Mahendra Singh Dhoni named ninth most marketable star by London institute

Mahendra Singh Dhoni named ninth most marketable star by London institute
PTI | Jul 25, 2015, 12.16 PM IST

Mahendra Singh Dhoni named ninth most marketable star by London institute
Dhoni is ahead of Messi and Bolt in a power list prepared by London School of Marketing. (TOI Photo)

LONDON: India's ODI cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been named as the ninth most marketable sportsperson in the world ahead of the likes of football superstar Lionel Messi and sprint king Usain Bolt in a power list prepared by London School of Marketing.

34-year-old Dhoni, considered one of the finest ever finishers of the one-day game, was placed ahead of other football superstars Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar and tennis players Andy Murray and Serena Williams in the list of the world's 20 most marketable sportspersons.

While compiling the list, LSM researchers looked at the brand value of the individuals along with their current income from sponsorship and the percentage of their total earnings it accounted for as well as their social media presence.

Swiss tennis master Roger Federer was named as the most marketable sports star in the world, followed by golfers Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson at second and third respectively.

Despite his loss in the Wimbledon final to Novak Djokovic, Federer is considered one of the most influential persons in the world. The Swiss, who has 17 Grand Slam singles titles to his credit, missed his chance to grab his eighth Wimbledon title recently.

"He may not have won Wimbledon this year, but it's Federer's personal characteristics which sponsors find so attractive," said Jacques de Cock, faculty member at the London School of Marketing.

Tennis stars dominate the power list with Djokovic seventh on the list, followed by Rafael Nadal. Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams -- the only two women to make it into the top 20 -- claim the 12th and 20th spots, respectively.

"Despite having passed their peak physically, Roger Federer, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are kings," de Cock said.

The List: Roger Federer, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Rory McIlroy, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kobe Bryant, Maria Sharapova, Lionel Messi, Usain Bolt, Neymar, Andy Murray, Kei Nishikori, Derrick Rose, Floyd Mayweather, Serena Williams.

Is this a joke? CR7 has about 105 million facebook likes and his sponsors are paying him millions and he is one of the highest earning athlete. Dhoni is far off and nowhere close to football superstars.
I don't hate Dhoni,but this is a tad  too much to rank him above high profile football stars.


Was it based on a poll ??

This is what having over a billion people in your country can do for you. Ask anyone in America or South America who MS dhoni is and they will they you they have no clue. Dhoni is only popular because the huge Indian population made him so.

It's based on endorsement earnings. All the London School of Marketing have done is simply ranked the athletes by their endorsement earnings for 2015.

According to Forbes, Dhoni will earn $27 million in endorsement deals this year. This ranks him tied with Ronaldo for ninth.

Digging through the endorsement earnings, we see it corresponds perfecly with the rankings by the London School of Marketing.

1. Roger Federer $58M, 2. Tiger Woods $50M, 3. Phil Mickelson $48M, 4. LeBron James $44M, 5. Kevin Durant $35M, 6. Rory McIlroy $32M, 7. Novak Djokovic $31M, 8. Rafael Nadal $28M, 9. MS Dhoni $27M, 9. Christiano Ronaldo $27M

www.forbes.com/celebrities/list/#tab:overall_category:Athletes

So this wasn't a study into them being famous and their popularity quotient ?
It though is related to earning but not squarely.
They are perfectly "marketing" their study

Pleasant looking chap 

::LOL:: ::LOL::

In reality, yes, it was, because being both famous/popular and having a large market is what earns athletes the biggest endorsement deals. Marketing is more important than ever today for companies. The bigger the celebrity, the bigger the market, the bigger the endorsement deal.

I believe that Dhoni is currently the face of 21 brands which includes the likes of Pepsi, Reebok, Aircel, Exide, TVS Motors and Videocon. Almost half of these endorsements pay more than $1 million annually, including a $5 million deal with United Breweries Group.

He rakes in a lot and yes as someone stated,his fan base and following in India might have catapulted him to that spot.
He eats a major chunk of every deal offered,like when he nominates a representative as well,he gets a god chunk of that amount.
An inspiration to how a bloke on the streets of Ranchi has climbed up the ladder so very well.