Credit:
Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
Concert tours and music festivals will stay sidelined for months to come because of COVID-19 which continues to create a dearth of sponsorship opportunities for marketers that have spent the last year scrambling for ways to keep their brands front and center with consumers of entertainment.
IEG projects that, as the pandemic drags on, it has caused a $14 billion loss in entertainment and sports sponsorship deals, affecting 120,000 sponsor agreements and 5,000 brands. What’s more, certain industries on which the brand sponsorship business relies, like travel and tourism, are expected to take longer to return to normal, pre-pandemic levels. Airlines, hotel chains, auto brands and rental car companies together represent nearly 20% of the top 100 sponsorship spenders in the U.S., responsible for some $1 billion in rights deals, according to IEG.