Sports sponsorship ROI is not just about instant results. It has long-term development and can be spread across factors such as engagement or visibility. Measuring the return on investment in sports sponsorship can help you contextualise the value of your investment for effective decision-making.
Effective evaluation of sports sponsorship ROI means combining data from the many results of the investment. Since the impact of sports sponsorship goes beyond logo visibility, a single metric would prove insufficient. Read on for a comprehensive guide to measuring sponsorship ROI in sports.
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Sports sponsorship ROI is all the value a brand receives compared to the funding it provides to a sports entity. The impact of sports sponsorship supersedes brand exposure. Sports marketing ROI means assessing all the real-world outcomes of a brand's partnership with a team, event, or athlete.
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Effective, actionable strategies for assessing the value of sports sponsorship have a foundation of:
● Brand visibility.
This shows the exposure that a brand has gained through sponsorship. Greater brand awareness is the first goal of many sports sponsorships.
● Audience engagement.
Refers to the various ways that audiences interact with a brand as a result of the sponsorship. The audience's loyalty and alignment with a brand are key metrics here.
● Commercial impact.
Refers to the financial value that the brand gains from the sponsorship. Consistent brand awareness combined with meaningful engagement results in long-term value.
Here is how to evaluate brand sponsorship ROI:
● The sponsorship ROI formula.
Return on investment equals the value generated minus the total expenditure, divided by the total expenditure.
ROI = (Value generated - total expenditure) ÷ total expenditure
● What is the total expenditure?
This defines all the costs of the sponsorship. This includes rights fees, activation costs, hospitality, advertising, production, media and management costs.
● What is included in the value generated?
This includes the exposure value weighed against the advertising costs. It also includes interactions, audience response, leads, sales and long-term impacts on the brand.
● Financial ROI.
This measures the commercial value of a sports sponsorship. For instance, Tujiamini is an initiative of SportPesa whose patnerships with sports entities lead to more gamers.
● Brand awareness ROI.
Repeated exposure to a brand through sponsorship drives its awareness among audiences. Audience recognition of the Tujjiamini brand has grown due to its support of grassroots sports through the Cheza Dimba sponsorship, among other awards.
● Customer engagement ROI.
The audience's connection to a brand is another value of sports sponsorship. Tujiamini’s sponsorship of grassroots teams for Cheza Dimba connection has naturalised its presence in the sports environment and nurtured deep connections.
● Community and CSR ROI.
This refers to the impact sponsorship has on a community. Also, demonstrating brand responsibility through community sports sponsorships can make them eligible for tax breaks. Tujiamini is a SportPesa CSR sports sponsorship initiative.
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Here is how to measure sponsorship ROI:
● Media exposure.
Assess the financial outcome of publicity gained from sponsorship across various media platforms. Exposure can be direct, such as logo presence, or indirect, such as social media mentions. Monitor all media platforms for the numbers, quality and contexts of digital impressions.
● Brand mentions.
Brand mentions are an indicator of the brand's exposure. They are indirect earnings that point to better long-term results. Evaluate the number, quality and context of brand mentions, combining multiple data sources to get the full picture.
● Website traffic.
Website traffic points to a brand’s awareness and exposure. Measure the origin of website traffic, time spent on the website, and the rate of conversion. This can be used to predict the user's behaviour and make more effective decisions.
● Lead generation.
Leads are prospective customers who have inquired and interacted with your brand. Measure the total value and number of customers attracted and captured by a product or service to determine its effectiveness.
● Sales conversions.
This is the percentage of the total customers who fulfil a desired goal after an offer. To calculate, divide the number of sales by the result of the multiplication of the number of leads by 100. This shows the effectiveness of sports sponsorship.
● Social media engagement.
Social media engagements are the likes, clicks, comments, shares, reviews, follower count and post reach gained by a brand as a result of sports sponsorship. It can be measured by dividing your total engagements by your reach or impressions and multiplying by 100. This shows how well content resonates with an audience.
● Audience reach.
Refers to the number of people engaging with your site, content, marketing campaign or brand experiences either directly or indirectly. Establish who your audience is, their segments, alignment and the channels that drive the most engagement. This enables you to determine the effectiveness of sponsorship and activations.
● Customer loyalty.
You can measure a customer’s loyalty in various ways. This includes the Customer lifetime Value, which is the total revenue generated by a customer relationship. CLV assessments help shift sponsorship ROI assessments from immediate results to long-term value.
● Brand sentiment.
This is the overall opinion of the brand among your audience. Track brand sentiment scores over time to determine whether brand awareness, loyalty, and engagement are changing.
● Community impact.
This helps brands understand the progress they have made in improving the community's social, economic, and environmental well-being. You can use tools such as social impact analysis to map how community relationships and well-being have shifted.
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● Choose sponsorships that match your audience to optimise user adoption of products and services. Audience alignment also creates potential for greater loyalty.
● Activate campaigns across multiple channels, such as social media. This expands the brand's audience reach and maximises engagement.
● Use digital tracking tools that connect your marketing metrics to sponsorship outcomes for effective monitoring.
● Measure before, during and after sponsorships to determine shifts and identify causes. This provides important benchmarks for sports sponsorship metrics.
● Build long-term partnerships that allow value to build across multiple periods and levels. This has greater value than short-term peaks.
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● Measuring impressions only, which fail to indicate the users' actions or the impact they had. Go beyond impressions-only vanity metrics by including social media engagements and outputs.
● Ignoring activation costs in sponsorship measurements skews ROI data. Using sch data to make decisions can prove disastrous.
● Missing KPIs means decisions are made without the proper context. It also causes a lack of accountability in various decisions.
● Poor audience targeting can lead to false negatives. This can lead to the suspension of sponsorships due to poor results from the wrong audience.
● Failing to monitor results can lead to missed opportunities, resource wastage and damage to the brand.
● Activations help brands maximise ROI by capitalising on the marketing opportunities that arise from sponsorship.
● Sports sponsorship strategies require activation to transform the partnership into a brand asset.
● Activation deeply connects the brand to the audience through on-site experiences, fan interactions or storytelling.
● Activations improve the brand’s image through curated experiences and storytelling that bring positive brand associations.
● It helps brands to differentiate themselves from the competition through innovative experiences and interactions.
● AI analytics.
AI can help brands track metrics such as brand exposure, engagement levels and conversion rates. This can streamline ROI measurement.
● First-party data.
First-party data provides audience intelligence into demographic profiles, audience behaviours and engagement metrics. This deliverable enables sponsors to refine products and services for their audience.
● Fan engagement.
Fans build active relationships with athletes, teams or events. Brands can capitalise on this through positive associations that can increase sponsorship ROI.
● Digital sponsorship measurement.
Advanced tracking tools enable multi-stage KPI measurements. Brands can evaluate sentiment, exposure and audience reach, leading to deeper insights into the value of sports sponsorships.
● Social media attribution.
Means identifying which social media interactions contribute to a brand's goals. Brands can establish their ideal audience and improve the quality and volume of leads.
● Sustainability and CSR reporting.
This enables brands to demonstrate their commitments to community outreach and the environment. It fosters brand transparency into the non-financial impacts of sports sponsorship.
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The formula is: Return on investment equals the value generated minus the total expenditure, divided by the total expenditure.
Sports sponsorship ROI is all the value a brand receives compared to the funding it provides to a sports entity.
It means the brand has received a 20% profit compared to the funds it invested in a sports entity.
It's the total value a sponsor gets from partnering with a team, an athlete or a sports event compared to the funds, products, or services it provided.
The full picture of sports sponsorship ROI cannot be found from just one metric. The outcomes of sponsorship are many and varied. They also go far beyond simple brand exposure. Measuring the return on investment from sports sponsorship provides accurate data on its value.
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