In the new era of college sports, it pays — literally — to be a basketball player with a considerable social media following.
For the top 10 athletes with the highest price per post on Instagram, six of them are basketball players, according to a September report by The Action Network, which does sports betting analysis. The Action Network determined the 100 most-followed college athlete profiles on Instagram using HypeAuditor, an influencer marketing analytics tool. The company then calculated the posing fee athletes could charge per Instagram post by taking the average amount from millions of audited influencer accounts. That average was about $.004 per post per follower.
While The Action Network report focuses on Instagram followings, brands should also take into account athletes’ TikTok followings, with some athletes boasting even bigger followings on that platform, like Oregon’s Sedona Prince or UCLA’s Kaila Novak.
The NCAA’s Name, Image, and Likeness policy (NIL), which went into effect in July of this year, allows college athletes to use their name, image, and likeness for brand partnerships and endorsements, a perk previously reserved for professional athletes. The laws surrounding NIL vary by state, and colleges have even set up classes and new departments to help athletes navigate the new laws. Athletes with big followings are already fielding deals, making a post on their social media accounts a coveted goal.