50 most marketable Aussie athletes: How $242m Simmons brand imploded as Kyrgios soars

He has a $242 million contract, seven million Instagram followers after just three posts, and is one of the most recognisable basketballers on the planet, yet Ben Simmons fails spectacularly in marketing appeal.

While Nick Kyrgios has been engulfed in controversy on and off the tennis court – last year’s settled domestic violence charge being the most serious – Simmons ranks a staggering 40 places below Kyrgios in Code Sport’s 50 Most Marketable Australian Athletes list.

Simmons earned the ire of Philadelphia 76ers fans when he sat out practice last season and missed games after falling out with coaches and teammates, and eventually got a trade to the Brooklyn Nets.

But it’s not the nature of controversy that has affected his appeal, but rather performance, according to leading sports marketing expert Tristan Hay.

Because while Simmons has continued to struggle for form, Kyrgios has achieved career-highs in the past year, including making the Wimbledon final.

Hay, who previously worked as an advisor to Kyrgios and remains friends with the tennis ace, said: “If we are looking at pure endorsement dollars across their careers so far then Ben and Nick would be one and two on this list.

“They are once-in-a-generation talents who have amassed millions of followers on their social platforms and collaborated with some of the biggest brands and athletes in world sport.

“Their appeal goes well beyond sport to cross over with music, fashion and pop-culture.”

While Simmons ranks well below what the general public may expect, the Top 50 lists produced other surprises.

NRL and AFL players are “underrepresented” with the highest only placing 19th.

They may grace the back pages of our newspapers and lead the nightly sports bulletins on television, but the stars from both codes are a long way down the marketability pecking order when it comes to Australian athletes.

Advertisers, even locally owned, are now seeking global reach with their brands and are gravitating towards sportspeople who are visible to a world audience, leading experts have revealed.

Women are also few in numbers, with just 14 on the list though experts predict that 18 months from now, following a FIFA World Cup, Netball World Cup and a Paris Olympics, parity will prevail.

Surprises in the top 20 include Alex De Minaur and Logan Martin while big name MMA stars only just make the cut.

So who claimed the NO 1 spot? Which stars didn’t make it?