Sponsorship to see 7pc growth in 2021 after difficult year
SPONSORSHIP is expected to return to modest growth in 2021 after an estimated €54m was knocked off the value of the Irish market last year.
The annual Onside Irish Sponsorship Industry Survey forecasts that the Irish sponsorship market will return to growth of 7pc in 2021 to reach €182m. Seven in 10 sponsors in Ireland decreased their sponsorship investment during 2020, with 91pc of these blaming the pandemic for the cuts.
The Onside annual report flags concerns that the pandemic is putting downward pressure on the value of sponsorship rights, which Onside founder and CEO John Trainor said was a ‘nearterm effect’.
The report states that “under intense pressure to bring in revenue absent due to the inability to sell tickets, many properties in mature sponsorship markets, particularly those below the top-tier national sports level, have agreed to sponsorship deals at rates 50pc less than what they would have garnered pre-Covid”.
According to the report, 63pc of sponsors in Ireland expect sponsorship fees to decrease in 2021. But 41pc of sponsors are planning to increase their investments in sponsorship in 2021, compared with 38pc a year earlier.
Sectors which may increase their presence in the sponsorship market in 2021 include ecommerce/online retail, supermarkets, food delivery, pharmaceutical and banking, with a surge in activity among IT/tech firms also possible.
Trainor noted that recent investment by private equity in a number of rights holders could have ramifications for sponsorships.
“These new breed of owners, and the need for returns on their investment, will likely have a major impact on the monetising of sponsorship, media, and other rights and services offered by the properties they invest in,” he said.
Vodafone’s partnership with the IRFU was again voted by the industry as the best sponsorship of the past year, while Guinness was the most popular of 2020 with the Irish public.