Formula 1 has ushered in a new era of the sport in 2026 with new teams, a new track and new regulations. With the season now underway, there’s plenty for fans and brands alike to keep an eye on. While the new additions have brought a reformed spectacle for the fans, they have also welcomed a new hunting ground for brands looking to stand out in what is the fastest-growing major sport in the world. Given we now have an unplanned break for just over a month until the Miami Grand Prix in early May, take some time to get up to speed with what to expect for the coming season…
New Teams on the Grid – Cadillac & Audi
In 2026, Formula 1 have welcomed two ‘new’ teams to the grid. The newly formed Cadillac F1 team have made their debut and the rebranded Revolut Audi F1 Team, marking a new era for the former Sauber organisation. Their entries signal a significant evolution in the sport’s competitive and commercial landscape, contributing to one of the most diverse team rosters F1 has ever seen.
Cadillac’s arrival is particularly notable, given Formula 1’s desire to crack the US market. Cadillac is backed by General Motors and signals huge intent from the American manufacturer to compete at the highest level of global motorsports. GM has committed a substantial investment to ensure the team’s long-term competitiveness, with plans already underway to introduce its own power unit in 2029. In the meantime, the Cadillac car is powered by a Ferrari power unit, allowing them to focus on establishing themselves on the grid. Driven by Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas, the new team brings a wealth of experience to the grid with their driver pairing. Based on the first three races, it’s clear Cadillac has a long way to go and a mountain of work to get stuck into, but for them it’s important to keep celebrating the little wins.
By contrast, Audi has instead opted for a combination of experience and youth with seasoned veteran Nico Hulkenberg and emerging talent Gabriel Bortoleto continuing with the team. Where they have made significant changes is off-track. The team have undergone a full operational transformation, including an overhaul of their commercial department. This shift is designed to align the team with Audi’s premium global brand identity and create a partner ecosystem that reflects their ambition to establish themselves not just as a competitive force, but as a commercially leading organisation within the sport. As a new team building their own engine for the first time, they’ve had a respectable start to the season with some points on the board already!
With 11 teams now competing, Formula 1 has hit a record number of commercial partnerships for the sport, exceeding 360 commercial relationships across the Paddock [1]. This growth reflects both the sports’ expanding global audience and its increasing appeal as a marketing platform. However, it creates one of the most crowded partnership environments in the sports industry. Brands looking to activate within this increasingly crowded landscape will need to work harder than ever to stand out. Authenticity, cultural relevance, and strategic creativity will be essential for cutting through the noise and ensuring meaningful engagements with fans and potential customers.
New Partners & Brands
As the eyes on the sport have multiplied enormously over the past few years, so too has the commercial activity in the space. Whether it’s partnering with an F1 team, Formula 1 itself, or with the race promoters, brands are chomping at the bit to show up in the F1 landscape. The rapid growth in team partners has been so drastic that many teams are reaching a saturation point, where satisfying all partners is becoming an enduring task. Some teams are resorting to finding very unique partner designations to help squeeze more logos onto their cars. The Williams F1 team, for example, recently announced a multi-year partnership with Anthropic as their ‘Official Thinking Partner’. As more brands show up in the F1 space, the need to innovate in authentic ways to stand out from the crowd has become the new challenge. Brands must harness the power of fan engagement and activate in unique ways to connect with their specific target audience within the wide-reaching F1 fanbase. F1 and team partners must utilise their rights on a more intentional level rather than approaching them as a tick box, otherwise they risk getting lost among a sea of smart and forward-thinking competitors.
The leading case study demonstrating the extraordinary growth in the F1 commercial landscape is the McLaren F1 Team. At the start of the 2018 season, the MCL33 driven by Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne rolled out of the garage with a car virtually bare of sponsors – only small logo placements for their five or so sponsors showed. Fast forward to 2026, and McLaren now supports a roster of 53 partners across a wide range of industries, from alcoholic beverages to global banking.
In tandem with the F1 partnership space booming, the broadcast environment has also seen considerable growth in the value of broadcast rights packages. The biggest news in this space came late last year, when Apple TV was announced as the Official U.S. Broadcaster of Formula 1 on a five-year agreement worth a reported $750 million ($150 million per year). This number significantly outbids the previous agreement between F1 and ESPN of $80 million per year. From a brand perspective, this considerable rise in media rights value highlights the huge opportunity to show up visually in front of the 800 million viewers across a season. Whether through trackside signage or broadcast rights, the opportunity for brand awareness is considerable – not to mention the additional peripheral visibility through digital channels and Netflix’s Drive to Survive.
Significant Regulation Changes in 2026
For the 2026 F1 season, you’ve probably noticed there are some changes. Specifically, we are now undergoing the most significant regulatory changes the sport has ever seen, with an overhaul across the aerodynamics, power units (engines), and on-track racing.
The cars firstly look a little different thanks to the aerodynamics changing from the nose all the way to the rear wing. The cars are slightly lighter and smaller with thinner tyres intended to improve racing and allow the cars to race wheel-to-wheel more easily. The power units have also become 50% combustion-powered and 50% electric-powered, meaning they are well and truly hybrid machines.
F1 have also implemented new racing ‘modes’ at the drivers’ disposal that they can harness throughout the race weekend. Specifically, Overtake Mode, Boost Mode, Straight Mode and Recharge Mode have all been implemented following the new regulations and the technical novelties they bring. If you’ve tuned in for the first few races or stayed across the developments, you will know that some drivers and fans are still undecided on the new modes and the impact on racing while others have enjoyed the more exciting on-track action.
With new regulations come new opportunities in the commercial space too. It’s common to see a shake-up of the competitive order, potentially bringing new teams into the fold that used to compete towards the back of the field. For brands, this presents an exciting opportunity to partner with high-performing teams at a relatively low cost. If we cast our minds back to 2009, a regulation change saw Brawn GP team leapfrog from 9th in the standings as Honda, to being the leader of the pack within a few months. As a new team, they had almost zero sponsors, resulting in a frantic rush to sign new deals on a race-by-race basis, with the most famous of these being Virgin. Based on the race results so far, it’s unlikely we’ll see a Brawn-style shake-up, but it’s worth keeping an eye on the new teams as they develop.
Reformed Race Calendar – Madrid Added In, Bahrain & Saudi Arabia Cancelled
Formula 1 is often described as a travelling circus, reaching five continents and more than 21 countries across its 24‑race calendar. Each season brings rumours of new destinations eager to join the lineup, and in 2026 the sport will debut an all‑new circuit in Madrid, Spain. The Spanish Grand Prix will move to the Madring, a purpose‑built venue currently under construction. With a capacity of 110,000, the race promoters promise a dynamic fan experience both on and off the track, featuring a technical layout and unique event offerings. This provides brands and partners with a brand-new environment to activate and reach both the Spanish and wider European audience – this time from an urban location. We’ll have to wait until September, and the lights go out, to see how the race measures up to the other iconic events across the F1 season.
One development we’ve seen this season is the cancellation of the Saudi Arabian and Bahrain Grands Prix due to the conflict in the region. As two of the four races in the Middle East, this reduces the calendar’s geographic diversity and has created considerable ramifications across the commercial landscape. With Saudi Arabia and Bahrain being two of the highest paying race promoters, F1 is reportedly losing out on over $100 million in host fees, with the total revenue impact reaching $200 million [2] once broadcasters, teams and commercial partners are factored in. Removing just two races from the calendar has caused major disruption to rights delivery for F1’s 26 Global and Official Partners, and F1 will have to re-allocate these rights to other races, or in other formats. It’s a reminder that global sports like F1 bring huge opportunity but also significant risk – and brands and rights holders must be ready to react when the unexpected happens.
The Bottom Line
F1’s landscape has matured beyond the point where mere presence delivers value. The introduction of new teams, regulatory changes and calendar adjustments create both complexity and opportunities for brands to navigate throughout the remainder of the 2026 season.
[1] https://sector.world/2026/02/what-the-grid-reveals-about-f1s-commercial-structure/
[2]https://www.sportspro.com/news/major-events/f1-middle-east-bahrain-qatar-saudi-arabia-march-2026/#:~:text=According%20to%20an%20analyst%20report,%2452%20million%20that%20Bahrain%20contributes.
The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina were a reminder of why the Games remain one of the few truly global cultural moments in sport. For a couple of weeks the world tunes in together, discovering new athletes and stories in real time. This year those moments travelled fast – from Ilia Malinin landing the first legal backflip in Olympic figure skating history to a USA men’s ice hockey player losing a tooth mid-game before scoring the winner minutes later. But the Olympics are never just about medals; Lindsey Vonn’s comeback attempt brought one of winter sport’s biggest names back to the stage. The USA women’s ice hockey team delivered the drama audiences crave, while US star Laila Edwards made history as the first Black woman to win gold in her sport. And even the human moments cut through – Norwegian biathlete Sturla Holm Lægreid using a bronze medal interview to publicly apologise to his ex-girlfriend, and Norway’s dominance continuing with a biathlon star reaching nine Olympic gold medals.
And it wasn’t just the athletes shaping the narrative. The presenters played a huge part too – all of them added something, but the standout voices for me were the two snowboard commentators squeezed together in their now iconic tin hut, keeping the energy high and helping audiences feel every moment. They brought a mix of expertise, humour and pure joy that made the men’s Big Air final (already being talked about as one of the best ever), feel even bigger.
With millions watching on TV and huge streaming numbers on the BBC, Milano Cortina made one thing clear – and the Paralympics will only build on it, the moments we remember aren’t just the medal wins. It’s the sportsmanship, the raw human moments and the unreal athleticism that pull global audiences into the same story and remind us why the Olympic and Paralympic Games still matter.
Last night’s Rooftop Session in partnership with Sofar Sounds was a vibrant celebration of rising talent, with powerful performances from Hamzaa and Nippa. When we were selecting artists for the show, it was particularly interesting to observe how today’s creator-driven culture has enabled grassroots talent to build their profiles around the causes they care about. And it’s particularly inspiring how both these artists channel their personal journeys and advocacy for mental health into music that empowers and connects. Alongside their fresh sounds, they’ve shown how today’s creator culture enables talents to build meaningful profiles rooted in authenticity and the causes they champion, from resilience, wellbeing and healing to community empowerment.
For brands, partnering with new artists offers a unique opportunity to tap into that energy. Beyond fresh creative perspectives, they bring cultural relevance, highly engaged audiences, and the agility to co-create meaningful campaigns. Collaborating with artists at this stage of their journey allows brands to foster loyalty, demonstrate support for up and coming talent, and stay close to the conversations shaping culture right now.
From bucket-list moments like the Super Bowl, the Barmy Army’s curated cricket itineraries, and the Instagram-worthy glamour of the US Open, travelling for sport has long been a key part of the fan experience. But over the past few years, we’ve seen a shift in how rights-holders and brands are reimagining the sports arena to align with a new generation of fan profiles.
Sports tourism now represents around 10% of the global travel industry and is forecast to grow by 16.43% annually a year through to 2032, making it one of the fastest-growing segments in travel. For brands, this growth unlocks fresh opportunities to engage fans by building culturally connected experiences that capture the excitement and immersion fans increasingly seek.
Several forces have converged to put sports tourism at the heart of modern travel:
With this backdrop, sports tourism can be grouped into three broad categories: major events, destination events, and active events. Each offers brands unique ways to engage fans.
Major events like the Olympics, FIFA World Cup or Champions League finals, attract mass international attendance and dominate cultural conversations. While the cost of official sponsorship can be prohibitive, the growth of sports tourism allows non-sponsor brands to still play a meaningful role in the fan journey.
Paris 2024 Olympics
The Paris Games was a watershed moment, with the opening ceremony being held outside the stadium for the first time in modern Olympic history. Without a traditional Olympic Park, events were staged across the city in temporary sites, blending sport with iconic landmarks. This inspired brands to activate creatively beyond official zones, and tailoring experiences to a tourist sensibility.
The shift from centralised exhibition spaces toward brand-led consumer touchpoints reflects a larger trend: activations are moving from being property-led to being brand-led, where creativity, cultural relevance, and innovation drive engagement.
Looking ahead to Milan 2026 and Los Angeles 2028, we can expect the city-sport integration to become even more pronounced. Each host city will serve as a canvas for creative expression, offering opportunities for brands to deploy their budgets in effective ways.
UEFA Champions League
European football is built on matchday traditions, from local pubs to ritualistic routes to the stadium. These behaviours are integral part of the fan tourism experience, creating moments brands can authentically tap into.
The learning here is that cultural impact now outweighs proximity to the field of play. Success comes from understanding how fans interact with a host city and creating moments of surprise, shareability, and belonging along the way.
As events like Milan 2026 and Los Angeles 2028 embrace citywide formats, brands that treat the city itself as a creative playground will gain an edge. If you think back to your own holidays, often the most memorable moments are those that add unexpected cultural or interpersonal layers to the trip.
In some cases, the location itself is inseparable from the sport. These destination events blend heritage, culture, and competition, giving brands a chance to become an unmissable part of the environment.
Roland Garros
No other calendar moment is representative of a destination event like the Grand Slams. The Australian Open (a.k.a. “Happy Slam”) is famous for its festival atmosphere, while Wimbledon and the US Open are increasingly being referred to as the “runways of tennis”, where sport and high fashion come together. Though it’s Roland Garros, hosted amongst the spectacle and history of Paris, that epitomizes the destination event. The competition seamlessly embodies Parisian elegance where tennis meets haute couture, gastronomy, and fashion.
Singapore Formula 1
Catering to a growing younger F1 fanbase, the Singapore Grand Prix is a citywide celebration that happens to have a night race running through it. With sold-out podiums where approximately half are not locals, the majority of fans aren’t inside the track complex. Hospitality is so high that occupancy rates for trackside properties regularly hit 90–100%, while brands compete to outdo one another with ultra-exclusive social experiences:
The premium positioning does risk excluding local fans, with affordability cited as the main barrier to attendance for Singaporeans. Still, the appetite for luxury sport-tourism experiences remains insatiable, creating fertile ground for brand creativity.
Destination events show how place and experience can merge into powerful storytelling, illustrating that fans increasingly value the cultural context surrounding sport whether that’s the food, fashion, music, and nightlife which make each destination iconic. The insight: to win in destination sport tourism, brands must design experiences that feel native to the location, seamlessly blending the brand DNA with the atmosphere and aspirations of fans.
The final category is the active event (a term borrowed from The National Geographic), where travel and physical activities merge. These range from marathons and triathlons to wellness retreats and “mara-cations” – holidays built around running or cycling challenges. In the post-pandemic era, fans are choosing to go beyond passive participation in sport; they’re travelling to get involved in activities themselves.
For brands, these events offer a chance to align with values of personal achievement, health, and community; powerful, emotive drivers that extend well beyond traditional sponsorship and underscoring a shift from watching sport to living it. Fans now travel to test themselves, to join communities, and to collect experiences that feel personally transformative. Whether through co-creating training programs, offering recovery experiences, or celebrating the journeys of everyday athletes, the most resonant brands will be those that empower fans to see themselves not as audiences, but as part of the action.
Sports tourism offers a powerful lens for reimagining how brands activate around a sport. It gives fans a unique way to experience a culture, a city, and a lifestyle. Those who succeed will think ‘beyond the whistle’, understanding that official rights aren’t the only route to relevance. They’ll tap into lifestyle and cultural identity, embedding themselves throughout the fan journey, and they’ll design for a more diverse audience that reflects the rise of women’s sport, shifting life priorities, and younger fans redefining what it means to be a sports tourist.
The world’s largest member-based racing event – the Melbourne Cup – took place last week and central to their new proposition is “festival vibe” (as per CEO Kylie Rogers). Taking a page from the Australian Open and Melbourne F1, both of which are known for their multi-passion extravaganza across music, food and fashion, this year’s horse race will feature DJ’s, curated small plates and a renewed drinks offering. It will be interesting to follow their revamp and whether they can align to the sensibilities of a younger crowd.
And with two major events scheduled for next year: Winter Olympics in Milan and the FIFA World Cup across USA, Mexico and Canada, 2026 is set to be another landmark year for sports tourism, where being culturally connected and seriously effective will separate the brands who truly connect with fans.
2026 will see the BRIT Awards leave London for the first time in the show’s history. Moving to Manchester’s Co-op Live, as part of a 2-year deal, this spotlights a city whose musical heritage has shaped generations and creates a foundation for authentic, Manchester-rooted brand storytelling and community impact. More than a change of venue, the move signals a bold new direction for the BRITs, breaking five decades of London tradition and reflecting a more diverse, decentralised UK music culture. It reinforces Manchester’s role as one of the country’s most influential music capitals, home to icons like Oasis, The 1975, and The Stone Roses – placing authenticity, creativity, and regional talent at the centre of the show’s identity.
Grounding the BRITs in a regionally significant location has the potential to drive stronger engagement and can bring deeper credibility, as showcasing a city’s creative roots help audiences feel seen, valued and part of the narrative. With existing local communities and fandoms, engagement is driven by organic participation, allowing content to feel authentic and shareable. This also enables the location to have genuine cultural weight as it mirrors cities like Los Angeles and Las Vegas that host major music and cultural shows because of their deep entertainment heritage.
The trophy, which is designed by a different cultural figure each year, has been designed by Manchester-born fashion designer Mathew Williamson, who was heavily influenced by the city’s iconic worker bee symbol and used amber-toned resin to represent “golden honey”. Also, Manchester’s own Noel Gallagher has been named the BRITs 2026 Songwriter of the Year, set to collect the award on home turf. Together, these hometown connections underscore the significance of bringing the ceremony to Manchester, celebrating the city not just as a host, but as an integral part of the BRITs’ story this year.
In the lead up to the show, a citywide cultural programme is taking place which includes: a BRITs Art Trail, showcasing North-West artists across Northern Quarter & Ancoats; a Microdot exhibition at Manchester Piccadilly Station, celebrating iconic British music artwork. Also, a series of community-focused initiatives, ranging from free tram travel for the awards’ ticketholders to front-of-stage pit access for Manchester university students. It also introduces the first BRITs Fringe / FRINGE LAB, in collaboration with music charity Brighter Sound and Manchester Music City, with workshops, talks, and talent development. This unlocks a powerful opportunity set for brands:
For brands, it’s not enough to sponsor the big televised moment and hope for a ripple effect. Brands need to build relationships with the communities, institutions and individuals who hold cultural authority at a local level. The most effective strategies connect national partnerships to grassroots ecosystems, creating credibility beyond the main stage.
Ultimately, the BRITs’ move to Manchester shows that location isn’t just geography, it’s strategy. It challenges us to rethink how placing culture close to the communities who shape it can unlock new levels of authenticity, participation and long-term brand value. We’re looking forward to seeing how this plays out, the results it generates, and how it continues to evolve next year for the 50th anniversary of the award which is also held in Manchester.
For years, the industry’s focus on music and culture has been dominated by London. Outside of the London bubble there has always been amazing talent and a regional spread of iconic events, championed by artists like The Beatles, Oasis, The Arctic Monkeys, JADE and Sam Fender, but London has remained the industry’s hub. However, there is a shift happening. From leading venues to globally recognised awards, the industry’s focus is expanding beyond the M25 and with it comes the opportunity for brands to reach an incredibly engaged and loyal audience.
The opening of Manchester’s Co-op Live arena in 2024 marked a significant shift in the UK’s live touring landscape. Not only is the nation’s largest indoor arena now outside the capital, but it attracts global artists like Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo and Sabrina Carpenter, with Billie holding four nights of her European tour at the arena this year. This confidence in Northern cities is echoed by fellow music industry bodies. Following the success of the 2023 Eurovision being hosted in Liverpool and the MOBO awards regularly being hosted in cities across the nation (Sheffield in 2024 and Newcastle in 2025), two other prominent award bodies have moved away from London and found homes in the North. Today, the Mercury Prize makes its debut in Newcastle, and next year, the BRIT Awards is leaving the capital for the first time to be hosted in Manchester. This signals a clear intent from the music industry to champion Northern cities whose cultural heritage have been instrumental in shaping the UK music scene.
Brands should take note. The often-overlooked Northern audience have a thriving interest in live music and entertainment, and they are just as loyal and engaged as their Southern counterparts. Festivals like Kendal Calling in the Lake District regularly sell out before announcing their line-up, a true testament to fan loyalty and an anomaly considering the hardships currently faced by festivals with over 200 shows cancelled since Covid. Similarly, Manchester’s ‘The Warehouse Project’ is a well-established player in live music and remains a popular staple for ravers across the UK. Recognising this demand, AEG has recently announced a new day festival series in Leeds’ Roundhay Park and Cupra have expanded their European music platform into Manchester with ‘Cupra FM’ at their City Garage location. With 9 in 10 music fans agreeing that brands can enrich their live music experience, this presents a prime opportunity for brands to engage with super loyal fan bases on a national scale.
And with this fan loyalty comes significant economic importance. Consumer spend on live music is at a record high of £6.68bn annually, with Manchester and Glasgow being the top 2 cities after London for their total spend – Manchester accounting for 8.1% of all UK spend on live music and Glasgow 5.7% (LIVE Report 2024). So it’s not just cultural value, there’s tangible economic benefits that live music brings, and as a recent report from AEG shows, live music is in the top 3 spending priorities for fans. What does this mean for brands? Music and festival partnerships are one of the strongest platforms to consider when aligning yourself to fan passion points. Providing an opportunity to target consumers in an emotionally charged setting, where they are more loyal and receptive to experiences. This immense passion and loyalty can help future proof your strategy when activated authentically.
When brands develop their activation plans and sponsorship strategies, they should consider what regions of the UK can help them achieve their business objectives; for some this may mean a London-centric approach, but for others who want to reach a larger UK demographic, embracing the Northern audience is vital. This sentiment is echoed at Superstruct UK where their festival portfolio includes events from the South coast up to Cumbria and Sheffield, ‘Being based in London means you sometimes lean more towards London shows but that isn’t always the best approach to brand partnerships. If you consider shows across the UK and in the North you can reach a wider audience and hit your brand objectives.’ Nick Lound, Creative & Strategy Lead, Superstruct. In Fuse’s own work with Vodafone we have assisted in ensuring their portfolio is diversified with a spread of shows across the Lake District, Cornwall, London and Somerset.
The North of England’s rich musical history and legacy proves that live music and entertainment is part of its cultural identity. The industry has now opened their eyes to the immense audience demand, recognising that underserving such a passionate fanbase is no longer an option. Brands who want to reach highly engaged audiences on a national scale should follow suit and invest where the culture is widening its focus, to an audience that is primed and invested in new music experiences.
Fight nights are no longer just sport – they’re culture.
What we saw last Saturday wasn’t just a boxing match. It was storytelling, music and high-end fashion combining to create an experience that reached far beyond boxing’s usual audience.
Saturday’s Eubank Jr vs Conor Benn fight highlighted how story now sits at the heart of modern sport, especially on a night where there wasn’t even a world title at stake. A huge part of the excitement came from everything leading up to the fight, not only the moment the bell rang.
Eubank Jr didn’t just walk out. He made an entrance. 50 Cent performed three tracks live, turning the ring walk into a full cinematic moment that dominated social feeds within minutes. The nostalgia ran deep too. Both Eubank Jr and Conor Benn walked out to songs linked to their fathers, whose rivalry defined a previous era. It added a layer of history that made the moment feel even bigger.
Music wasn’t the only cultural layer. Fashion played its part as well. Conor Benn’s Palm Angels kit is part of a wider shift in how fashion is showing up in boxing. We are now seeing runway-level integration, with fighters using the ring as a cultural stage. Canelo Álvarez walked out in Amiri, while Terence Crawford entered wearing an Everlast x Off-White robe featuring details from the brand’s Spring Summer 2026 collection during their fight earlier this year. It is a clear sign that fashion now sees fight nights as moments with cultural weight.
Some brands still hesitate around boxing, yet the crossover between sport, music and fashion continues to attract audiences far beyond traditional fight fans. This crossover also broadens how partners can show up, helping them connect through the music, fashion and moments fans are already engaging with beyond the fight itself.
The numbers also back it up. Millions tuned in across broadcast, social channels and streaming platforms. Highlights reached 1.3 million views in a single day, and pay-per-view buys are expected to surpass the 620,000 from their first matchup. With reach at this scale, fight nights become shared cultural events, which naturally creates opportunities for partners.
This is where boxing becomes interesting from a partnership perspective. The sport offers multiple touchpoints throughout fight week, from press conferences and weigh-ins to walkouts and fight kits, giving partners several natural moments to build visibility and tell a consistent story.
The upcoming Anthony Joshua vs Jake Paul fight underlines this shift even more clearly. It will stream globally on Netflix and is expected to be one of the most-watched boxing events in years. Jake Paul’s previous fight on the platform reached 108 million viewers worldwide, showing how far the sport can scale when positioned in a global entertainment environment. All of this shows how big fight nights are evolving into broader cultural moments where partners can play a more meaningful role.
The NFL, Apple Music, and Roc Nation are curating halftime shows that speak to culture, identity, and influence. Earlier this year Kendrick Lamar’s performance drew a record breaking 133.5 million viewers, more than the game itself, and delivered a performance packed with symbolism. It proved the Super Bowl stage could carry real cultural weight, secure mass viewership and spark global conversation.
Bad Bunny’s announcement as the 2026 headliner feels like a continuation of that shift. He’s not just Spotify’s most-streamed artist in the world three years running – he’s a cultural force, known for advocating for social equity and representation across underrepresented communities. His selection signals a broader ambition moving forward to ensure the halftime show is more than a music performance, but a global cultural movement.
K-Pop and Afrobeats – the summer of 2025 saw a surge of subgenres dominating the global mainstream charts louder than ever. Sony’s KPop Demon Hunters (distributed by Netflix) soundtrack created worldwide frenzy, topping charts worldwide and amassing over 3 billion streams in just two months, while Moliy & Silent Addy’s Shake It To The Max (FLY) – Remix broke out in Afrobeats, hitting Spotify’s Top 50 in 45+ countries and surpassing 500M streams by August.
For brands looking to connect with mega-engaged fans and cut through the noise, these subcultures – now global movements in their own right – hold the key. They’re full of active, passionate, and loyal fans who, when approached authentically, become the ultimate brand advocates.
The first edition of the newly revamped FIFA Club World Cup currently being played in the USA has been no stranger to controversy. Those in the world of football have taken aim at the increased workload for already stretched players;[1], reports have attendance sitting at just 57%,[2] and the political climate in which it is all taking part is another matter completely.
Despite this, the allure of more football for fans across the world has meant online engagement has remained high. As I write this, the @DAZNFootball channel has amassed over 170 million views in the past 30 days[3]. Unofficial channels, housing analysis, reaction, and highlights likely take online engagement well into the billions of views.
While the majority of these uploads are from legitimate football lovers, highlights of Juventus’ 3-2 win over Manchester City raised some questions from fans. The reason? The highlights were posted hours before the match was played.
By combining archive footage and video titles which, to someone who isn’t following the tournament closely, paint a picture of legitimate highlights, the channels recorded millions of views. This engagement, free from the competition of legitimate highlights – which would not be posted until after the match -leaned perfectly into the YouTube algorithm, with these fake videos often finding themselves in the top recommended clips for football fans across YouTube and Google search.
While the rise of ‘fake’ reactive content and deep fakes will likely have an impact across many industries, the world of sports and entertainment is particularly susceptible to falling victim. Over 35 billion hours of sport were consumed on YouTube in 2024[4] and, with more sport being played at any given time around the world, there will be no shortage of fans wanting to catch up on matches, only to realise after a few minutes they have been watching a match that was never played.
Similarly, over 50%[5] of YouTube’s 2.5 billion[6] users use the platform for music or podcasts. Deep fake audio from previous years has seen Bill Clinton cover Sir Mix-A-Lot but fake leaks and releases will almost certainly capture the attention of music fans in the coming years.
Ultimately, while fake highlight videos may be frustrating for football fans who have been swindled out of a few minutes of their lunch break, these videos also have a real impact for brands who are advertising on YouTube. A high-ranking video which passes YouTube’s checks will warrant higher CPMs for advertisers who, despite their best efforts, are essentially spending their advertising dollars on a ‘made for advertising’ scam.
This may not be a new notion in the world of programmatic advertising; however, with AI models able to scrape through hours of archive footage and produce believable video content that has the ability to bypass Google’s moderation, the need for attention when it comes to brand safety and suitability is as relevant as ever.
For official partners of football competitions, teams and players looking to build a credible reputation, ignoring these risks is counterproductive. While it may add a couple of cents on CPMs in the short term, the role of sponsorship as a long-term trust building project means the investment will pay dividends when building affinity with fans.
In an evolving digital media landscape where there is more fan-produced content than ever before, and it is increasingly easy to be fooled by misinformation, sponsors, agencies, and publishers must be proactive to ensure brand safety. While it may take time, accessing premium inventory across social media and the open web for sponsorship assets will ultimately lead to the development of an authentic voice and trust in the space.
[1] https://www.espn.co.uk/football/story/_/id/45604072/jurgen-klopp-expanded-club-world-cup-football-worst-idea
[2] https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c74z8v15g8eo
[3] https://www.youtube.com/@DAZNFootball / Social Blade
[4] https://www.sportspro.com/news/youtube-big-screen-tv-sport-consumption/
[5] https://civicscience.com/interest-in-youtube-premium-stalls-into-2025-but-emphasizing-music-could-change-the-tune/
For much of the last decade, sports marketing followed a familiar script: globalisation, digital scale and steadily inflating rights fees. In 2025, that script broke. This year forced brands, rights-holders and investors to confront harder truths about attention, technology and value, and in doing so, it reset how sport is bought, sold and measured.
From AI finally becoming operational, to women’s sport crossing from promise to proof, 2025 redefined what counts as premium, measurable, and essential.
2025 will be remembered as the year AI stopped being a talking point and became infrastructure.
Across sport, AI moved out of pilots and into fan-facing reality: automated highlights, personalised feeds, conversational search and predictive performance tools became part of the everyday experience. Best-in-class broadcasters showed what that looks like in practice.
In the US, MLB delivered personalised daily video recaps tailored to individual fan behaviour, while ESPN integrated AI-driven predictive analytics into live NFL coverage. Closer to home, Wimbledon leveraged generative AI to automate highlights and enrich digital storytelling, extending the value of the live moment well beyond Centre Court.
Broadcasters leaned heavily into automated clips and data-led production to keep pace with social platforms, while clubs and leagues expanded personalised apps and direct-to-fan services.
As cookies continued to disappear and privacy regulation tightened, AI intermediaries filled the. gap. Fans increasingly consumed sport through personalised summaries, agent-driven recommendations and platform-level curation. That shifted the centre of gravity.
First-party data became the most valuable strategic asset in sport, not just for ticketing or CRM, but for sponsorship valuation and attribution. Rights-holders were no longer simply selling exposure; they were selling access to logged-in, addressable fan relationships.
Hot take: the most valuable sponsorships of the next cycle won’t be the loudest or most visible. They’ll be the most intelligently embedded into AI-mediated fan journeys.
If AI was the technological shift of 2025, women’s sport was the commercial one.
This was the year women’s sport stopped being “emerging” and started being essential inventory. In the UK, that shift was underpinned by success on the biggest stages: England lifted both the Women’s Rugby World Cup and the Women’s European Championship, proof that women’s sport delivers national moments, not just incremental growth.
Those wins translated commercially. UK football and cricket saw record audiences, while sponsorship interest broadened beyond traditional categories into technology and automotive brands.
The bigger shift? How brands framed the opportunity. The question shifted from ‘does it scale?’ to ‘what audience does it deliver?” In a fragmented attention economy, younger, more diverse and culturally engaged fans aren’t niche; they are strategically scarce.
2025 didn’t slow the growth of women’s sport. It normalised it. And in business terms, normalisation matters more than hype.
Hot take: within five years, brands will struggle to justify sports portfolios that don’t include women’s sport, not on values grounds, but on performance ones.
Digital still dominates headline spend, but 2025 exposed its limits. Brand safety concerns, diminishing returns and platform fragmentation pushed advertisers back towards environments that guarantee attention and trust.
In the UK, live sport benefited more than any other category. Premium football, cricket and Formula 1 regained board-level interest, particularly around marquee fixtures and tentpole moments. Broadcasters leaned on sport to hedge against audience fragmentation, while sponsors treated top-tier live events as fewer, bigger bets rather than spread commitments.
Scarcity accelerated a shift from badge-on-shirt sponsorships to performance-linked partnerships. Advertisers demanded clearer accountability, better data access and measurable outcomes. Rights-holders that could package broadcast, content and first-party fan data alongside visibility pulled ahead; others felt the squeeze.
The result was a familiar but sharpening dynamic: value concentrating at the top. Mega-properties commanded premiums, while mid-tier assets faced tougher questions on differentiation, diversification and survival.
Taken together, these shifts explain why 2025 feels different.
AI made personalisation unavoidable. Women’s sport proved commercially credible. Live sport reasserted its value as one of the few environments capable of delivering trusted, high-attention reach. And fragmentation killed the illusion that reach alone equals impact.
The winners of 2025 weren’t those chasing novelty, but those building systems: data-ready rights, culturally fluent creative and partnerships designed for accountability rather than optics. In a cautious UK economy, certainty became the premium product.
Final hot take: the next era of sports marketing won’t be defined by who spends the most, but by who understands their fans best.
If recent years were about momentum, 2025 was about recalibration. For an industry built on moments, this may prove to be the year that quietly changed everything.
