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Picture Credit: Twitter, Instagram

Indian Captain Virat Kohli, who has a strong following on social media, has the top brand value and earns in 7 digits from social media promotions. Kohli is the first cricketer and first Asian celebrity to have 100 million Instagram followers. However, as per the latest reports, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook are likely to get banned in India from 26th May if they do not comply with the new Intermediary Guidelines.

Let us look at why a ban on social media might affect the brand of Virat Kohli - in numbers!

- Virat Kohli, who enjoys a great fan following on social media is the first Indian to reach 100 Million followers on Instagram and as per online sentiment analysis conducted in 2020, his brand value stood at INR 3.28 billion. (328 Crores)

- During March-May 2020, it was reported that Virat Kohli earned 3,79,294 pounds (Approx 3.62 crore in Indian Rupees) through his sponsored posts which were 6th highest overall.

- Virat Kohli was the only Indian in the 10 highest-earning athletes list on Instagram during the 2020 lockdown period.

- As of 2018, it was believed that Virat Kohli was earning 3.2 Crores for one sponsored Instagram post.

Most followed sportsperson on Instagram

Cristiano Ronaldo - 289 M followers
Lionel Messi - 209 M followers
Neymar - 151 M followers
Virat Kohli - 120 M followers*
LeBron James - 85 M followers

- Virat Kohli, with 42.2 Million followers, is the 3rd most followed Indian celebrity after Amitabh Bachchan and Salman Khan on Twitter.

Most followed sportsperson on Twitter

Cristiano Ronaldo - 92.1 M followers
Neymar - 53.6 M followers
LeBron James - 49.6 M followers
Virat Kohli - 42.2 M followers*

-In 2020, it was reported that Virat Kohli earns 2.5 crores per tweet.

- He has been endorsing around 20 brands through his Twitter and Instagram posts, which has a huge influence on brands and products as well.

- In 2018, Virat Kohli was the only cricketer in the Forbes list of the World's highest-paid 100 athletes. In 2020, he was ranked 66th among the highest-paid athletes.

Most followed celebrity among Indians on Facebook

Priyanka Chopra - 55 M followers
Salman Khan - 50 M followers
Akshay Kumar / Deepika Padukone - 48 M followers
Narendra Modi - 46.6 M followers
Virat Kohli - 45 M followers*