Sports sponsorship supports brand growth, finds research

The research, published in a report called The sport dividend, found that sports sponsorship elicits more intense feelings of happiness, which comes to the fore when making a purchase decision.

The findings are based on testing of 170 sport sponsorship campaigns and emotional data gathered from more than 33,000 people across Germany, France, the UK and the US.

Sport sponsorships received a 3.8-star average score among sports fans on System1’s advertising effectiveness scale, which scores adverts from one to a maximum 5.9 stars.

Among broad audiences, 49% of the sport sponsorship campaigns tested delivered a stronger than average score over non-sport assets.

Alex Charkham, chief strategy officer at Fuse, said: “Across rights investments and related activation, sport sponsorship is estimated to be a $100bn industry, yet, up until now, it has lacked the resources and evidence (when compared with advertising) to quantify effectiveness and inform how sponsorship really works. This partly explains why sport remains undervalued as a platform.”

Jon Evans, chief customer officer at System1, said: “Sports has a unique ability to engage mass audiences around the world, thanks to its global reach and mainstream media appeal.

“This research marks a monumental moment for the industry, whereby for the first time, brands and advertisers can lean on evidence-based practice to inform sport sponsorship strategy.”