Nike has remained atop the heap in the 12th edition of SportsPro’s list of the World’s 50 Most Marketable (50MM) Brands, compiled by the sponsorship analytics firm Hookit. Nike scored 8.77 billion engagements, 58 percent more than in the previous year, leading to a 34 percent increase in sponsorship value to $616.5 million. Adidas, which came in second, generated a sponsorship value of about $270 million. Next in line were Emirates, Santander, Red Bull, Puma ($149.9 million), State Farm, Monster Energy, Dream11 and Heineken. Hookit uses something it calls SportGrap to track professional athletes, teams and leagues on social media. From these data the firm calculates each potential value and promotion quality, then multiplies them to obtain a “discounted adjusted ad value” (AAV). The list draws on data gathered over one year dated from Aug. 15, 2020. These include the posts of about 30,000 organizations and athletes to promote about 8,000 brands on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitch, Twitter, VK, Weibo and YouTube. An analysis of this year’s list, titled “‘Inside the 2021 Most Marketable Brands,” will be streamed free of charge on Oct. 7 at sportspro50mm.com.

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