Last Week Today: July 12 – July 18, 2021 Sponsorship News
This is part of our "Last Week Today" series that includes a weekly roundup of the past week's most exciting and industry-altering news. Check back on our blog every week for updates! These stories cover sponsorship news for July 12 – July 18, 2021.
NFL Relationship with Twitter Continues
Having originally partnered in 2013, both the NFL and Twitter have together navigated the ever-changing new media landscape. It appears that will continue to be the case in the future as both sides recently agreed to renew the media rights agreement. As part of the renewal and the evolving media landscape, the NFL will activate in various new ways on the Twitter Spaces, live audio channel. With this updated partnership, along with rumors of Apple or Disney interested in the NFL Sunday Ticket streaming package, it’s clear that the NFL is looking at new channels in order to reach their current fans and gain new ones.
Video Game Kicks in Revenue Boost for FIFA
As one of the major players in the sports video game industry, it’s no surprise that EA Sports benefits greatly from its FIFA branded soccer game. Whether for console or PC, last year’s game alone sold over 25 million copies, and similar numbers are expected for the ’22 version. Unique to this game is the partnership with the governing body of soccer, FIFA. Through name and image rights solely given to EA Sports, FIFA benefits greatly from the financial success of this annual game release. Last year alone, almost 60% of the revenue reported by FIFA was from the rights deals in the game – this came out to nearly $159 million.
Strength in Numbers: WNBA Eyes New Markets
Whether it is the continued viewership increases (especially in Canada) or the presence of league partnerships with brands such as Nike, Google, and AT&T, the Women’s National Basketball Association is having a moment. As this interest continues, many are eyeing untapped markets such as Toronto or Philadelphia for new WNBA teams. At an estimated $14 million cost for an expansion team, it will be interesting to see which investors take the viewership trends seriously enough to bring a new team to one of the targeted markets. Any new ownership may be wary as the WNBA has expanded before and had 6 teams fold due to financial difficulties.
Toyota at Tokyo: A Sponsor in the Shadows
As Delta-variant COVID-19 cases continue to rise around the world, the upcoming Summer Olympics in Tokyo is no different. This has impacted athletes, fans, and sponsors alike. In its sixth year as a major Olympic sponsor, Toyota had planned large-scale advertising campaigns for this upcoming event in their home country. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic and internal backlash within Japan for the game to continue, Toyota decided to pull all television ads in Japan during the games. It will be interesting to see how the opinion of the brand from within Japan will be impacted by this decision.
Be on the lookout next week for the usual round-up of sponsorship news
tagged: 2021 fifa gaming highlights last week today nfl sponsorship sponsorship news toyota wnba
posted on July 23, 2021