Public figures have influenced the masses for generations. But who audiences give their time to (and who they trust) has changed dramatically over the years.
Celebrities once owned influence, and it showed up in the physical spaces closest to us. If you’re a ’90s kid, that likely meant posters of the Friends cast, Michael Jordan, or Britney Spears on your bedroom walls.
Gen Z? They’re refreshing MrBeast videos, following Alix Earle’s routines, and tuning into Kai Cenat’s streams across their feeds.
And Gen Alpha is growing up in digital-first spaces like Ryan’s World, Ms. Rachel, Blippi, and a steady stream of YouTube and TikTok creators. And honestly, it’s a miracle they haven’t evolved an extra scrolling thumb… yet.
Who influences us across generations has always been shaped by the spaces we spend time in and defined by technology and culture. In the ’90s, TikTok wasn’t a thing, and we couldn't have cared less about the skin care routine a 30-year-old Mormon mom adopted. We cared about after-school specials playing on TV in our living room at 3 pm.
Today, access to influential public figures is ubiquitous. They live in our televisions, smartphones, earbuds, and the feeds we see daily.
But, interestingly enough, for decades, access to some of our favorite influencers—athletes—was far more limited. You watched the game on TV and maybe caught a post-game interview. That was the extent of it.
Then, social platforms provided distribution for athletes, and NIL gave college athletes a way to participate commercially.
Athletes can now partner with brands, post content, and show up in feeds every day—like all other influencers.
And stats show athlete influencers are the new (and potentially strongest) cultural influencers today. Athletes are driving 3.7× higher engagement (5.6% vs. 1.9%), with some platforms showing 2x–12x gains. In men’s basketball, that number climbs even higher. The NIL market is racing toward nearly $2 billion.
Here are three places where that's playing out, and what brands can take from each.
Back in the day, watching the Olympics meant one thing: turning on your TV at the exact time the event aired. If you were lucky, you could DVR it and catch it later.
Brand sponsorships lived on cereal boxes, in commercial breaks, and in prime-time slots. You saw the same ads, the same moments, and the same version of the story as everyone else.
Participation was controlled and centralized within the granddad of media—broadcast channels.
London 2012 broke the pattern and set us on a trajectory where the Olympics became accessible across platforms, creators, and audiences. It was the first “social Olympics,” when athletes started posting, and fans engaged across other platforms in real time.
Tokyo 2020 pushed things further, with streaming becoming a primary way people watched. NBC reported 5–6 billion streaming minutes across its platforms, as audiences tuned in live and on demand across devices.
Then, Paris 2024 brought the Olympics to TikTok. Often called the “TikTok Olympics,” it saw massive creator involvement and audiences following athletes across media channels and platforms. Over a billion people engaged with Olympic content on TikTok, from athletes unboxing gear to viral moments like #ChocolateMuffinTok, turning the Games into a constant feed.
In Milan this year, networks and brands built heavily on the momentum. Broadcast channels and sponsors partnered with creators and athletes who already have trusted followings, tapping into audiences that were already there. YouTube alone reported 12 billion views from more than 850 million viewers during the Games, with much of that driven by creator-led coverage.
NBC, in particular, distributed Olympic coverage through hundreds of creators, including the athletes themselves. Athletes shared behind-the-scenes moments, daily routines, travel days, meals, and daily life in the village. They showed up as people as well as competitors. And audiences ate it up.
Takeaway: Brands can capture their own share of Olympic attention by partnering with athletes and creators who already have engaged audiences. Give them access, let them create, and show up where people are already watching.
Football is another macro-community that shows us the power of fandom and athletes' influence.
For starters, football’s global reach is massive. The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup alone saw 2.5 million in-person attendees. But across broadcast, streaming, and digital platforms? That number reached an estimated 2.7 billion viewers.
And, unlike other industries, where social media draws followers to brands, channels, and events, football works in reverse.
The fandom is already established. The audience shows up for the match in their team colors or their favorite player’s jersey. Later, they move to social platforms to follow what happens next—highlights, reactions, and the athletes behind the moments.
The stats prove it. During the tournament, FIFA’s official social accounts gained around nine million new followers, while DAZN’s coverage generated more than 10 billion impressions. Viewership also extended beyond live matches, with 80% of DAZN viewers engaging with additional content like highlights, behind-the-scenes footage, and interactive experiences.
The Women’s World Cup added 15.6 million new followers across players, with individual athletes gaining millions of followers within a single cycle. These spikes tie directly to performance moments. A goal, a save, or a breakout game instantly increases visibility. Fans follow in real time, then stay for the ongoing content. Attention compounds because the audience has already seen the performance that made the athlete relevant.
The same pattern appears among individual athletes—and this is huge. People aren’t just fans of clubs. They’re fans of individual players. It’s why my nephew dresses up like Ronaldo, but doesn’t even know what club he plays for.
Again, the stats make the case: When Cristiano Ronaldo joined Al-Nassr, the club gained around 2 million new followers almost overnight. Millions of fans followed him to a club they hadn’t paid attention to before.
Now apply that to brands. If one player can move millions of people to a new club overnight, the same thing happens when that player shows up for a brand. “Most of an athlete's influence is pre-loaded before they ever hit publish,” said Scott Kasun, Digital Marketing Executive at ForeFront Web. The attention is already there, and the trust comes with it.
Takeaway: You're not building an audience through an athlete partnership. You're borrowing one that already exists.
If the Olympics showed what athlete influence looks like with a billion-dollar production behind it, NIL shows what it looks like with none.
College athletes are outperforming the influencers brands have spent years building relationships with, and they're doing it without content teams, media strategies, or editorial calendars.
We already know that college athletes drive 3.7× the engagement of traditional influencers. What the stat doesn't show is how it translates commercially.
Adam Boucher, Head of Marketing at Turtle Strength, gave us a concrete example. "One athlete drove 10 direct sales and our highest organic engagement, compared to 2 to 3 from a traditional influencer,” he said.
The reason for this success has a lot to do with how NIL athletes build their following. Their communities form around shared experience—same campus, same team, same season. Their visibility grows through performance, not posting frequency. Fans discover them during games, tournaments, and viral highlights, then follow their feeds for whatever comes next. By the time a brand enters the picture, the relationship is already months or years deep.
“NIL athletes can perform with no formal strategy because the content format is already built into their life... training, travel, game-day routines... it naturally fits short-form staples like day-in-the-life,” said Kasun.
The numbers back it up. NIL earnings tied to March Madness have jumped 92% since 2022, with $932.5 million spent on NIL products and services across men's and women's basketball this season alone. Performance shapes value directly, too: starters in college basketball earn 20–40% more in NIL deals than rotational players. Credibility is being priced in real time.
That credibility also travels across categories. Athletes are moving products in beauty, fashion, and lifestyle. Madison Reed built a whole campaign around UConn women's basketball, partnering with players including Sarah Strong and Azzi Fudd and creating a limited-edition color inspired by Paige Bueckers. South Carolina's Raven Johnson partnered with beauty brand Parfait to co-create an actual product: a wig designed to stay secure during athletic activity.
None of this requires a sophisticated content operation. "Authenticity is providing something that strategy typically must manufacture. NIL athletes are posting from a real place, and nine times out of ten, the least staged content performs best," said Ishveen Jolly, CEO & Founder of OpenSponsorship.
Fans watched these athletes grind through a season, lose close games, and come back. A brand partnership doesn't need to establish anything. It just needs to be a natural next step in a story the audience has been following all along.
Takeaway: NIL partnerships outperform because credibility was earned on the court, the field, and the track long before any deal was signed. If your evaluation starts and ends with follower count, you're optimizing for the wrong thing.
Athletes have always had influence. What's changed is the infrastructure around them (social platforms, NIL legislation, streaming, creator partnerships) that turned passive fandom into a commercial channel. That infrastructure will keep evolving. The brands that win won't be the ones that caught this wave. They'll be the ones watching for the next one.
A few things worth internalizing now:
Audiences decide who they trust before you do. By the time a brand approaches an athlete for a partnership, the audience relationship is already formed. Your job is to recognize the best opportunities early. Social listening is the perfect tool for finding the right people before they become expensive.
Stop leading with follower count. "Don't lead with follower count and average engagement rate," said Jolly. "The right fit will always beat the biggest name." Credibility, audience alignment, and a clear conversion path matter more than reach. As Boucher framed it: "Brands should focus on credibility, audience fit, and real results, not just polished content."
Measure like it matters. "If you can't measure beyond likes, you're doing the 'getting the word out' lottery," said Kasun. Athlete partnerships at their best drive direct commercial outcomes. Hold them to that standard from the start.