Ahead of the new season, a look at how the most common categories among National Rugby League sponsorships provide pointers for other rights holders

There are few sports leagues in the world where the most common sponsor category is Professional Services, most are led by a consumer-facing category, be it services, goods or Food & Beverage.

Driven by Specialist Services and Legal firms, this is just one example where the National Rugby League (NRL) is an exception.

In addition, the NRL is more successful than many other sports in terms of the share of voice certain categories achieve, such as Health and Real Estate.

The latter is frequently a ‘bottom three’ category in many other sports but in the NRL it is ranked 8th. This is primarily due to the teams’ ability to attract property development businesses – such as housebuilders, often around specific new developments – and is a signpost as to what is possible for other rights holders to follow.

In another sense though, the NRL remains a relatively traditional sponsor landscape. It has yet to be infiltrated to the degree that other major sports leagues have been by the likes of Chinese and Middle Eastern brands or more ‘modern’ sectors such as crypto, fintech and pure-play online retailers.

(Full list available in report)

Most popular subcategories

The fact that Specialist Professional Services is the most common subcategory shows other rights holders the huge pool of potential sponsors that exist beyond the usual brand and category suspects.

For instance, these incorporate a very wide range of specialisms including printing, recycling, air conditioning, traffic control, venue management and industry representative bodies.

An element of the NRL’s traditional sponsorship landscape is illustrated by Alcohol. Not so much it’s the second most prevalent subcategory but that’s its dominated by traditional beer, rum and whiskey brands. This contrasts with many other sports that have seen a huge increase in the new ‘wave’ of challenger brands in these drinks and the likes of ready-to-drink cocktails/ mixers, tequila and gin.

However, the NRL is certainly trailblazing in having Health Services as a top six subcategory. This is something other sports can look to target more successfully, particularly in the way these services are embedded in the local community.

(Full list and chart available in report)

Most popular brands

Aside from Telstra’s dominance – which is ultimately down to its long-term naming rights deal with the league itself – what stands out is the appearance of Deadly Choices near the top. This is a preventative health program that aims to encourage the country’s indigenous population to make more healthy choices.

It shows the power of sports – more specifically, teams within their communities – to impact consumer behaviour around health. This is an angle that rights holders in any organisation should be looking to use to attract the increasingly wide array of health-related companies and organisations that exist.

This has been driven by both technology and the proliferation of private medical services, which are cheaper and more ‘pay as you go’ than in the past, as consumers look for different options than the free national health services that are increasingly under strain.

This middle ground of more affordable private healthcare is a rich seem for rights holders to mine.

(Full list and chart available in report)

National Rugby League sponsorships Gap Analysis

The purpose of a Gap Analysis is to identify the most prevalent categories among a rights holder’s competitive set in which your organisation doesn’t have a sponsor.

The idea being that the category overall deems sponsoring your field (be it a particular sport, entertainment, arts or business vertical) to be an effective marketing channel. Therefore, it should be easier for any entities in a competitive set missing a sponsor in that category to convince them to come on board.

Taking the NRL for example, Manufacturing/Engineering firms are the most prevalent sponsors. However, (at the time of writing) Canberra Raiders, Paramatta Eels and St. George Illawarra Dragons don’t have a sponsor in this category. So that’s where these teams should prioritize targeting new sponsors.

(Full list and chart available in report)

So, undertake a Gap Analysis among your competitive set (e.g. other teams in your division/league) to identify which categories should be the lowest-hanging fruit for sponsorship.

The Gap Analysis, as well as the full list of all the sponsors, is included in the report which is available to clients and triallists in the Insights section of our platform.