The $1 Billion NIL Boom: Top Brands, Trends, and Social Media Gold Mines
By Darian Kelly
Last Updated on May 15, 2025
As we approach the fourth anniversary of name, image, and likeness, let’s examine the rise of its $1 billion-plus economy. This past year has brought notable changes to NIL, including deals with influential voices on and off the field and the landmark decision of the House v. NCAA legal settlement, which will allow athletes to participate in revenue sharing with their respective institutions.
Insights from the SponsorsUnited NIL Endorsements Report
SponsorsUnited, an innovative global sports and entertainment platform, released a NIL Endorsements Report for 2024-25. The report spans from March 2024 to March 2025 and incorporateed roughly 2,000 brands, 3,000 deals, and over 4,000 social media posts. Further, SponsorUnited’s proprietary social media tracking metrics were used to collect the data around total engagement across athlete-controlled accounts on TikTok, X (formerly known as Twitter), Facebook, and Instagram. A critical component is that this report includes athletes with a combined following of over 10,000 followers across the platforms above for the social analysis portion. Below are some of the key findings that stood out about the report.
Top Brands Leading the NIL Market
Five brands lead the way among the athletes tracked in this report: EA Sports, Raising Cane’s, Powerade, Epsilon, and Adidas. EA Sports has claimed pole position on the NIL brand scale with the launch of their highly anticipated College Football 26 video game. Over 14,000 FBS collegiate players received $1,500 for appearing in the game, a $600 increase from last year’s edition. Moreover, Epsilon took a page out of EA Sports’ book and created a similar campaign, ensuring every athlete had a chance to monetize their NIL through a $500 Instagram campaign on teamwork. Raising Cane’s has cemented itself as a NIL mainstay, partnering with National Championship collegiate athletes to surprise customers and utilize high-traffic advertising areas like Times Square to market its apparel.
Technology and Beverage Deals on the Rise
Technology and non-alcoholic beverage deals saw a surge in activity amongst top athletes. Technology partnerships increased by 29%, while beverage deals increased by 19% year-to-year, prioritizing athlete-led partnerships. In addition to EA Sports’ influence on the technology side of things, Nintendo and Epic’s Fortnite video game drove key partnerships with some of college football’s top stars, including Alabama wide receiver Ryan Williams, Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith, and Florida quarterback DJ Lagway. Additionally, athletes took part in Prime Video’s exclusive content, which promoted products and Prime trials to other athletes and adults. The campaigns highlighted the parallels between the athletes’ lifestyle and Prime’s ease across music streaming, entertainment, and retail.
The Surge of Energy Drink Partnerships
Energy drink companies led a new influx of partnerships, accounting for a quarter of the 39 new non-alcoholic beverages that made new deals, which energy drink companies represented. Behind them was water at 20% and a three-tier system between sports drinks, juices, and carbonated beverages. According to the report, what led to the increase in the amount of non-alcoholic beverage deals is the brands’ focus on tailored content experiences. These include content centered on taste tests and health, further strengthening the relationship between athletes and fans.
Retail NIL Deals Experience a Decline
Retail NIL brand deals have decreased by 9% year-to-year. Companies like Urban Outfitters and Champs Sports have taken a step back. The move by brands is not due to one-off content campaigns but to reevaluate their NIL strategies as we advance.
TikTok: An Untapped NIL Opportunity
The biggest area of opportunity lies within TikTok. On the social side, Instagram leads the way for branded posts across the major NIL categories. TikTok represents an underutilized social vehicle despite its potential for optimal engagement. TikTok dominates in engagement in categories like Food and Consumer products, where brands see more than 10,000 engagements on average. Further, the report examined the top 150 most engaging social posts and identified that they included characteristics such as humor, personal updates with authentic tones, subtle call to action, and show don’t tell integrations where the featured athletes were the central theme in the campaigns.
