“We don’t know half the people on the list!”
“Virat Kohli should be at worst number three.”
“No Iga Swiatek??? Whatta joke!!!”
That’s just a sample of some of the (more palatable) social media reaction to this year’s list of the world’s 50 Most Marketable Athletes, which saw Lionel Messi top the ranking for a second time.
Whether you agree with the list or not, 50MM is always an emotive topic. It leaves many hardcore fans asking why their favourite athlete has missed out, what makes athlete A more marketable than athlete B, and how the ranking can be justified.
The answers to a lot of those questions, though, can be found in NorthStar Solutions Group’s methodology. So SportsPro is here to pick out some of the more high-profile names not included in 50MM and answer the important question: why?
Kohli crashes out
This is probably the athlete SportsPro has fielded the most questions about. The man many still consider the face of Indian cricket was one of the biggest fallers in the list, dropping from seventh in the 2022 ranking to 57th this year.
The simplest explanation is that Kohli placed 110th within the Total Addressable Market (TAM) scoring pillar, which will have had a huge impact on his final ranking because NorthStar’s methodology gives the biggest weighting (45%) to an athlete’s TAM. In particular, Kohli was let down by his score for audience reach, which was 122nd out of the 125 athletes that qualified for the final evaluation phase.
That might sound surprising for a man who has 260 million followers on Instagram and a further 58.3 million on Twitter, but NorthStar’s definition of audience reach is about more than just the size of a sportsperson’s following; it also accounts for the diversity of that following, including the number of countries, ethnicities, and age groups within it. NorthStar therefore deemed that Kohli’s audience isn’t as diverse as some of those that did crack the top 50.
Plus, while Kohli might have a rich endorsement portfolio, his weak score within the sponsor awareness driver suggests the majority of his sponsors are not globally renowned companies that can help grow his personal brand.
From a purely sporting perspective, it’s noteworthy that Kohli drops off the list after relinquishing the captaincy of the Indian cricket team. World Cup captain Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya, who has led India in one-day formats over the last 12 months, both rank above their teammate in this year’s 50MM, which might suggest that leading arguably the most famous national team in world cricket provides a boost to an individual’s marketability.
Ledecky dives in the rankings
The biggest faller from last year’s list is American swimmer Katie Ledecky, who has been a regular in 50MM, so her drop from 21st to 89th might come as a surprise.
Ledecky’s downfall speaks to a common thread that ties together several athletes who narrowly missed out on the top 50. The 26-year-old scored poorly for authenticity (27.87/54), was joint last for purpose, mission and values, and also was graded down for social ROI (18.33/42) and environmental ROO (11.67/30).
Perhaps more understandably, Ledecky’s athlete trending buzz and sport awareness scores were low, which speaks to the waning popularity of swimming outside of an Olympic year.
American swimmer Katie Ledecky was the biggest faller from last year’s list
Alcaraz breaks through – but not into the top 50
The last 12 months saw Carlos Alcaraz cement his status as the next big thing in men’s tennis, but it wasn’t enough to secure him a place in 50MM. Despite a memorable five-set triumph over Novak Djokovic to win his first Wimbledon title, the Spaniard narrowly missed out on the list with a ranking of 55.
Alcaraz only made the top 50 for the ECON scoring pillar, which not only illustrates the money he has won on the court, but also the clamour the likes of Nike, Louis Vuitton and Calvin Klein have made to sponsor a player tipped to dominate the sport for years to come.
His score for Athlete Brand Strength, however, was not so favourable, which suggests that Alcaraz, who is only 20, still has plenty of room to develop his personal brand and improve a relatively low authenticity score. Interestingly, his TAM score was lower than all six female tennis players included in 50MM, which might even be interpreted as a men’s tennis problem rather than an Alcaraz problem.
According to this list, Novak Djokovic is the 11th most marketable athlete right now.
The only man in the top 40 with Rafael Nadal at 41st.
Not sure I believe it though given Carlos Alcaraz is not even in the top 50 whilst tons of WTA players are. https://t.co/McN7U4I0gF
— 1995 (Jason’s Version) (@Certinfy) October 17, 2023
It’s also worth highlighting that Alcaraz missed a portion of last year due to injury and his Wimbledon triumph came towards the end of the evaluation period, which concluded on 20th August, so the impact of that win may have been limited.
Brittney’s sitch
One athlete who made headlines over the past 12 months was Brittney Griner, whose return to WNBA action after being detained in Russia delivered the women’s basketball league’s most-watched game on cable in 24 years.
For some, that kind of attention, coupled the growing marketability of women’s sports, might have made her a shoo-in for 50MM. And Griner does rank in the top ten for her TAM momentum score, which was introduced to this year’s methodology to factor in key storylines during the evaluation period and the impact that might have on an athlete’s audience. She is also third for social ROI, which speaks to how she used her newfound spotlight to address social issues.
Despite that, though, Griner ranked last within the brand strength pillar, which meant she ended up as this year’s 70th most marketable athlete. It illustrates that even if a sportsperson has a certain level of momentum behind them, that alone isn’t always enough if their personal brand hasn’t been built up over time.
Brittney Griner used her platform to raise awareness of those who remain wrongfully detained overseas following her release from Russia
Sho-Time is Sho-Stopped
‘Most uniquely talented player in baseball history’, the ‘Japanese Babe Ruth’ and ‘two-way virtuoso’ are just a handful of phrases that have been used to describe Shohei Ohtani, but I’d wager that he hadn’t been called the ‘104th most marketable athlete in the world’ until earlier this week.
There’s a lot to like about Ohtani from a marketer’s perspective: he’s a cultural icon in Japan making hay in America, has a clean reputation and is already in conversations about the best baseball player of a generation.
However, NorthStar’s Tom Malkin says Ohtani’s “main marketability bottleneck” stems from his lack of social media engagement. Of the social platforms evaluated as part of the assessment, the 29-year-old is only present on Instagram, which inhibits his ability to relate to a broader audience, showcase his authenticity and express his commitment to social causes, all of which impacts his overall marketability score.
In fact, all MLB players in the top 125 – none made the top 50 – struggled when it came to authenticity, audience reach and social ROI.
Interestingly, Ohtani has a low score within the sport-team awareness driver, likely because he plays for the Los Angeles Angels, who are often overshadowed by another team in the same city, the Dodgers. So might a move away for the soon-to-be free agent benefit his marketability?
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