Top 20 – Most Marketable Male and Female Athletes, 2022 Update

Top 20 Most Marketable Male and Female Athletes Report Overview

The top 20 most marketable male and female athletes market research report highlights LeBron James as the biggest-earning male athlete and Naomi Osaka as the biggest-earning female athlete. While LeBron James’ annual sponsorship value stands at $79.2 million, Naomi Osaka’s annual sponsorship value is worth $32 million as of 2022. The report provides a list of the top 20 most marketable male and female athletes with their brand endorsements, sponsorships, and social media rankings.

Most Marketable Athletes

Male Athletes: The top 20 most marketable male athletes are LeBron James, Neymar, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Rafael Nadal, Virat Kohli, Steph Curry, Novak Djokovic, Rory McIlroy, Kylian Mbappe, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Shohei Ohtani, Lewis Hamilton, Ja Morant, Luka Doncic, Patrick Mahomes, Mohammed Salah, Aaron Rodgers, Odell Beckham Jr, and Rohit Sharma.

Female Athletes: The top 20 most marketable female athletes are Naomi Osaka, Eileen Gu, Emma Raducanu, Lexi Thompson, Alex Morgan, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, PV Sindhu, Katie Ledecky, Jin Young Ko, Coco Gauff, Simone Biles, Iga Swiatek, Sydney McLaughlin, Sunisa Lee, Alexia Putellas, Chloe Kim, Smriti Mandhana, Candace Parker, Brooke Henderson, and Harmanpreet Kaur.

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Most Marketable Athletes - Brand Deals

Some of the key brands with multiple deals across the top 40 athletes combined are Nike, adidas, Beats, Oakley, Hublot, Panini, PepsiCo, 2K Sports, Biosteel, Bose, Bridgestone, EA Sports, Google, Mastercard, PUMA, Red Bull, Rolex, Subway, TaylorMade, UKG, VISA, and Vodafone. Nike emerged as the most popular brand among male and female athletes with 15 deals, followed by adidas, Beats, and Oakley among others.

Most Marketable Athletes Brand Analysis

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Most Marketable Athletes - Annual Brand Spend

Some of the key brands with highest annual spending with the most marketable athletes are Nike, adidas, PUMA, Under Armour, Pepsi, Lacoste, Asics, TaylorMade, American Tourister, OMEGA, Beats, Hublot, 2K Sports, Jordan, Socios.com, HEAD, Babolat, Telefonica, Chase, and AT&T. Nike topped the brand spending chart in 2022. Nike’s influence on the market in terms of deal volume also extends into the analysis around brand spend, with the American brand spending over three times as much as any other brand.

Most Marketable Athletes Analysis by Brand Spend

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Most Marketable Athletes - Brand Sponsorship

Male Athlete Sponsorship: Virat Kohli remains the most commercially successful athlete with a portfolio of 25 partners in 2022. Most of his brand support is derived from Indian brands, evidencing how Kohli has been able to financially capitalize on his and his sports popularity in the sub-continent. Neymar and Rohit Sharma followed the lead and held second and third positions respectively in 2022.

Female Athlete Sponsorship: Naomi Osaka had the highest number of brand partnerships and led the market in 2022 with 19 commercial deals. Osaka has been able to capitalize on her cross-market appeal over two continents, within two of the largest commercial markets globally. Eileen Gu and Alex Morgan held the second and third positions respectively in 2022.

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Most Marketable Athletes - Social Media Rankings

Male Athletes Social Media Rankings:  Cristiano Ronaldo best exemplifies the popularity of sport in the online world, as not only the most followed person on the platform Instagram but holds a combined audience of 763.2 million followers across these three main platforms alone. Lionel Messi emerged as the second most followed male athlete on social media with 485 million followers.

Female Athletes Social Media Rankings: Alex Morgan of the US soccer team is the most followed star with a combined online audience of over 19.87 million fans. Smriti Mandhana was the second most followed athlete owing to the strong popularity of the sport of cricket in India.

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Most Marketable Athletes Market Overview

Scope

The report takes a closer look at the athlete endorsement market, away from the usual league/competition reports looked at. It focuses on the 40 leading names across both genders, to explore which brands are signing such deals and for how much.

Reasons to Buy

The report offers an insight into the athlete sponsorship market and identifies who the biggest names are in 2022. It explores which brands are investing and explains why athlete deals are becoming a bigger and bigger trend in the sports market.