Sponsorship – High Awareness

According to the Mintel Sponsorship Report, consumers have a high level of awareness that television and radio programmes are sponsored, but consumers did not feel that there are too many sponsored items around at the moment. Three quarters of adults asked felt that it was logical for companies to sponsor programmes directly related to the nature of its business, showing that few worried that this might compromise the integrity of the programme.

Sports sponsorship increased 34% from 1988 to £242m in 1993; however in real terms this is static, indicating, says the report, the maturity of the market. Broadcast sponsorship however, is new and growing, increasing 100% over 1992 to £70m in 1993. £40m of this is accounted for by television, with the remainder from radio. However, sponsorship is much more important to radio than television , with the typical radio station generating as much as 20-30% of its revenue from sponsorship, and some as much as 50%.

The report predicts that the introduction of the National Lottery may destabilise the sponsorship market in 1994, by channeling £1 billion into sport, arts and charities. This could reduce their reliance on sponsors. Expenditure on broadcast sponsorship is likely to continue increasing over the next few years, but spending on arts and sports will grow at a slower rate, because of the maturity of the market.

Sports sponsorship is also linked to the relative popularity of each sport, the television exposure and its cost effectiveness compared to other options. Social sponsorship, especially that of charities, is expected to show strong growth in the next few years.

Mintel Sponsorship report is available price £795.

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