Sports sponsorship strategy needs to reflect how fans now watch, follow and respond to sport. Nielsen’s 2025 Global Sports Report highlights three forces changing the market: football’s global reach, the growth of women’s sports fans, and the role of media in creating audiences for new formats and global sports. The report is a valuable source of insight when creating a sports sponsorship strategy. Download the Nielsen 2025 Global Sports Report here.
Nielsen 2025 Global Sports Report: Key Takeaways
Football Sponsorship Still Has Global Pull – Nielsen identifies football as the world’s most popular sport, with an average of 51% of people across the markets surveyed saying they are football fans. That puts football ahead of basketball at 42%. Nielsen also found that 67% of global football fans say brands sponsoring their favourite competitions become more appealing to them, compared with 54% of the general population.
Women’s Sports Fans Need a Specific Strategy – Interest in women’s sport reached 50% of the global general population in 2024, up from 45% in 2022. Women also represented 47% of women’s sports fans and 42% of men’s sports fans in 2024. Although there are similarities in audiences between fans of male and female sports (it’s the sport, not the gender, that drives attention), women’s sport sponsorship should not be treated as a smaller version of men’s sport. Women’s sport fandom comes with a different set of attitudes and expectations, which affects purchase behaviours and cultural expectations. Therefore, different partnership models and activation approaches are needed.
Media Is Creating New Fan Entry Points – Streaming, social media and new formats are changing how people discover sport. Nielsen found that sports fans aged 50 and over who regularly use streaming to consume sports media grew 21% between 2022 and 2024. Tomorrow’s Golf League (TGL) also shows how new formats can bring younger audiences into established sports, with 32% of TGL viewers aged 18 to 34 and not regular PGA Tour viewers.
New Sports Can Create Early Sponsorship Advantage – Rugby, pickleball and tech-led golf formats show how social media and emerging sports can build fan interest quickly. For brands, the opportunity is to invest before markets become crowded, but only where the audience, content and sponsorship role are clear.
What Does This Mean for Sports Sponsorship Strategy?
Nielsen’s 2025 Global Sports Report shows that sports sponsorship strategy should start with fan insight, not property size alone. Brands need to understand who the audience is, why they care, how they consume content and whether sponsorship can influence awareness, trust, consideration or purchase. Rights holders also need to provide stronger evidence of audience value, especially where they are selling women’s sport, emerging formats or global fan communities.
Need Help Building a Sports Sponsorship Strategy?
If you’re considering leveraging sponsorship and want to identify the best sports, audiences or properties to sponsor, and would value evidence-based advice from a sports sponsorship strategy consultancy, Strive Sponsorship can help. We’ve advised global brands like Specsavers, BT, Sky, Guinness, and British Airways. We also work with national brands like Coutts Private Bank and GAME.
Contact us for an independent view built on insight and original thought.
Frequently asked questions
How Can Brands Build a Better Sports Sponsorship Strategy?
Brands can build a better sports sponsorship strategy by identifying the right audience, being clear on objectives (and measures), aligning with rights holders with strong brands, establishing a creative platform (how the brand will bring the sponsorship to life creatively) and using it to inform the structure of partnership agreements, and working with rights holders who can add value through how they support delivery (not just who they are). Not being solely reliant on rights holder data to inform decisions is also really valuable.
Are Football Fans Valuable for Sponsors?
They can be; it depends on which segments of fans and who you are as a brand and what it is you’re trying to achieve. Football fans offer global scale and strong sponsorship receptivity, so if multi-market is important, then it should be considered. What is important is that you have the budget and expertise to cut through what is a noisy sponsor ecosystem too. For sponsors, the challenge is choosing the right market, team, competition or athlete rather than assuming all football audiences behave the same way.
How Is Streaming Changing Sports Sponsorship?
Streaming is transforming sports sponsorship from a largely broadcast-led opportunity into one that can reach fans across multiple platforms, devices and moments. Nielsen found that regular sports streaming among fans aged 50 and over grew 21% between 2022 and 2024, showing that this shift is not limited to younger viewers. Sponsors can now reach broader audiences with more tailored content and measurable interactions, but activation must be designed for streaming and social media rather than simply repurposing a television campaign.