A run-scoring machine on the field and one of the most marketable celebrities off it, Virat Kohli is a truly successful sportsperson. Though Kohli’s pace of reaching new landmarks on the field has slowed down a little bit, the India captain has continued to break records in the world of social media.
On Friday, Kohli became the first cricketer, first Indian as well as the first Asian to cross the 150 million followers landmark on Instagram. In the overall list, Kohli is the fourth sporting celebrity to reach the 150 million mark on the photo-blogging portal.
- Cristiano Ronaldo – 337 million
- Lionel Messi – 260 million
- Neymar – 160 million
The huge number of followers that Kohli has on Instagram also sees him monetise them with a good effect. According to Hopper HQ, Kohli is also the highest-paid celebrity in India when it comes to making money through Instagram. The superstar cricketer reportedly charges INR 5 crore per sponsored post on the platform. With Kohli now reaching the 150 million mark, the price per post is also likely to increase.
In comparison, Ronaldo charges USD 1,604,000 (INR 11.72 crore) per sponsored Instagram post. Messi, who comes next on the list of sporting celebrities who earn the most amount of money from Instagram, fetches USD 1,169,000 (INR 8.54 crore) per sponsored post on Instagram. The only other athlete on the list ahead of Kohli is Brazilian footballer Neymar – who earns USD 824,000 (INR 6 crore) per sponsored post.
Kohli is unarguably the highest-earning cricketer in the world (considering all sources). Though his earning through central contract might not be the best in the world, other sources do give Kohli’s case a huge boost.
The iconic batsman fetches Rs. 17 crore from Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Rs. 7.5 crore from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Kohli also has some of the finest brand endorsement deals to his name.
He promotes the likes of Great Learning, iQOO, Iqoo Smartphones, Lafarge, Max Life Insurance and Vizecare. Additionally, he has been endorsing brands like Colgate, Google, Hero, Puma, Vicks, etc. and charges a whopping amount of money for each deal.
