ELI5: How much money did Marc Lou make from Sponsor My Body?

There is no single public number that should automatically be described as Marc Lou's profit from Sponsor My Body.

Different public snapshots of the experiment displayed different revenue-related figures at different moments. The final value of the winning sponsorship placements, gross payments processed and Marc's actual profit are not necessarily the same thing.

That distinction matters because the auction allowed advertisers to replace existing sponsors by paying more.

For example, if one company paid $1,000 and another later paid $2,000 to take its place, the original sponsor could be refunded. Gross payment volume could therefore be significantly higher than the amount ultimately retained from the final sponsorships.

There are also payment-processing fees, refunds, taxes and other possible costs.

The more important takeaway is that the experiment showed companies were willing to spend meaningful amounts of money on an unusual sponsorship format when it was combined with scarcity, an event, an existing audience and a strong online story.

That is part of the opportunity SponsorMyBody.com is exploring. Instead of requiring every athlete to create their own viral auction website, the goal is to make sponsorship placements easier for athletes to offer and easier for brands to discover.