A viral report from Hopper HQ on Friday has brought attention to the staggering earnings of former India cricket team captain Virat Kohli. The report stated that Kohli commanded an astounding INR 11.45 crore for each sponsored post he shared on Instagram in 2023. This revelation has created significant buzz in online circles.
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"While I am grateful and indebted to all that I've received in life, the news that has been making rounds about my social media earnings is not true," he wrote on X.
Nevertheless, Virat Kohli has responded vehemently to the report, denying its claims entirely. The discrepancy in reported earnings has sparked discussions about the actual compensation these sports icons receive for their Instagram endorsements.
Interestingly, the list of high-earning influencers was led by football legend Cristiano Ronaldo, closely followed by the renowned Argentine footballer Lionel Messi. The report disclosed that Ronaldo's fee for a sponsored Instagram post reached an astonishing USD 3.23 million, translating to approximately INR 26.75 crore. Similarly, Messi commanded a substantial USD 2.56 million for each post, which is roughly equivalent to INR 21.49 crore as per Hopper HQ's data.
While Kohli adamantly refutes the claim that he accumulates $1,384,000 (equivalent to Rs 11.45 crore) for each Instagram endorsement, his earnings from endorsements are widely acknowledged to be substantial.
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Notably, he stood as the sole Indian athlete in the esteemed Forbes compilation of the world's highest-paid sportspeople in 2020. His existing roster of brands encompasses prominent names such as Puma, HSBC, O’cean Beverages, Vivo India, among several others.