Digital assets platform Horizm has outlined in a new report the ‘huge untapped potential’ for digital partnerships across the European football market.
According to the report, brands activated less than five per cent of digital inventory available across Europe’s six elite soccer leagues in the 2021/22 campaign.
The ‘Brands in Football – The Digital Game’ study showed that 682 brands chose to digitally activate partnerships with teams across the Premier League, LaLiga, Serie A, Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and Portugal’s Primeira Liga this season. However, brands only benefitted from a fraction of the inventory available.
Horizm found that clubs in the six leagues across England, Spain, Italy, Germany, France and Portugal delivered a combined total of €75.6 million ($114.2 million AUD) in activated value for their different partners through content shared on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. Yet, that fell well short of the total digital inventory available – which the report puts at more than €1.5 billion ($2.3 billion AUD).
Video game developer EA Sports received the most activated value in total through 22 different properties, putting it ahead of Emirates Airlines and Adidas.
Sportswear giant Adidas was the most active brand by number of posts. Sports drink brand Gatorade was deemed the most efficient in terms of activated value per post.
At a league level, LaLiga clubs collectively had the highest amount of activated value with €26 million ($39.2 million AUD). The Premier League was second with €24.7 million ($37.3 million AUD) and Serie A was third with €15.4 million ($23.2 million AUD).
The Primeira Liga activated the greatest number of posts with over 14,000. Serie A activated the highest percentage of its available inventory with 12.2 per cent.
Horizm concluded that there is a huge opportunity for brands in soccer, especially when targeting content outside of match days which, although consistent and high performing, is also limited in terms of its availability.
The report added that brands can seize the opportunity to leverage the emotional connection fans have with teams through creative activation of behind the scenes content – a format Horizm notes is increasingly used for engaging younger customers.