caytoo’s analysis of more than 1,100 Q1 2024 sponsorship deals reveals five key trends as well a roundup of reported deal values to help benchmark your rights

Which categories are most ripe for targeting?
#1: Driven by western, Japanese and South Korean brands (e.g. Hyundai, Lexus, Kia and Ford) looking to combat the ever-increasing threat from their Chinese competitors, Auto Manufacturers signed the most sponsorship deals in Q1 2024 and saw the biggest increase in the number of deals signed vs. Q4 2023. It shows that the rapidly shifting centre of global car manufacturing power presents a huge opportunity for rights holders.

#2: Despite remaining an ‘unsexy’ category, Manufacturing/Engineering firms had the second biggest jump in deal activity, and is now a Top 10 category, so clearly it needs to be given more consideration, particularly as it over-indexes on taking Title/Headline/Naming rights deals which tend to score bigger budgets.

What sales angle should I be focusing on?
#3: Although Brand Awareness remains the most common motivation for doing deals, enhancing Fan Engagement saw the biggest jump in activity – reinforcing that the most successful partnerships benefit all three key stakeholders – the sponsor, the property and its fanbase. So, rights holders need to think more about how the sponsor could add value to the fan experience and include that in initial pitch ideas as the angle is clearly resonating today.

#4: Notably, doing deals to showcase ‘Social Impact’ – having risen significantly over the last 18 months – saw a huge drop (but remains second), so we’ll monitor to see if this is a blip or a long-term trend.

What type of package should I be selling?
#5: Category-specific deals saw the biggest increase in activity and overtook General deals (which saw the biggest decline). This suggests brands are looking to drive more specific associations or messaging – particularly in drinks and travel categories. However, rights holders should be looking to pitch this type of deal to as many prospects as possible as it’s clearly resonating with brands.

How much could I be charging?
Among reported deal values, the average amount was €8.44 million per year. However, this was skewed by a handful of €20 million+ deals so a more realistic size for most rights holders is the median value of €3 million (the middle value when all deals are ordered by size).

Gambling firms accounted for 6 of the 15 most expensive deals, all of which involved soccer, hence the sport’s heavy focus on this category.

Which particular deals can I learn from?
The full Q1 2024 sponsorship deals report also contains a selection of deals that stood out in March due to a particular lesson it provides to rights holders when considering who to approach and how. Note: caytoo’s picks for January & February were covered in their respective monthly reports.