The 56th Annual CMA Awards take place tonight at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee.

Take a look at the social game and endorsement deals of the 5 nominees for Entertainer of the Year.

Deals between YouTube influencers and brands are legion, as these charismatic personalities continue to build significant partnership portfolios. Sponsored integration within their YouTube videos is the leading way influencers work with brands.

Over 550 brands saw sponsored integration within YouTube influencers’ videos in the past year. The most active brands were:

• Betterhelp (sponsored videos with more than 15 influencers)

• SeatGeek

• DraftKings

• HelloFresh

• NordVPN

• Skillshare (85% of its deals include YouTube sponsor integration)

Top YouTube Influencers

MMG (Matthew Meagher) Madden Youtuber:. One of the most endorsed YouTubers with 44 deals–of which 91% include sponsored integration on YouTube–MMG ranks in the top 1% of all social influencers by deal count. Just this year, 68 of his videos featured sponsored integration. With 2.32M followers on YouTube, he’s also bolstering his TikTok presence: his current 1M followers saw 13% growth in the last 12 months.

MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson) American Youtuber: With a whopping 110M subscribers, MrBeast is a bona fide YouTube sensation, and has racked up a staggering 200M gross following across all social platforms (YT, TT, TW, IG, FB). Mobile app Brawl Stars hit the endorsement lottery with MrBeast thanks to sponsored integration in his most viewed video ever, garnering more than 300M views since November 2021.

Interestingly, MrBeast partners with less than 10 brands:

• Brawl Stars

• DraftKings

• Honey

• Venmo

• Current

• Walmart

• Experian

• Coinbase

• Nerf

Dolly Parton, Eminem, and Lionel Richie are among the inductees at the 37th annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony sponsored by City National Bank, taking place November 5th at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. Let’s take a look at their endorsement portfolios.

Dolly Parton

The iconic country star and 10-time Grammy winner has built an impressive stable of 19 brand partnerships, including these five notable deals:

• Duncan Hines: Dolly and Duncan Hines partnered on a line of baking mixes and frostings in January 2022, “Dolly’s Southern Favorites,” inspired by her favorite family recipes.

• Walmart: The retailer stocks Dolly’s beauty brand, Honest Beauty, which includes her fragrance “Dolly–Scent From Above”, and launched The Dolly Parton Greeting Card Collection in 2020, sold exclusively at the mega-retailer.

• Sonos: Dolly partnered with the sound experience company in 2020 to create her own radio station, Songteller Radio, including her hits, favorite artists, and commentary on songs and moments throughout her career, making her the only artist to have an endorsement deal with the company.

• Perfumania: Dolly joined forces with the fragrance retailer to donate $5 from every sale of her “Dolly–Scent from Above” perfume to her Imagination Library, a book gifting program that mails free books to kids from birth until they begin school in participating areas. She’s the only music artist to partner with the brand.

• T-Mobile: Dolly Parton teamed up with Miley Cyrus last February for the telecommunications giant’s #DoItForThePhones campaign, to boost the company’s 5G network customer base and benefit Cyrus’ Happy Hippie Foundation, which funds programs that support homeless and LGBTQ youth and other vulnerable populations.

The “Backwoods Barbie” was active on social media as well, totaling 72 sponsored posts with 18 brands over the last 12 months. Dolly also engaged 1,531,272 followers in the same period, fueled in large part by her deals with Scent Beauty and Duncan Hines. Her 21 posts for Scent Beauty chalked up 209,180 engagements, while her 15 Duncan Hines posts garnered 409,162 likes, shares, or comments.

Eminem

The 15-time Grammy winner became the latest artist to join Peloton’s Artist Series in January 2022, a month before the Detroit-born megastar took center stage at the final Halftime Super Bowl Halftime Show sponsored by Pepsi.

Eminem’s endorsement portfolio also includes Postmates, Mitchell & Ness, and Jordan Brand. His 13 sponsored posts across 6 brands brands racked up 3,247,989 engagements on social media, averaging 541,332 per brand and 216,533 per post. Emine’s sole Instagram post for Jordan Brand garnered engagement of a whopping 1.955 million.

To promote his Super Bowl performance, Eminem partnered with Postmates to create a pop-up of his Detroit-based restaurant, Mom’s Spaghetti, in LA during Super Bowl week. He also partnered with Mitchell & Ness, Bleacher Report, and the Detroit Pistons to release a special edition SlimShady Pistons jersey. Eminem and Jordan Brand have collaborated since 2005, when they first created the original “Air Shady” shoe.

Lionel Richie

With just 3 philanthropy-focused partnerships, the legendary artist and four-time Grammy winner maintains a low profile on the endorsement front compared to Dolly Parton and Eminem.

Through his deal with Devoted Health, announced early last month, he’ll support the company’s burgeoning efforts to offer high-quality healthcare to more Americans on Medicare across the country. In April 2022, Richie co-hosted the first Global Gala in New York for the Prince’s Trust, a global network of charities founded by King Charles the III, which focuses on helping disadvantaged young people find employment, educational training, and mentorship. He also has his own SMiZE Cream flavor, “All Night Love,” a nod to his 1984 hit song, “All Night Long.”

While the storied careers of Roger Federer and Serena Williams–two of the best tennis players in the sport’s history–have just come to an end, both athletes are primed to continue their successful sponsorship careers off the court.

With over 34M total followers each on social media, Williams is the most popular female tennis player across social media, while Federer’s following ranks second behind Rafael Nadal. Though both were wrapping up their careers, Williams’ followers increased 7% in the last 12 months, and Federer’s following grew by 3%. This year alone, Williams and Federer have 4 of the top 5 social posts (2 each) across pro tennis players, ranked by total engagement.

Both athletes will almost certainly continue to leverage their powerful social platforms for brand partnerships. Williams’ 19 deals–among them Gatorade, Nike, Ubrelvy, Audemars Piguet, and Berlei–include 65 social posts, with total engagement (likes/comments/shares) of over 6M, averaging more than 324K per brand and 82K per post. Since 2020, Williams’ sponsored posts have averaged a total engagement of over 11M per year.

Racket Sport athletes have seen a total social engagement of more than 80M this year. Over 550 brands currently utilize these athletes in campaigns, with each brand garnering average engagement of over 140K per campaign.

While Federer’s sponsored posts since 2020 have averaged a significantly lesser total engagement of 1.4M per year, he’s focused on other promotional avenues over social media. Federer–who has the most deals among men’s tennis players by a significant margin over Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray–has starred in more than 8 commercials or marketing campaigns with brands including Rolex, On-Running, Uniqlo, and Switzerland Tourism, amongst others.

The AFC West matchup tonight between two potential Super Bowl contenders–the Los Angeles Chargers at the Kansas City Chiefs–features a slew of players who have taken advantage of the teams’ success by locking in endorsement deals.

KC Chiefs wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster has the most deals of any player in this game with 24. An avid online gamer, he partners with HyperX and Nerd Street Games, and has secured other deals thanks to his skyrocketing fame on TikTok, where his followers total more than 3M. JuJu’s branded posts on the platform include SoFi, HyperIce, Yahoo Sports, Snickers, and 7-Eleven.

LA Chargers star running back Austin Ekeler literally leads the charge for his team with more than 20 partnerships, among them SteelSeries, American Airlines, Shock Doctor, and Sleep Number. He’s leveraging his burgeoning social following–which has grown more than 70% since 2021–by posting about each partner brand, with posts and engagement totaling 81 and over 560K, respectively.

Notably, 5 of Ekeler’s sponsors also have deals with players on the Chiefs:

• Sleep Number: Clyde Edwards-Helaire

• Chipotle: George Karlaftis

• Verizon & Bud Light: Juju Smith-Schuster

• StateFarm: Patrick Mahomes

Meanwhile, chances are top-tier quarterback talents Patrick Mahomes and Justin Herbert will be facing off for many years to come, both on the field and in the sponsorship arena.

Mahomes’ 8M+-strong social following dwarfs third-year starting QB Herbert’s 500K–though Herbert’s star continues to rise, as evidenced by his following’s 55% increase this past year. And while Mahomes has more deals, his average engagement rate of 1.1% is a mere fraction of Herbert’s, which stuns at a whopping 9.86%.

Both Mahomes and Herbert have deals with Bose, which saw its highest total engagement on social media with the star quarterbacks this year. Mahomes' top post with the audio giant, on January 27th, totaled over 330K likes/comments on Instagram, while Herbert's January 8th Instagram post engaged more than 100K followers. Bose made noise on social media during the 2021-22 NFL playoffs, posting more than 10 times with participating players.

SponsorUnited’s inaugural Music Artist Report, released yesterday, delivers an in-depth analysis of over 2,100 brands and 1,100 deals from July 2021-July 2022, unlocking 10 major music genres and telling the stories of nearly 600 artists.

Here’s a peek at some of the report’s key insights:

Country music’s most popular performers have attracted the most eyeballs across the SponsorUnited platform.

In addition, Country stars average more deals per artist than any other genre, with the number of brands partnering with them rising 45% since 2020.

Their seemingly unstoppable momentum continues: Over 35% of SponsorUnited searches among music artists were Country, with Luke Bryan, Carrie Underwood, Luke Combs, and George Strait ranking among the top five most searched artists.

Music artists are betting big on their own brands—and winning.

Of the top 50 most engaging brands, those owned by artists garnered the most attention.Four of the top five brands with the highest social engagement were beauty brands owned by superstars:

• Rare Beauty (Selena Gomez)

• JLO Beauty (Jennifer Lopez)

• r.e.m. beauty (Ariana Grande)

• Savage x Fenty (Rihanna)

Music moves fans like no other league, team or property can.

Not surprisingly, artists' success on social media plays a key role in driving performance of their brands. When comparing per-post engagement among a variety of property types, musicians top the leaderboard with an average engagement per post of 137K, versus 100K for general celebrities in the second-place spot.

Artist-owned companies are expanding into new categories.

While music artists have long added value to Cosmetics, Clothing and Alcohol brands, artists like Timbaland, Kanye West and Dua Lipa are already charting the future of artist ownership in new categories:

• Timbaland x Beatclub: The innovative digital platform aims to revolutionize the way music makers connect.

• Kanye West x Donda Sports: Kanye's sports marketing agency now includes clients like NBA star Jaylen Brown and NFL standout Aaron Donald.

• Dua Lipa x Service95: Dua Lipa released her first weekly lifestyle newsletter in February 2022.

Latin artists see massive growth from global music fans.

Among the top 40 fastest growing social accounts, 12 were owned by Latin artists. Combined, these artists gained over 250M followers–2.5x more than Rap/Hip-Hop and 3.5x more than Country, and second only to Pop. With Latin music's total revenue projected at over $1B this year, expect to see US brands continue to team up with these red-hot performers.

Case in point: Bad Bunny, Spotify's most streamed artist globally in 2020 and 2021. During his El Último Tour Del Mundo this year, he partnered with Airbnb to open the doors to his truck for three one-night stays for two guests at just $91 per night—a nod to his record-breaking 9.1B Spotify streams in 2021. Guests had the exclusive opportunity to explore Bad Bunny’s past, present and future, both on and off the stage.

Lollapalooza kicks off its 4-day festival in Chicago with Metallica headlining tonight.

Notable brands Metallica works with include ESP Guitars, Blackened American Whiskey, The Coda Collection and Yousician.

Partnering with influencers on leading social media platforms has become a strategic way for brands to build equity and reach completely new audiences. As Cara Stucker, SponsorUnited’s senior manager of endorsements, explains, “The thing about influencer marketing is, all brands can do it. Working with influencers allows brands extreme flexibility–whatever the budget, target audience, campaign length or type of media, influencers will make it happen.”

UPDATE: Earlier today, news broke of a new partnership with Khaby Lame. Binance has signed Lame as their newest brand ambassador to grow the Binance ecosystem leveraging the power of Lame's social media. Binance announced the partnership via their Twitter, Instagram and Facebook accounts.

Here’s the list of top influencers (by number of followers) tracked in the SponsorUnited database, and their top three brand deals across all social media channels.

TikTok:

1. Khaby Lame - 144.4MHugo Boss, Amazon Prime Student, Disney

2. Charli D’Amelio - 142.8MStep, Morphe, Takis

3. Bella Poarch - 90.3MCash App, Moncler, HyperX

4. Addison Rae - 88.1MITEM Beauty, American Eagle Outfitters, Vital Proteins

5. Zach King - 68.8MCredit Karma, Amazon, Google (Alphabet)

Instagram:

1. Khaby Lame - 78.4M

2. Larissa Machado (Anitta) - 62.7M

adidas, Samsung, Sol de Janeiro

3. Whindersson Nunes - 58.5MSubway

4. Huda Kattan - 50.6MASOS, Sephora, Harrod’s

5. Lele Pons - 49MAdore Me, PUBG

Twitter:

1. Whindersson Nunes - 25.4M

2. Ruben ‘El Rubius’ Doblas - 19.3MMAmazon Prime Student, Paco Rabanne, Drift Gaming

3. AuronPlay (Raul Alvarez) - 15.9MFanta, LG Electronics, Amazon Prime Video

4. Cameron Dallas - 14.8MboohooMan, Ralph Lauren, Crypto Demonz

5. Felipe Neto - 14.5MN/A

Facebook:

1. Noel Arevalo - 74.7MInno Supps, Fashion Nova

2. Alexandra Mary Hirschi (Supercar Blondie) - 47MVinFast, Driver Ape Racing Club, Xbox

3. Dhar Mann- 28MN/A

4. Kayla Itsines - 28Msweat, iFit, P.E. Nation

5. Luisito Comunica - 23MRey Palomo, Gran Malo, Deigo CDMX

*The nine categories considered when pulling data: beauty/fashion, fitness, food/travel, kids/family, pet, reality tv, tech/science, esports, and other social media influencers.

The 135th Wimbledon Championships began today, with many big names competing in the largest tennis event of the year.

We highlight the endorsement deals for the top two seeds in both Men's and Women's singles.

On International Surfing Day we highlight one of the most dominant Pipe surfers of his era, John John Florence.

100% of Florence's partnerships include social content, where he averages over 57,000 engagements per brand.

On the field, there is little Jocelyn Alo can't do. She is a 2x Women's College World Series champion, 3x First Team All-American, all-time NCAA home run leader and #1 overall pick in the 2022 WPF Inaugural College Draft.

To celebrate World Softball Day, let's take a look at her NIL and social game.

Festival season is in full swing and given the cancellation of many festivals due to Covid, artists and brands are ready to take center stage. The Governors Ball at Citi Field kicks off today with headliners Kid Cudi, Halsey and J.Cole.

Cole & Kid Cudi both have a strong social following of over 15M however, shockingly enough J. Cole doesn't have a single deal and Kid Cudi only has one (Cadillac since mid-2021). Halsey on the other hand has leveraged her social media presence of over 45M for her four endorsement deals- Verizon, Ipsy, Magnum Ice Cream & About-Face Beauty.

While the headliners are heavy in followers but light in terms of deals, Jack Harlow stands out amongst the artists having a staggering 140% increase in social followers YoY and brands have jumped on the opportunity to partner with the rising star.

Although Harlow has seen a massive increase in social following due to his rising popularity, Harlow has consistently had 7-10 endorsements over the last three years. A few of his current deals include Sprite, Venmo, KFC, New Balance, & Verizon.

Born in Kentucky, Harlow has stated in an Instagram post that he was going to be the biggest music artist ever to come out of Kentucky. Once he started to establish his dream, there was no better brand to partner with the rising KY star than KFC. As part of the partnership, Harlow’s face and name can be seen on KFC buckets and carryout bags. This is a unique collaboration that very few other artists have had the opportunity to do. Other artists with a unique QSR partnership within the last two years are Travis Scott x McDonald’s, Burger King x Nelly, Lil Huddy x Anitta.

Sunday saw Max Verstappen win the 2022 Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona. After their home race, we compare the two Spanish drivers - Carlos Sainz of Scuderia Ferrari and Fernando Alonso of BWT Alpine.

Over the last two years, it’s no shock there has been a rise in family social media accounts and family social media influencers. This goes for those who want to stay in touch, to those who want to rake in the deals. Four semi-known families have managed to turn their family social media accounts into a semi-empire (and no, we’re not talking about the Kardashians’). The Royalty Family, The Holderness Family, The Bee Family and The Bee Family have all established a name for themselves in the Family Influencer space.

Which brands have leveraged these families' followers?

With 2.1M followers between their Tiktok and Instagram, the Royalty Family utilizes their 17.1M subscribers to showcase their 11 brands deals including notable deals with Chime, Staples and Centrum.

Coming off being crowned the winners of Season 33 of the Amazing Race, the Holderness Family features nine brand deals showcased across their five social media platforms with over 6.5M followers. Some of their more notable deals include AT&T, King’s Hawaiian and Great Clips.

With the most combined followers of the group, the LaBrant Family has over 50M followers across their five social media platforms. With eight brand deals including King’s Hawaiian, Cash App and SHEIN.

Lastly, the Bee Family has secured five brand deals to their 32M followers across five social media platforms. Some of the most notable brands include Welch’s, Kraft Heinz and Team Seas.

These four families have quickly gained popularity over the last two years and enjoyed increased followers and brand deals over this time. As the rest of the year plays out, the family influencer space will be one to monitor for an increase in followers and brand deals.

Checkout some of the brands they partner with and how they leverage brand deals across their social media platforms.

The final round of the FA Cup took place this weekend as Liverpool defeated Chelsea in a penalty shootout.

We compare the social media presence and deals of Chelsea striker, Romelu Lukaku, with Liverpool defender, Trent Alexander-Arnold.

On Thursday May 12th the world celebrated International Nurses Day. A day filled with gratitude toward a profession which has been working tirelessly over the last few years. During the Pandemic, there was a massive uptick in nurses taking to social media to share their stories and shed light on their heroing industry.

Miki Rai, a nurse, now nurse and social media influencer, has secured over 10 deals and has over 2.1M followers across Instagram, Facebook and Tiktok. This nurse's quick rise to fame has opened the door for unique categories (in particular healthcare brands) to leverage social media like never before.

Rai has endorsed popular healthcare brands including Vicks, Lubriderm, and Unisom. Rai also works with brands to help encourage and educate the next generation of Nurses. Rai alongside the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses and BoardVitals are using her social media presence to help raise awareness for various health issues and help walk prospective nurses on the process of the board exams.

Overall in the healthcare space, BetterHealth leads the way with 60 sponsorship deals. 82% of the sponsorship deals come in the podcast industry with influencers coming in 2nd with nine sponsorship deals. Invisalign comes in second with 49 total deals. 25 of those deals come from the NFL with 10 deals with teams, one with the league, and 14 with NFL Athletes.

Next on the list is Kaiser Permanente which has 39 deals including deals within four of the top five Pro Sports leagues. AdventHealth, Florida Hospital, comes in 4th on the list with 25 sponsor deals spread across various leagues and the state of Florida. Lastly, American Medical Response comes in 5th with 25 deals. These deals are spread across multiple sports teams and leagues including three Buffalo based teams with the Buffalo Bills, Buffalo Bulls and Rochester Americans.

With Mother's Day coming up this Sunday, we take a look at the sponsorship and media activity of four notable celebrity mothers: Serena Williams, Kris Jenner, Kate Hudson, and Cardi B.

DOWNLOAD REPORT: https://sponsorunited.com/nfl-spred-report-2021-page/

Today, SponsorUnited published the first SPRED Report centered around NFL player’s social performance and endorsement deals.

Download the complete report HERE, for complete data and insights, some key findings include:

• adidas and Bose are the most active brands among NFL social media posts but Zenith Watches, Grip and Brady Brand attract the most attention.

• Quarterbacks are most widely followed on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook while TikTok varies among other skilled positions.

• J.J. Watt is the most followed defensive NFL player and the most followed NFL player to not win a SB.

• The top 10 most followed NFL players combine for over 100M gross followers.

• 12 NFL players average over 1M total engagements, all of them on the offensive side of the ball.

• Although Travis Etienne Jr, has yet to see the field, he has the highest % average engaged followers.

• Most Total Gross Followers: Odell Beckham Jr.

• Most Twitter Followers: Russell Wilson

• Most Facebook Followers: Tom Brady

• Most Instagram Followers: Odell Beckham Jr.

• Most TikTok Followers: Gronk

• Most Engaging: Patrick Mahomes

• Highest % of Engaged Followers: Travis Etienne

• Most Engagement Per Post: Tyreek Hill

• Most Branded Posts: Russell Wilson

• Most Brands: Russell Wilson

• Highest Avg Engagement: Zenith Watches, Grip Boost and Brady Brand

• Most Branded Posts: adidas, Bose and Fashion Nova

• Most Brand Engagements: Bose, adidas and Oakley

• Most Player Endorsements: Bud Light, Verizon, Bose and Under Armour

• Most Engaging Categories: Apparel/Accessories, Beverage (Non-Alc) and Leisure/Recreation

• Most Category Engagements: Apparel/Accessories, Consumer Electronics and Retail

• Most Player Endorsements: Apparel/Accessories, Retail and Beverage (Non-Alc)

• Most Branded Posts: Apparel/Accessories, Retail and Beverage (Non-Alc)

International superstar Shohei Ohtani has garnered an impressive 188% increase in social followers YoY. That has translated into signing more than 10 endorsements with brands globally. How does that compare to teammate Mike Trout? Trout’s social following has only grown 2% over the past year but it has not slowed down the amount of deals he has which are in the double digits.

How does this compare to other star players around the league?

Signing mega deals for a player's “performance” has not always meant endorsement deals off the field. Two examples of this are Max Scherzer & Gerrit Cole who are the two highest paid pitchers in baseball. Each player totals only two deals, both have a deal with Rawlings, while Scherzer has a deal with Indeed and Cole with Nike. Notably, both of these players are not as active on social media as some other star players having under 1 million followers each.

Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Bryce Harper comes to mind when thinking about players like Trout having more than five endorsements off the field while signing big contracts for his game play. Harper has over 2 million followers on social media that his brand partners like Dairy Queen, Gatorade & Fanatics leverage. Harper's followers average a 4% engagement rate on his social posts totalling over 380k engagements, the most of the five athletes mentioned. Ohtani leads the group with 11 total deals and highest

The Masters is such an exclusive event when it comes to tournament sponsors, therefore it allows more room to highlight golfer’s individual partnerships. Scottie Scheffler took home the coveted green jacket Sunday, and it’s fair to assume his brand partners also felt like they won. Scheffler, the #1 ranked golfer in the world, works with six brands including Nike, Veritex Community Bank, TaylorMade, and Titleist. Congratulations to these brands on their maximum exposure during the Masters, and as Scheffler continues his hot streak on top.

While Scheffler’s brand partners are capitalizing on his green jacket win, let’s see how his sponsorship numbers par up to the top five finishers. And what about those other guys favored to win?

Top 5 Finishers

1st Scottie Scheffler | 6 Brands

2nd Rory McIlroy | 19 Brands

T3rd Shane Lowry | 7 Brands

T3rd Cameron Smith | 8 Brands

5th Collin Morikawa | 12 Brands

Top 5 Favorites to Win Masters

Justin Thomas | 10 Brands

Jon Rahm | 10 Brands

Brooks Koepka | 7 Brands

Collin Morikawa | 12 Brands

Cameron Smith | 8 Brands

Interestingly enough, Scheffler has the least amount of deals when compared to his competition, but that stat will likely not stick around for long. Take Collin Morikawa for example, after winning his first major back in 2020, his deals increased by +140%. This year he was a fan favorite to win along with his 12 brand partnerships. It will be interesting to see how Scheffler’s Masters win, and first PGA win, will affect his number of deals. Will his endorsements skyrocket like that of Morikawa? What brands will be next to leverage Scheffler’s game and highly engaged social media following?

The most anticipated golf tournament of the year is finally here as the Masters tees off in Augusta. Over 280 brands have an endorsement deal with golfers across the world, and these brands use the Masters as their runway to showcase their partnerships with the best of the best. On average, each professional golfer has 5 endorsements. Brands are eager to get premium placement on players hats, shirts, bags, and shoes. In regards to the most partnerships with golfers, ROLEX and NetJets lead the way for non-apparel brands while Titleist and TaylorMade are #1 and #2 respectively across all categories (no surprise there).

So who are the top betting favorites we’ll see on the course this weekend? And which lucky brands are capitalizing on these players' social following?

The top five betting favorites heading into the tournament are Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffler, Dustin Johnson, & Cameron Smith. Johnson leads the group in terms of social media followers with over 2 million across IG / FB / channels. Having the least amount of followers is Scheffler. However, his followers are highly engaged making Scheffler’s average engagement rate over 65% on his branded posts. Four of these five golfers have deals with both NetJets and Titleist, brands that are sure to garner extra exposure throughout the weekend.

Aside from Apparel & Accessories, Watches & Jewelry, Banking, and Software companies are the most frequent categories signing golfers to endorsement deals with their brands. The top three brands within these categories are Rolex, Veritex Community Bank, & Slync.io respectively.

YouTube sensation 2HYPE was founded in 2019. The members have been growing their gross social following of 20+ million since early as 2014.

Checkout some of the brands they partner with and how the group leverages brand deals across their social media platforms.

Billboard and Samsung Galaxy will host three nights of concerts during SXSW 2022.

We highlight the endorsement deals from 4 of the biggest performers at the event: KYGO, Shawn Mendes, Young Thug, and Sebastian Yatra.

Securing five medals at the 2022 Paralympics in Beijing, the ParalympicsGB (Great Britain) have signed a three-year agreement with Salesforce that will aim to bring fans and athletes closer than ever before. Within the partnership, Salesforce will engage fans around the globe creating different visualizations to deepen the reach of the athletes and achievements of the ParalympicsGB team.

As the 2022 Paralmypics come to an end in Beijing, SponsorUnited highlighted four of the athletes with over 10 endorsement deals each.

Millicent Knight competes in alpine skiing and has multiple brands endorsed on her jersey including LEKI, HEAD, Booster Straps and UVEX on her helmet and goggles.Mike Schultz leverages his Instagram to promote his brands and has an impressive average engagement rate of 13.61% with a total engagement over 145,000. Within the social posts Schultz has, Bridgestone, Tempo, Intel, and Visa can all be seen all across Schultz’s Instagram.

Mark Arendz and Owen Pick each have over 10 endorsements. Owen is a snowboarder and has brands on his jerseys featured during the games, while Mark also hits the slopes in the Para-Nordic skiing events with brands on his jersey as well.

With the Beijing 2022 Paralympics coming to an end this weekend, we spotlight some of the amazing Paralympic athletes and their endorsement deals across the world.

Heading into March Madness, Degree has launched a “Bracket Gap Challenge” to raise awareness around the NCAA Women’s tournament. The announcement comes during International Women’s Week as the brand teamed up with WNBA star Candace Parker encouraging fans to fill out a women’s bracket. Degree has deals with female athletes in the college volleyball space as well as with Ali Kreger, soccer player for the U.S Women’s team.

In addition to Degree’s support of women and college athletes, the top two brands supporting women’s empowerment causes are Simmons Bank and Chase. This week Chase and the Golden State Warriors announced activations scheduled throughout March aimed to amplify women’s voices and to help establish an equal playing field.

Simmons Bank created a multi-university initiative with 10 schools becoming the presenting sponsor of Women’s Athletics at each. The goal of these sponsorships is to expand beyond the traditional elements of a sponsorship deal and emphasize custom programming and increased career opportunities for female student-athletes.

The top ranking NFL players in terms of endorsements during the 2021 season were: Rob Gronkowski, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Russell Wilson, and Travis Kelce. Each player has over 25 brand deals; Gronk leads the way with 30 deals leveraging his 8.7 million social followers. He ranked #7 among NFL athletes for most social followers. Gronk has starred in commercials for T-Mobile alongside longtime teammate, Tom Brady. He also has appeared in a Wolf & Shepherd commercial and USAA. Although having the most deals, the highest average engagement per post comes from rival tight end, Travis Kelce, who has a 4.33% avg engagement compared to Gronk’s .78%. Russell Wilson leads the group in total engagement with over 3 million likes/shares.

Over 1,000 brands had endorsement deals with NFL players during the 2021 season, a big uptick from 2020 seeing a 51% increase. The most active brands partnering with players were Verizon, adidas, BodyArmor, Nike, and Bud Light, while the fastest growing categories were Apparel, Technology and Financial.

The average engagement per branded post for players was 12.6K compared to the slightly higher engagement for teams with 14.5K. For players with a minimum of 10 branded posts, the average engagement was 16K, inferring that the most active NFL athletes are getting more engagement on posts than teams.

This past Sunday was Love Your Pet Day, and over 130 brands have bought sponsorships / media with pet influencers.

Two of the most notable pets who have entered the endorsement scene are Kingsley and Chai - Goldendoodle siblings. The duo was made famous on TikTok and are ranked #22 in total following for pet influencers, with 773k social media followers.

The fourth most followed extreme sports athlete, Shaun White has accumulated 7.5M social media fans while leveraging 15 brands across his portfolio. His most engaged post was inspired by his relationship with Louis Vuitton as a tribute to Virgil Abloh.

White is ranked fifth in total brand partnerships within extreme action sports athletes. Marco Odermatt ranks second in total deals and has an amazing average engagement rate of 78.8% compared to White's engagement of 1.6%. On average each brand White has a deal with has had two social media posts in the last 12 months while having a total engagement of over 800k with his 29 posts.

After qualifying for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, Shaun White signed a major deal with energy sports drink CELSIUS, joining numerous athletes such as Dustin Poirier, Amanda Nunez, and Julius Randle as the brands newest athlete partner.

On the final day of the NBA trade deadline, the Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers pulled off a blockbuster deal trading James Harden for Ben Simmons among other players.

Simmons, who hasn't played this year, still ranks #10 in the NBA in total endorsement deals and has outperformed Harden in terms of branded post engagement, with almost 1% of his total followers liking/sharing/commenting on posts where he promotes a brand. Playing has its benefits, however, as Harden has grown his follower base by 129% this year, compared to 9% by Simmons.

According to SponsorUnited data, Nike and adidas lead the way in terms of sponsorship deals with NBA athletes. Similar to the overall NBA, the two brands battle back and forth to land more deals. In this instance, adidas has landed Harden while Nike has Simmons. BodyArmor, a Harden partner, and Verizon, a Simmons partner, both also are in the top 7 in terms of sponsorship deals while Verizon edges out BodyArmor narrowly.

Karl-Anthony Towns leads the way in the NBA with 16 endorsement deals followed by Trae Young with 13 followed by Jayson Tatum with 12. Lebron James has the most total social followers in the league north of 185 million with Steph Curry behind him over 60 million. Although Bron may take the lead in followers, Curry has a .91% engagement rate while Bron's is .38%.

Opening Ceremonies for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games took place today. Spotlighted are endorsement deals for some of the top competitors from around the world competing in the games.

Alexis Pinturault from France competes in his 3rd Winter Olympics as an alpine skier. Pinturault has 14 partnerships across 10 categories, including deals with Red Bull, Agence, Zoom, and Bollé.

It's National Girls & Women in Sports Day and we are highlighting female college athletes who are leading the way in NIL endorsement deals.

Notably, the WWE has signed the Cavinder twins after the two broke into the industry July 1st signing duel NIL deals with Boost Mobile. Boost Mobile and the WWE touted their new endorsers with billboards in New York's famous Times Square. Hayley Cavinder edges out her sister Hanna, having one more deal for a total of 10.

Similar to college football athletes, Raising Cane's also targeted woman college athletes being the second most active brand signing NIL deals with woman in college athletics. Degree is currently the top brand in the space having social posts incorporated into all of their deals, while 80% of all NIL deals include social posts according to SponsorUnited'a data.

On average, every female in college sports with 1 endorsement deal actually has at least 2 deals. Over 100 brands have entered the space in the 6+ months that College NIL deals have been legal. There is still tons of opportunity for partnership growth tied to female college athletes as there's over 475 brands with Men's college athletics deals.

Ariana Grande and Fortnite created a campaign in game called the “Rift Tour” giving players the ability to navigate throughout the game for an in game concert experience.

Looking for more insights on partnerships in the technology category? Stay with us this week as we release our Technology Sponsorships Annual Report!

In an article published by Forbes earlier this month, the two top earning TikTok influencers in 2021 came from the same family. Charli D’Amelio took the #1 spot with 134M followers earning nearly $18M and older sister Dixie D’Amelio has 57M followers earning just about $10M over the course of last year earning her the #2 spot.

Reported by SponsorUnited own data, Charli has partnerships with 10 brands including Dunkin, Cerave, Takis, and Simmons Sleep. Utilizing not only TikTok, Charli posts here endorsements on all of her social media channels including Twitter, Facebook and Instagram brining her total following to nearly 200 million overall. Rather than having static images for her endorsement deals, Charli creates TikTok videos which incorporate her partners into them, most notably with Dunkin’ and Takis.

Simmons Sleep tapped into both of the D’Amelio sisters followers partnering with both influencers providing their fans the opportunity for a bedroom makeover. Dixie has 9 deals, one less than her sister while partnering with higher end brands such as Versace and Valentino. These partnerships differ from her younger sis, as they are more centered around a "high-end photoshoot" v.s the videos created by her sister. With Dixie approaching the age of 21 later this summer, makes us wonder what other brands will leverage the her massive social following of over 86M.

With the start of a new year, fitness resolutions are top of mind for many.

We highlight the top fitness trainers and influencers in the sponsorship and media space. Remi Ishizuka has six deals in the retail category as well as food products which include Kohl's, Walmart, Nuun Hydration& Tic Tac.