NIL spend increased 300% in year two

The GIST: No sophomore slump here. According to a recent report, brands ramped up their name, image, and likeness (NIL) dealmaking in year two, with NIL spend increasing 300% (!!!) from March 2022 to March 2023 as student-athletes continue to make their case as the industry’s most impactful influencers.

The deals: More than 46% of all NIL agreements were regional, while roughly 40% were national deals. Media companies inked 13% of NIL deals, 12% belonged to sports entities, and 9% went to apparel brands.

• As expected, basketball was the highest-ranked women’s sport by average deal size ($1,418). Right behind it was, somewhat surprisingly, women’s skiing ($1,063) and women’s swimming and diving ($1,019). Money money money.

The socials: Almost 75% of all NIL activity took place on social media. Instagram hosted 55.3% of all activations, Twitter boasted 34.6%, Snapchat saw 6.2%, and TikTok had 3.9%. Those activities are paying off — athletes generate more than two times the engagement of traditional influencers.

• More than half of Twitter’s top 1K advertisers have dropped the platform since Elon Musk bought the app last year, but its high marks here suggest that Twitter may still be relevant for smaller companies — at least for now.

Zooming out: The NIL era didn't just transform college sports but arguably transformed influencer marketing. As one of the first generations of digital-native student-athletes, the kids (and the gals in particular) have successfully monetized their social media savvy, making players the best influencers in the game. Repost.