The power of World Cup sponsorship
World Cup fans’ relationship
with sponsorship
The popularity of the football World Cup attracts some of the biggest brands in the world as sponsors seek to capitalise on this iconic competition.
Here we draw on our SportScope data to explore how World Cup fans feel about sponsorship, types of sponsorship that are particularly effective, how fans feel towards World Cup partner brands and the importance of sponsorship being seen as authentic.
This reveals key opportunities for marketers
in targeting World Cup fans across the globe.
World Cup fans are positive about sports event sponsorship
% who agree
The vast majority of World Cup fans are positive about sports sponsorship. They understand the value of a sponsorship that fits and are more likely than other adults to feel positive about event sponsorship.
This includes feeling that sponsorship can improve the competition and goodwill towards brands that sponsor events of interest to them.
…and positive more widely about the power of sport for good
% who agree
Beyond immediate corporate sponsorship, World Cup fans see sport as something that does good generally for people and places – more so than sports fans generally.
For brands, tapping into the goodwill and togetherness fans feel around big sporting events can be very powerful.
World Cup fans are particularly attuned to all sorts of sports sponsorship
% World Cup fans who claim to notice these ad placements while watching live sports content
World Cup fans are much more aware of sponsorship around sports than other adults. Shirt sponsorship can be particularly impactful, with nearly half of fans noticing this while watching sport.
Whilst brands on shirts and certain other types of sponsorship are not available to World Cup partners at the tournament, taking advantage of sponsorship opportunities that particularly engage World Cup fans will maximise sponsorship value.
World Cup partners see high positivity from fans vs from other adults…
% who say their opinion of this brand is positive
Positive engagement by World Cup fans with brands that partner with the competition is very high compared to other adults.
However, it’s worth noting that in terms of the overall proportion of World Cup fans with a positive view of each of these brands, there is still a lot of scope for improvement.
…but levels of positivity from fans are considerably down vs four years ago
% World Cup fans who say their opinion of this brand is positive
A considerably smaller proportion of World Cup fans today are positive about these partner brands than shortly before the last World Cup.
This will concern these partners as they were also World Cup sponsors in 2022. These brands have more to do this time around to activate their sponsorship in a way that bolsters the flagging positivity of fans.
Partner brands need to ensure effective differentiation from big rivals who also have considerable positive engagement with fans
% World Cup fans who say their opinion of this brand is positive
A challenge for World Cup partners is that fans of the competition are also particularly likely to be positive about other big global brands – including some who are their biggest rivals.
These competitors have opportunities to undertake promotional activity around the competition that taps into wider fan engagement and goodwill, so it will be important for official partners to maximise activation in ways that clearly stand out from their rivals.
Sponsorship activation can be high risk, but high reward
% World Cup fans who agree
Well over half of World Cup fans believe brands who sponsor sports events can compromise the integrity of the event.
However, 70% of World Cup fans are prepared to invest time and money on a brand that does good within sport. This highlights the enormous potential benefits to brands of being seen to be a force for good – and the equally huge risks if consumers do not believe the activation is authentic.
Discover more!
Click to download this infographic as a PDF
Find out more about World Cup fans – or any consumer target – through our SportScope and TGI consumer data.