The Top 10 Chinese Male Idols With the Most Brand Ambassadorships in 2019-2020
In China, Gen Z female consumers are the most desired consumer group, naturally making young male celebrities the most popular brand ambassadors.
According to DT Finance (DT财经), the TOP 10 most popular male ambassadors from 2019-2020 are:
- Wang Yibo (王一博)
- Deng Lun (邓伦)
- Jackson Yee (易烊千玺)
- Li Xian (李现)
- Wang Junkai (王俊凯)
- Zhou Zhennan (周震南)
- Hua Chenyu (华晨宇)
- Justin Huang (黄明昊)
- Lay Zhang (张艺兴)
- Xiao Zhan (肖战)
In order to take full advantage of the fan economy and be able to work with multiple ambassadors, brands in China use all sorts of titles for different levels of celebrity partnerships. For example, brand ambassador is biggest partnership and they might only have one of these, “brand friend” would come after brand ambassador and you might have several of these, and then specific products or departments may have their own ambassadors, for example YSL vs. YSL Beauty.
As seen by the image above, only a couple years ago, the majority of the current TOP10 male idols were not on the ambassador ranking board. Consumers are changing and so are their favorite male idols. Girls change their “husband” along with every new TV series.
Only three of the top 10 male idols in 2017-2018 are still on the ranking board today. And it’s likely that many of the top idols from 2019-2020 won’t be on the ranking board 2 years from now. We can see in the chart below that many of the top names seemed to have peaked in 2019, and some new names such as famous actress Fan Bingbing’s brother Fan Chengcheng, singer Cai Xukun, and actor Song Weilong are rising fast.
Types of Brands
The most popular product categories they represent are food and beverage, skincare and personal care, apps/services such as Didi (Chinese Uber) and food delivery platform Eleme (饿了么).
When it comes to luxury, brands are more cautious selecting ambassadors. At the moment, among the top 10, only Jackson Yee (易烊千玺) and Lay Zhang (张艺兴) have been sponsored by luxury brands.
The Top 10:
So who are these top male idols? Let’s take a closer look!
Wang Yibo (王一博)
Wang Yibo is in a Korean-Chinese boyband UNIQ and he is also known for his identity as a motorcycle racer. Wang became extremely popular because of a TV series he starred in which is called The Untamed (陈情令) and a street dance battle show called Street Dance of China (这就是街舞). Wang has 36M followers on Weibo, and he is the ambassador for 23 brands, 6 brand’s faces (品牌大使) and 4 brand’s friends.
Deng Lun (邓伦)
Deng Lun is an actor and a permanent guest for a trendy reality TV show Great Escape. Deng ranked 34 on 2020 Forbes Chinese Celebrity List.
Jackson Yee (易烊千玺)
Jackson is super popular in China, especially among girls. He was born in 2000 and has 86.3M followers on Weibo. Jackson is known for being a member of a Chinese boy band TFBOYS. He is a good singer and a good dancer. He also shows great talent in acting. Better Days (少年的你), the first movie that Jackson starred in, has won many movie awards and nominations.
His large follower base and his excellent performance and image have earned him ambassadorships from many brands, including luxury brands such as Tiffany, BMW and Armani Beauty. He ranked No.1 on 2020 Forbes Chinese Celebrity List.
Li Xian (李现)
Li Xian is a Chinese actor. His is best-known for his role in the extremely popular drama Go Go Squid! (亲爱的，热爱的).
Wang Junkai (王俊凯)
The same as Jackson Yee, Wang is also from the boy band TFBOYS and he is the leader of the group. Wang is also a good actor, his best-known movie is Miracles of the Namiya General Store.
Zhou Zhengnan (周震南)
Well, I suppose we won’t see this name in next year’s ranking as he was involved in a massive scandal recently. Zhou is a singer and dancer and comes from a wealthy family in the real estate business.
In October, it was reported that his parents were deceiving customers by taking their payments but not offering them apartments to live in. This irritated many people and Zhou hasn’t posted anything since October 26 when he posted an apology on Weibo.
Hua Chenyu (华晨宇)
Hua Chenyu, also known as Hua Hua (花花), is a Chinese singer and a song writer who is known for his powerful vocals, wide vocal range, dramatic stage performances and skill in composing. He is one of the most influential singer-songwriters in China.
Justin Huang (黄明昊)
Justin is a singer, dancer and rapper. He attended a reality TV show called Idol Producer (偶像练习生) and successfully joined the male group Nine Percent. He is currently a member of the group YUEHUA’s Next.
Lay Zhang (张艺兴)
Lay, is the former member of a popular Korean boys group EXO. He is a singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, director, dancer and writer. He was known because of a reality TV show called Go Fighting! (极限挑战). Lay ranked 5th on Forbes China Celebrity 100 in 2020.
Xiao Zhan or Sean Xiao (肖战)
Unfortunately for Xiao, it is also highly possible he will not be on the list next year. Xiao is a singer and an actor. His best-known work is the TV series called The Untamed (陈情令). In February, he was criticized for allowing his diehard fans to report platforms that didn’t create beneficial content for Xiao and it led to the breakdown of those platforms.
Read more: 品牌爸爸最爱的流量男明星，我们找到了
