Over the years, sports sponsorships became an important piece of marketing plans of big companies willing to spend millions of dollars to get their brand displayed on big screens and stadium walls.
According to data presented by Safe Betting, the financial services, technology, and automotive industry, as the three leading markets, are expected to spend $14.1bn on sports sponsorships in 2020.
Financial Services Top the List of Sponsorship Deals
From basketball shoes and football boots to Olympic runners’ arms and stadium walls, sponsorship deals have taken a significant turn over the last few years. Thanks to its global reach, sports became a fantastic market for advertising, no matter the company location or target audience.
Because instead of running many campaigns to engage with different cultures, sports sponsorships provide companies with a unique image with an amazing reach.
Analyzed by industry, financial services top the list of sponsorship deals, revealed the Two Circles survey. Statistics show this sector is expected to spend $6.92bn on sports sponsorship deals in 2020. Companies from the technology market ranked second, with $4.58bn worth of contracts.
The Two Circles data showed the automotive industry, as the third-largest sector on this list, is forecast to put $2.67bn in sponsorship deals in 2020. Telecoms, the retail sector, and soft drinks follow, with $2.55bn, $1.81bn, and $1.42bn, respectively.
Sports sponsorship spending worldwide in 2020, by sector (in billion U.S. dollars)
Statistics also show that TV advertising has the biggest share in the combined value of sports sponsorship deals worldwide. That doesn’t surprise considering that the average television viewership of an NFL regular-season game in the United States during the 2019 season was around 16.5 million.
In 2019, 83% of the value delivery for sports sponsors came through TV ads. However, this figure is expected to fall under 73% in the next four years.
Total Sports Sponsorships to Plunge by 37% Amid COVID-19 Outbreak
Despite leading industries spending billions of dollars on sponsorship deals in 2020, the coronavirus pandemic put most new contracts on hold.
The Two Circles data showed the global sport sponsorship spending amounted to $44.3bn in 2018. By the end of 2019, this figure rose to $46.1bn. However, due to the COVID-19 crisis, global sports sponsorship rights-fees are expected to plunge by 37% year-on-year to $28.9bn in 2020.
As the leading investor, the financial services sector put a total of $12.6bn in sport sponsorship in 2019, with almost 40% of that value spent in the United States. However, this figure is expected to stumble by 45% in 2020.
The automotive industry, as the second-biggest spender in 2019, is expected to witness a 55% plunge this year with the total value of sponsorship deals falling by $3.2bn amid coronavirus pandemic.
