Popularity and Marketability

You’d have to live in a cave to not know that MS Dhoni is popular. But that he was #10 in the most marketable sportspeople worldwide? That’s beyond imagination. Think about it: the guy plays cricket, a game followed only in a handful of countries (IPL notwithstanding). The others on the list are from football, athletics, F1, tennis…the usual suspects. Coming from games with huge followings. Playing sports that are popular worldwide. And yet, a guy earning in rupees beat the Euro and dollar guys. Wow! Maybe India is shining.

But if you think that it must be because of IPL or India winning the World Cup, then how come the cricketer so many Indians idolize, Sachin Tendulkar, is nowhere to be seen on this list? Even Yuvraj is ahead of Tendulkar!

Just goes to show that being good isn’t the same as being marketable. Tendulkar’s like Facebook: popular but with no clear idea on how to translate that into money. And Dhoni’s like Apple: the brand everyone wants to have a piece of.

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