A new report from athlete marketing intelligence platform Out2Win shows striking shifts in the college basketball sponsorship ecosystem, with women’s sports gaining substantial ground in visibility and marketability during the 2024-2025 season but trailing their male counterparts in engagement.
The “2025 March Madness Athlete Marketability Report,” released this week, provides comprehensive data on viewership trends, brand partnerships, social media engagement, and emergent talent in both men’s and women’s college basketball.
Viewership Growth Highlights Gender Shift
According to the report, the 2024 Women’s National Championship game generated record-breaking viewership, making it the most-watched sporting event since 2019, excluding football and the Olympics.
The men’s tournament maintained steady growth with 14.8 million average viewers in the championship game (a 4% increase from the previous year) and 9.9 million viewers across all 67 games (a 3% increase).
The report notes that the women’s tournament experienced what Out2Win describes as “meteoric viewership growth” compared to previous seasons, with a dramatic upward trajectory visible in the championship game viewership chart since 2022.
Brand Sponsorship Environment
During the 2024 March Madness tournament, brands executed 784 social media sponsorships with college basketball athletes, generating over 4.4 million sponsored engagements. Notably, female athletes accounted for 63% of those sponsorships (496) while male athletes represented 37% (288).
However, male athletes generated significantly higher engagement, with over 3.2 million sponsored engagements compared to 1.2 million for female athletes. This disparity highlights the persisting engagement gap despite the higher number of sponsorships going to women athletes.
Source: Out2Win
The top-performing brands during March Madness 2024 included:
Cheez-it (2 partnerships, 9.51 million engagements, $286,230 estimated spend)
Keurig (10 partnerships, 6.88 million engagements, $208,410 estimated spend)
For the broader 2024-25 season, Out2Win tracked 936 social media sponsorships with college basketball athletes—nearly evenly split between female (476) and male (460) athletes. Again, the report shows that female athletes generated higher total engagement, with 2.4 million sponsored engagements, compared to 1.8 million male athletes.
University Sponsorship Distribution
The report identifies clear leaders among universities in attracting brand partnerships for their athletes. For women’s basketball, the top five universities by total athlete brand deals were:
UConn Huskies (44 deals)
Texas Longhorns (39 deals)
LSU Tigers (22 deals)
USC Trojans (21 deals)
Iowa Hawkeyes (17 deals)
For men’s basketball, the distribution showed different institutional strengths:
Ohio State Buckeyes (30 deals)
Florida Gulf Coast Eagles (24 deals)
North Carolina Tar Heels (17 deals)
Indiana Hoosiers (15 deals)
LSU Tigers (14 deals)
Deal Economics and Value Distribution
The report reveals substantial gender disparities in compensation. Male basketball players secured a median social media deal size of $576 (a 130% increase from last season) and median total athlete earnings of $10,572 from social media deals. Female basketball players received a median deal size of $250 (only a 5% increase from last season) and median total earnings of $1,870.
Nearly half (48.4%) of all social media deals for college basketball athletes fell within the $100-$1,000 range, while 19% were under $100. Higher-value deals were less common, with 15.5% in the $1,000-$5,000 range, 2.9% between $5,000-$10,000, and 14.3% exceeding $10,000.
Source: Out2Win
Most Marketable Teams and Athletes
Out2Win assigned marketability scores to teams and individual athletes. For men’s basketball, Duke Blue Devils led with a score of 94, followed by North Carolina Tar Heels (92) and Michigan State Spartans (90). In women’s basketball, UConn Huskies topped the list with a score of 96, followed by South Carolina Gamecocks (92) and LSU Tigers (90).
Among individual athletes, Cooper Flagg (Duke, score 95) led the men’s rankings, followed by Tahaad Pettiford (Auburn, 92) and Ian Jackson (North Carolina, 91). For women, Paige Bueckers (Connecticut, 98) established a clear lead, followed by JuJu Watkins (USC, 96) and Azzi Fudd (Connecticut, 94).
Emerging Talent: “Diamonds in the Rough”
The report identifies undermarketed athletes with significant potential—players who might not lead current rankings but demonstrate strong engagement metrics and growth indicators. Top prospects include:
Aneesah Morrow (LSU, 85): 35% Instagram follower growth since October
Emma Koabel (Duke, 84): 720K TikTok followers with 27% Instagram engagement rate
Brand Preferences by Gender
The report identifies distinct patterns in brand partnerships by gender. For men’s basketball, top brand partners included American Eagle (22 partnerships), G2A.COM (21), and Uber (15). Women’s basketball athletes more frequently partnered with Uber (24 partnerships), Savage x Fenty (17), and JLab Audio (15).
This gender-specific brand distribution suggests targeted marketing strategies focusing on different consumer segments through male and female athletes.
The findings suggest an industry in transition, with women’s basketball gaining significant marketing momentum while facing persistent economic disparities compared to men’s programs—even as viewership metrics show dramatic convergence between the two.
Dragomir is a Serbian freelance blog writer and translator. He is passionate about covering insightful stories and exploring topics such as influencer marketing, the creator economy, technology, business, and cyber fraud.
A new report from athlete marketing intelligence platform Out2Win shows striking shifts in the college basketball sponsorship ecosystem, with women’s sports gaining substantial ground in visibility and marketability during the 2024-2025 season but trailing their male counterparts in engagement.
The “2025 March Madness Athlete Marketability Report,” released this week, provides comprehensive data on viewership trends, brand partnerships, social media engagement, and emergent talent in both men’s and women’s college basketball.
Viewership Growth Highlights Gender Shift
According to the report, the 2024 Women’s National Championship game generated record-breaking viewership, making it the most-watched sporting event since 2019, excluding football and the Olympics.
The men’s tournament maintained steady growth with 14.8 million average viewers in the championship game (a 4% increase from the previous year) and 9.9 million viewers across all 67 games (a 3% increase).
The report notes that the women’s tournament experienced what Out2Win describes as “meteoric viewership growth” compared to previous seasons, with a dramatic upward trajectory visible in the championship game viewership chart since 2022.
Brand Sponsorship Environment
During the 2024 March Madness tournament, brands executed 784 social media sponsorships with college basketball athletes, generating over 4.4 million sponsored engagements. Notably, female athletes accounted for 63% of those sponsorships (496) while male athletes represented 37% (288).
However, male athletes generated significantly higher engagement, with over 3.2 million sponsored engagements compared to 1.2 million for female athletes. This disparity highlights the persisting engagement gap despite the higher number of sponsorships going to women athletes.
Source: Out2Win
The top-performing brands during March Madness 2024 included:
For the broader 2024-25 season, Out2Win tracked 936 social media sponsorships with college basketball athletes—nearly evenly split between female (476) and male (460) athletes. Again, the report shows that female athletes generated higher total engagement, with 2.4 million sponsored engagements, compared to 1.8 million male athletes.
University Sponsorship Distribution
The report identifies clear leaders among universities in attracting brand partnerships for their athletes. For women’s basketball, the top five universities by total athlete brand deals were:
For men’s basketball, the distribution showed different institutional strengths:
Deal Economics and Value Distribution
The report reveals substantial gender disparities in compensation. Male basketball players secured a median social media deal size of $576 (a 130% increase from last season) and median total athlete earnings of $10,572 from social media deals. Female basketball players received a median deal size of $250 (only a 5% increase from last season) and median total earnings of $1,870.
Nearly half (48.4%) of all social media deals for college basketball athletes fell within the $100-$1,000 range, while 19% were under $100. Higher-value deals were less common, with 15.5% in the $1,000-$5,000 range, 2.9% between $5,000-$10,000, and 14.3% exceeding $10,000.
Source: Out2Win
Most Marketable Teams and Athletes
Out2Win assigned marketability scores to teams and individual athletes. For men’s basketball, Duke Blue Devils led with a score of 94, followed by North Carolina Tar Heels (92) and Michigan State Spartans (90). In women’s basketball, UConn Huskies topped the list with a score of 96, followed by South Carolina Gamecocks (92) and LSU Tigers (90).
Among individual athletes, Cooper Flagg (Duke, score 95) led the men’s rankings, followed by Tahaad Pettiford (Auburn, 92) and Ian Jackson (North Carolina, 91). For women, Paige Bueckers (Connecticut, 98) established a clear lead, followed by JuJu Watkins (USC, 96) and Azzi Fudd (Connecticut, 94).
Emerging Talent: “Diamonds in the Rough”
The report identifies undermarketed athletes with significant potential—players who might not lead current rankings but demonstrate strong engagement metrics and growth indicators. Top prospects include:
For men:
For women:
Brand Preferences by Gender
The report identifies distinct patterns in brand partnerships by gender. For men’s basketball, top brand partners included American Eagle (22 partnerships), G2A.COM (21), and Uber (15). Women’s basketball athletes more frequently partnered with Uber (24 partnerships), Savage x Fenty (17), and JLab Audio (15).
This gender-specific brand distribution suggests targeted marketing strategies focusing on different consumer segments through male and female athletes.
The findings suggest an industry in transition, with women’s basketball gaining significant marketing momentum while facing persistent economic disparities compared to men’s programs—even as viewership metrics show dramatic convergence between the two.
Read the full report here.