Below are the top NIL headlines from April 3rd:

The NIL Landscape: Overview and Key Trends from SponsorUnited NIL Report 2024-25:

The NIL market has surged, now constituting a $1B+ athlete economy. The past year has brought significant changes to NIL, with deals involving athletes' broader personas, not just their athletic performance. Pending revenue-sharing lawsuits, notably the House v. NCAA settlement (with a final approval hearing scheduled for April 7th), could fundamentally alter the NIL framework.  The House v. NCAA settlement could enable schools to allocate approximately $20 million annually to compensate athletes, potentially transforming athletic departments into "hybrid talent agencies". SponsorUnited's report analyzes key trends, insights, and opportunities for brands and athletes within this evolving landscape. The report covers various sports, including men's and women's aquatics, baseball/softball, basketball, cheerleading, football, golf, gymnastics, hockey, lacrosse, soccer, tennis, track & field, volleyball, and wrestling, as well as high school athletes.  

Key Findings and Data Points from SponsorUnited report

Brand Strategy: Brands are shifting towards "going deep, not wide," favoring fewer, more strategic and comprehensive NIL deals.  

Deal Volume Trends: The overall number of tracked NIL deals saw a minor YoY increase of only 1%.  This indicates a focus on quality over quantity in NIL partnerships.  

Category Performance: Technology brands have increased their NIL deals by 29% YoY, demonstrating significant growth. Non-alcoholic beverage brands also showed growth, with a 19% increase in deals. Retail and apparel brands are pulling back, suggesting a re-evaluation of their NIL strategies.  

Athlete Influence: Basketball players are prominent in NIL, leading in deal volume and social media impact, especially women. UNC's RJ Davis holds the most endorsements (25). USC's Juju Watkins is the top female athlete in brand deals (20). UConn's Paige Bueckers experienced the most significant social growth, gaining 1M more followers than any male athlete and generating the highest engagement on branded posts.  

Social Media Engagement Dynamics: High-performing NIL social posts are characterized by humor, authenticity, and subtle branding. These posts seamlessly integrate calls to action (CTAs) without appearing overly promotional.  Lower-performing posts tend to rely on direct promotions and overt brand mentions.  

Women contribute to 75% of the top 150 most engaging social posts, compared to 66% of the next 151-300 posts.  

Platform Performance:

Instagram is the most popular platform for college athletes' branded posts. TikTok outperforms Instagram in engagement, especially in categories like Food and Consumer Products, where brands see over 10,000 engagements on average. TikTok remains underutilized, representing a missed opportunity for brands.  

Brand Activity and Strategies

• Most Active Brands:
• EA Sports is the top brand, with 145 NIL deals.  
• Raising Cane's is second, with 69 deals.  

Other top brands include Powerade (62 deals), Epsilon (51 deals), Adidas (47 deals), Hollister and Uber (46 deals each), Heydude (36 deals), and Nintendo (35 deals).  

• Featured Campaigns:

EA Sports' College Football 2026 deal involved offering every athlete in the FBS more than $1,500 and a copy of the game as the NIL deal.  

Raising Cane's focuses on cultural moments, such as featuring athletes at restaurant locations and a New York Fashion Week apparel launch.  

Epsilon and Opendorse's "Work Together to Win Together" campaign ensured every athlete had the opportunity to monetize their NIL with a $500 Instagram campaign.  

Hollister achieved the largest number of synchronized, single-day athlete social media posts in NIL history.  

Uber's NIL deals include a focus on Arch Manning and promoting Uber Eats through social media campaigns. Nintendo and Epic Games jointly sponsor athletes, requiring them to create content featuring both brands.  

Category-Specific Trends

• Apparel and Accessories: The category experienced a 20% drop in total deals. Over half of the brands only posted one time with the athlete. 61 new brands entered the space.  72% of apparel brands that exited the NIL ecosystem this year had only one deal in the previous season. Nike, Adidas, and Under Armour are focusing on longer-term deals with top talent.  The category tracked over 470 deals.  

Technology: Technology category NIL deals grew by 29% YoY. EA Sports' College Football 26 deal drove much of this growth. Nintendo/Epic Games signed three of college football's top 10 athletes to promote Fortnite. Amazon used athletes to promote Prime Video exclusives, fitness products, and holiday deals. The category tracked over 370 deals.  

• Beverage (Non-Alcoholic): Non-alcoholic beverage brands' NIL deals grew by 19% YoY. 25% of the 39 new non-alcoholic beverage brands in NIL were energy drinks. The category tracked over 275 deals.  
• Retail: Retail deals dropped by 9% YoY. Of the 45 brands inactive this year, 17 (38%) had only one post in the previous year. Over 240 deals were tracked in the retail category.  

1. Social Media Insights - Instagram dominates branded posts across NIL categories. TikTok drives high engagement in categories like Food Products and Consumer Products, where brands are seeing over 10,000 engagements on average.  

• Engagement Drivers: Authentic and casual tone wins with audiences. Effective CTAs are subtle and story-driven. Brand integration is often "show, don't tell," with the athlete remaining the focus.  

Methodology

• The report covers the 2024-25 season, with data ranging from March 2024 to March 2025.  
• The data includes information from over 1,700 brands, 3,000 deals, and 4,000 social posts.  
• Social data was collected using SponsorUnited’s proprietary social media tracking metrics, including Total Engagement, from athlete-controlled accounts on Instagram, Facebook, X (Twitter), and TikTok.  
• The social tracking portion of the report included only athletes with 10,000 or more combined followers across these platforms.  
• The analysis focuses on branded content, defined as posts that include a brand mention, tag, logo, or clear promotional tie