Inside Sponsorship

In recent years we’ve heard a lot about the potential of emerging markets, across all industries, and it is easy to see that emerging markets will have an impact on the global sponsorship industry. Emerging markets are increasingly engaging with and investing in top-level sport: the next three Olympic Games will be staged in Asia while Russia and Qatar are the next two FIFA World Cup hosts and Japan will host the Rugby World Cup. Of huge significance, and leading the way, is China. With 1.38 billion people, it represents a significant and mostly untapped market. Further, the Government has targeted a US$813 billion sports industry by 2025 and that will be fuelled by major investment across all aspects of sports – in events, facilities, teams, leagues and grassroots programs. The mind boggles! To help us understand the emerging Chinese market, and as part of our series exploring Nielsen’s commercial trends in sports, of which #1 is the emergence of new sporting powers, led by China, Claude Ri