IRISH SPONSORSHIP INDUSTRY SET TO SURPASS €220M IN 2024
The Irish sponsorship industry grew by 8% to reach €212m in 2023 and the 18th annual ONSIDE Irish Sponsorship Industry Survey estimates there will be further growth of 7% in 2024 to €227m, surpassing the previous pre-pandemic peak of €224m in 2019.
2023 was the third consecutive year of market growth and 46% of sponsors intend to increase their sponsorship investment levels further in 2024, compared to 18% who expect their spending to decrease. When it comes to the wider market, 6 in 10 sponsors expect overall industry spending to increase with only 1 in 10 predicting a decrease.
According to John Trainor, Founder and CEO of ONSIDE: “Sponsorship held up well in 2023 in the face of a challenging economic environment, driven in particular by prominent brands investing in premium properties such as rugby and music. This positive trajectory will continue through 2024 but there will be losers as well as winners in the market as a series of major events, facility upgrades and societal trends bring new sponsorship opportunities into play.
“Demand for premium properties will continue to outstrip supply with 6 in 10 sponsors considering new assets in 2024 – the same as in 2023 – and only a third seeking to drop out of current sponsorships, down from 47% in 2023 and the lowest predicted churn rate for a decade.”
After a three-year period in which cause-related sponsorships surpassed sport and entertainment as the strongest growth opportunities, the picture looks like it will become more nuanced in 2024 with festivals and rugby neck-and-neck with sustainability and narrowly ahead of GAA, community, diversity & inclusion and the Olympics.
The Olympic and Paralympic Games will be the highlight of the sponsorship calendar with 86% of industry experts expecting the Olympic Games to impact on the sponsorship landscape in 2024, significantly higher than predictions for the 2023 Rugby World Cup 12 months ago which proved to be the pinnacle event of 2023.
The impact of the Rugby World Cup helped the IRFU retain its status as the most effective rights holder and three of its sponsors – Vodafone, Aldi and Guinness – were picked out amongst the best sponsorships of the year.
Outside of sport, Live Nation was second on the list of rights holders, ahead of the Football Association of Ireland and GAA. Three’s portfolio of music sponsorships also featured on the list of top sponsorships alongside Allianz’s partnership with Women’s Aid and PTSB’s broadcast deal with The Late Late Show.
The blend of rugby success and Olympic enthusiasm flowed into the industry view of the most marketable personalities for 2024. Retired Ireland rugby captain Johnny Sexton and emerging sprint sensation Rhasidat Adeleke finished joint top of a list that had an even split between female and male stars and was dominated by sport.
Katie Taylor, despite her compelling victory over Chantelle Cameron, dropped from first to third place, and now sits narrowly ahead of Ireland and Arsenal’s Katie McCabe, one of the biggest climbers from 2023.
“Ireland didn’t win the men’s Rugby World Cup in 2023 but the event strengthened the marketing appeal of the team and its highest profile players. We know from almost two decades of research tracking the likes of Brian O’Driscoll and Paul O’Connell that the value of top talent as ambassadors can endure into retirement,” explains Trainor.
“Several brands have already done deals with athletes who will be representing Ireland at the Olympic and Paralympic Games and the likes of Rhasidat Adeleke and Rhys McClenaghan will be household names in the summer.
“In many ways, 2024 will be the foundation year of a five-year cycle in which global factors will impact positively on the local sponsorship landscape here in Ireland. Events such as the Ryder Cup in 2027 and the men’s Euros in 2028 will accelerate the size and quality of the industry in Ireland. They also have the potential to contribute to up to €35m of sponsorship leakage over this timeframe.”
The most popular activation channels for sponsorship in 2024 will be social media and video sharing platforms such as TikTok with more than 7 in 10 sponsors expecting to use these channels more than in 2023. While the integration of AI is called out as a global trend in sponsorship, only a small portion of the industry in Ireland is currently using the technology across its sponsorship activities. The most common use-case is to analyse sponsorship-related data, currently deployed by 3 in 10 of industry practitioners.
And finally, interest in exploiting venue naming rights has also increased significantly after a 10-year low in 2023 and, after eye-catching deals and debates at the start of 2024, 3 in 10 right holders say they are actively exploring their options in this area.
