dentsu Sports Analytics and MKTG study reveals ways of transforming sports sponsorships for maximum impact

Sports marketing agency MKTG Sports and Entertainment, in partnership with dentsu Sports Analytics, has revealed the 2024 update to its global fan sponsorship receptivity and profiling data platform study, Decoding 360.

The refreshed data set, encompassing feedback from more than 10,000 consumers in Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Saudi Arabia, China, India, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, reveals a startling insight: up to 20% of sports sponsorship activity may be wasted on fans who are unlikely to notice, remember, or react to advertising in sport and entertainment environments.

But demonstrating the power of effective sponsorship strategy, the research found that among those that are receptive to sponsorship and advertising in sports and entertainment, over 90% are likely to notice brands when watching sport, three quarters will feel better about brands that sponsor their favourite sports and be more likely to purchase from sponsors, and 70% are more loyal to brands that sponsor sport.

“Our findings show us that brands must shift their focus from solely targeting total potential reach, to engaging fans who are genuinely receptive to sponsor messaging,” said Craig Roberts, Global Head of Strategy & Product at dentsu Sports Analytics. 

“Our latest data set offers the industry an unprecedented view into how brands can connect with fans through sponsorship, catering to the increasingly granular demands of brands and right holders who seek to analyse fan behaviour in detail,” Roberts said.

Decoding 360, originated in 2012, focused on fans and their receptivity to sports sponsorships. Over the years, it has evolved to dive deeper into the factors underpinning success for properties and brands in driving sponsorship engagement, and through a fusion with dentsu’s global consumer research now also explores consumer motivations, behaviours, and media consumption in unprecedented detail.

The research identified three distinct consumer types:

“Decoding 360 underscores that the sponsorship industry can no longer rely solely on measures of avidity and passion to gauge a consumer’s likelihood ofembracing a sponsorship,” said Roberts. Instead, brands must focus on understanding a consumer’s receptivity and openness to sponsor messaging to assess  the potential of a property to meet brand objectives. “Understanding a property's fanbase's receptivity levels is crucial to optimising sponsorship activations and crafting creative executions that will resonate with Receptive and Selective fans and cut through in an incredibly crowded environment.”

The study provides insights and clues into how to influence Selective fans to shift into the Receptive category.

With over 10,000 data attributes available for each fan type, Decoding 360 is being used by rights holders and brands globally to unlock insights and shape strategy around a variety of topics, including: