Khan apparently commands Rs 10 crore (Rs 100 million) while Sachin Tendulkar and M S Dhoni get around Rs 5 crore (Rs 50 million). It is natural that the endorsement price is heavily skewed in favour of icons like Aamir, Shahrukh Khan, Akshay Kumar, Sachin Tendulkar and M S Dhoni. These five, on average, get roughly three times what the next 10 get. And, yes, Aamir Khan is the highest-paid brand ambassador today.
But let's not get into their prices as these vary depending upon the brand and product category. For instance, compared to other product categories, a mobile phone brand would pay a premium to a male icon. Similarly, colour cosmetics' brands would pay female stars more.
The value of the deal depends on the duration of the contract and the number of days the stars commit to endorse the brand. Among female stars, Genelia D'Souza is said to be getting more than some of the established ambassadors. Most of the numbers that are reported are rubbish. Discussing endorsement fees makes little sense as, in this field, the standard deviation is so high that the averages have no meaning.