Last season, Premier League sponsorship income reached a record-breaking £1.3bn, with spend split between traditional long-term brands (e.g. Emirates, Etihad, Standard Chartered) and new, digital-focused entrants (e.g. Stake.com, OKX). With investment showing no sign of slowing down as the 2023/24 Premier League season approaches, there are five key reasons why the league continues to be such a lucrative global marketing platform for brands:
1. A Platform To Connect With Audiences Around The World
The Premier League is the world’s most popular and watched league, with an annual viewership of 3.1bn, dwarfing its nearest competitor, the UEFA Champions League (1.6bn).
This popularity is reflected in global broadcast numbers. The league is screened in 870m homes across 212 territories, receiving $6.5bn in global broadcast revenue. This includes huge, engaged audiences in core European, Middle Easter, African and Asian markets. It also encompasses high-growth regions, including the US, where NBC’s $2.7bn broadcast deal, spurred by an average weekly live viewership of 609,000, will bring the 2023/24 Premier League season in to homes across North America.
2. A Unique ‘Always On’ Marketing Platform
The Premier League offers sponsors a 24/7/365 content cycle, powered by a year-long fixture schedule, comprising of a 10-month long league season and summer club tours and friendlies.
This differentiates the Premier League from other leading sports competitions, including the World Cup, F1, NBA & NFL, which are less frequent / only run for a limited number of months in a year.
Sponsors in the Premier League maximise exposure during this period via presence at their partner’s games via uniform branding, LED perimeter advertising and interview backdrop logo coverage, placing their brand at the heart of the Premier League narrative.
But the opportunities to drive global brand awareness don’t stop there…
3. Huge Online Presence For Digital Brand Campaigns
Over the past decade, digital has become a key aspect for sponsor to maintain heightened awareness level past match days. Premier League teams and athletes are some of the most followed entities on social media (E.g. Man Utd social following = 213m vs. LA Lakers = 59m), using digital rights (incl. high-engagement content threads, e.g. Goal of the Month, to ensure their sponsorship continues to drive ROI long after the full-time whistle has blown.
The Premier League is innovative and capitalises on this global digital interest by catering to its international fanbase. For example, champions Manchester City translate their club website into 13 different languages, enabling them to share key brand messaging accurately with fans around the world.
Brand achieve additional exposure via key related licensees, incl. EA Sports’ FIFA franchise and the official Premier League Fantasy Football game.
4. Premium & Respected IP to Drive Brand Trust & Credibility
The Premier League is one of the world’s most recognised and admired institutions, with the British Icon Index II report finding that the league finished in top spot, ahead of Rolls Royce, Jaguar Land Rover and the BBC, as the country’s most admired ‘icon’.
This high-regard extends to Premier League teams, who serve as some of the world’s most trusted and respected sporting institutions. With this in mind, by engaging in Premier League sponsorship, brands can integrate this IP across all of their key marketing touch points, including website, social and paid ads, leveraging their partner’s respected stature to boost their own trust and credibility by long-term association.
5. A Cost-effective Global Marketing Platform
Not only is this IP hugely trusted and credible, it’s also global in scope, with 70+ nationalities represented in the league. This global identity creates large economies of scale, enabling multi-market brands to use one central sponsorship strategy to enhance global marketing efforts, tailoring campaigns with the respective player IP that carries most relevance in specific key markets.
Looking to learn more about 2023/24 Premier League sponsorship opportunities? Get in touch with the SportQuake team.