If there were a list of the people who most influence our daily habits and actions, it would be full of athletes. The voice of these personalities is so expressive that it can change the way we dress, speak or even work, there are few with as much relevance in the world in which we live as they do. This is undoubtedly enhanced by social media and the globalization of sports broadcasting. Imagine if Michael Jordan had these resources in the 90s. His exposure would definitely be a lot more diffused, and his influence would reach even more people. That is why it is so common for collabs to appear with fast food chains, clothing brands, among other companies in the most diverse markets, relating not only to athletes, but also to sports in general.
Currently, the involvement of brands is much deeper than just putting a picture of the player on the packaging or a simple commercial with a product in hand, it's all about ideas! Ideas that positively influence the lives of people who follow their fans you, that convey a genuine message and, most importantly, that generate value for both sides.
It is within this context of high exposure to social media that athletes express more their opinions, their values and personal tastes, which makes the mission of brands to choose with whom to associate more complex. There are many metrics, demographics audiences, expressions analyzed, all of which must be considered.
In a survey conducted in partnership with Nielsen and SportsPro Media, more than 6000 athletes from 21 different sports have been analyzed, ranking the 50 most marketable in the world, that is, with the greatest potential for commercialization and attractiveness for interested brands. The study launched on September 28 was the result of one year of monitoring the social media ecosystem of these athletes, mainly through Instagram, seen as being the main platform today. There were more than thirty indicators combined among number of followers, engagement, interaction rate, number and frequency of posts, mentions, interactions, average and branded content performance, in addition to the analysis of comments and feelings expressed by people who interacted with the content posted by athletes. All of these indicators generated a database comprised of a score divided into four dimensions::
REACH
The greater the number of people who follow a particular athlete, the greater his/her reach and exposure, this makes him/her more attractive to brands that want to relate to that fan base. LeBron James, for example, reached 50 points in this regard with his more than 73 million followers on Instagram, while Zion Williamson, with only 5 million, obtained almost half of the score. For such score, variables are still considered as the moment the athlete lives.
RELEVANCE
It's not just about generating content, it's about communicating something that is extremely relevant to the people who follow you on a daily basis. What is important to note is the involvement and how fans connect and are influenced by the content posted by the athletes, the novelty of the actions and what they specifically say and mean. The more authentic and empathetic, the greater the chance of becoming attractive to brands, and consequently the more representative the engagement will be.
RESSONANCE
The famous buzz! Not necessarily when something goes viral, but how it reverberates organically and is talked about by a always growing audience . When Globo Esporte, in Brazil, starts weekly mentioning LeBron's famous “Taco Tuesday” that’s called resonance! And consequently that makes LeBron James a much more marketable athlete.
RETURN
To measure the return that an athlete delivers to a brand, branded content has been analyzed, that is, posts directly endorsed by some sponsor. The research grasped the average performance of these contents combined with the potential that already existed for every personality.
See below who are the basketball athletes that appear on the list, their general rank and the result in each category:
