Sponsorship - the rights and the wrongs of it

Unlike broadcast sponsorships for drama, factual and reality shows, which have attracted plenty of effectiveness interest over the years, other more experience-based channels, such as events, gaming, and sports sponsorships outside the major tournaments – especially those not on broadcast TV, have had much less attention.

But with current data and analytics expertise, effectiveness measurement for brands that plug into the values, audience and fan base of content assets is certainly actionable, and provides great opportunities for agencies to extend effectiveness understanding of these more experience-based channels.

Obviously, there are agencies and brands that have honed their understanding of these areas into well-oiled machines, that fit seamlessly into a brand’s overall marketing and communications playbook. But current research suggests that too many are still falling back on metrics such as advertising media equivalency.

The IPA Effectiveness Leadership Group wants to help fill this gap. One of the group's work streams this year, therefore, will look into the largest area of sponsorship – sport – in a partnership between the IPA and The Sponsorship Effectiveness Forum, which has been working to bring sponsorship into the wider effectiveness conversations and frameworks used in other areas of marketing.

Key questions for a high-growth market

The opportunity for both agencies and brands is huge. The European Sponsorship Association estimates the value of the European Sports Sponsorship market to be at least €25bn. Sport represents at least 70% of the total European Sponsorship market with growth outpacing the rest of the market at 5.9% for 2025.

The majority of this spend lies outside traditional advertising market calculations, echoing previous observations that this sector of brand spend is siloed.

One of the objectives of the research is to assess how much sponsorship spend is bereft of the detailed effectiveness measurement briefs that are the hallmark of more evidence-based decision-making. How exactly is sports sponsorship perceived compared to other channels?

We can then assess where the IPA can help, thereby increasing the chances of partnership success all round. Other key questions include:

• Where are the measurement gaps?
• How can sports sponsorships be better integrated into broader marketing plans?
• What multiplying effects can sponsorships have?
• What are the ratios of rights fees to activation expenditure?
• How commonly are robust commercial metrics used, compared to intermediate measures?
• How much attention is placed on creative work, compared to other media?
• What data is shared across rights holders and sponsors and what joint benefits could come from greater sharing?

Interestingly, this will be the first time that the IPA will have explored views from rights holders, as well as brands and agencies including sponsorship specialists, which should hugely enrich effectiveness understanding.

Sponsorship and longer-term effectiveness

There are other good reasons for undertaking this work. For instance, not only is this market in growth, but the UK is a major player within it. Understanding more about our own market helps fuel better conversations internationally.

Sports sponsorship also operates more or less independently of the major algorithmic models that increasingly dominate the media landscape, especially outside broadcast. As digital platforms shift to automated placement of advertising, sponsorship campaigns offer greater scope for media planners to direct plans and employ their skills.

Furthermore, for those agencies and brands looking for stronger relationships with CFOs and Boards, the multi-year nature of these deals means they are useful platforms for conversations with financial and Exco (Executive Committee) audiences on effective returns and the role of marketing in the generation and capture of demand. The results of this study will help feed those conversations.

The goal is to create more productive conversations across sports sponsorships

This project is not about the World Cup. The IPA represents a wide variety of agencies across the country with diverse interests in sports sponsorships. This is about helping brands, rights holders and agencies to work together to harness the community and shared passions that sport delivers.

And how to activate and deepen those partnerships for the commercial benefit of all, from a local cider company’s sponsorship of its county cricket team to a retailer underwriting the next stage of women’s Premiership Rugby. From an FMCG brand helping to finance the future of swimming, to a fintech investing in grassroots football clubs.

In short, we are trying to understand the levers needed to lower the effectiveness drawbridge to more sponsors and rights holders and give agencies the keys to enable more productive, valuable conversations across all stakeholders.

The opinions expressed here are those of the authors and were submitted in accordance with the IPA terms and conditions regarding the uploading and contribution of content to the IPA newsletters, IPA website, or other IPA media, and should not be interpreted as representing the opinion of the IPA.