NEW YORK - eTradeWire -- NEW YORK, NY -- OpenSponsorship, the world's largest athlete marketing platform backed by Serena Williams and David Blitzer, today released its 2026 State of Athlete and Influencer Marketing Report, drawing on a decade of deal data and analysis of more than 14.9 million pieces of creator content to give brand marketers a data-driven picture of what is actually working in influencer marketing this year.

The headline commercial finding is significant. Average deal size on the platform grew from approximately $2,500 in 2024 to $5,147 in 2025, a 100% year-over-year increase reflecting growing brand confidence in managed athlete partnerships. At the same time, female athletes now account for 75% of all deals on the platform, with Track and Field and Golf leading by volume and Marathon runners emerging as the fastest-growing category for 2026.

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One of the report's most significant findings challenges how brands currently evaluate creator partners. After analyzing 14.9 million posts, OpenSponsorship found that the gap between a creator's average engagement rate and their topic-specific engagement rate can be 4x or higher. A creator averaging 1% engagement across their account may hit 6% or more when posting about topics their audience genuinely cares about. Brands relying on account-level averages are making multimillion-dollar decisions based on a metric that actively misleads them.

Athletes continue to outperform traditional influencers by a widening margin. Platform data shows athlete creators averaging 10.97% engagement compared to 4.92% for traditional influencers. That gap is driven by the earned trust and authentic community athletes build through visible public performance, and it is widening rather than narrowing as brands allocate more budget to sports marketing ahead of the FIFA World Cup this summer.

Non-athlete deals on the platform grew 7x between 2024 and 2025 as brands expanded their creator rosters beyond traditional sport into podcasters, wellness influencers, lifestyle creators, and NIL college athletes. Health and Wellness is now the fastest-growing non-sport creator category, driven by brands targeting women over 40 posting about menopause, hormonal health, and longevity.

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Ishveen Jolly, Founder and CEO of OpenSponsorship, said: "The industry needs to move from account-level averages to post-level intelligence. The creator who looks unremarkable on paper may be your best partner. The technology to find them exists right now."

OpenSponsorship was founded in 2015 and has facilitated over 9,000 accepted deals across 160 sports and 120 countries. The company reached profitability in 2024 and delivered 200% revenue growth in 2025. Ishveen Jolly is a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree and SBJ Game Changer 2025. Learn more at opensponsorship.com.