Brands Missing Their Shot at European Soccer Digital Marketing

Soccer is now one of the Big Four sports in the U.S., and it happened while marketers weren’t looking. Football and basketball remain sports powerhouses here but, roughly 20 years ago, a Gallup survey had hockey and auto racing ranked higher among the nation’s favorite sports to watch. By 2017, roughly 7% of Americans considered it their favorite. That was good enough for fourth place ahead of racing (2%) and hockey (4%), but creeping up on baseball (9%). Broadcasters took notice. As illustrated by consultant and former Coca-Cola sports marketing executive Ricardo Fort, soccer currently ranks fourth in media rights spending ($811.7 million annually, just behind NASCAR’s $820 million). However, with Major League Soccer recently securing a 10-year deal with Apple+ worth $250 million annually, that’ll push soccer firmly into fourth place behind football, basketball and baseball. https://twitter.com/SportByFort/status/1506305691836944388 The biggest chunk of soccer’s current value in the U.S., however, comes from the European leagues. The English Premier League, Spain’s La Liga, Italy’s Serie A and Germany’s Bundesliga account for $721.7 million of soccer’s total annual U.S. media revenue. A study by Morning Consult indicates that European soccer’s value is only growing stateside. As auto racing, hockey and baseball’s popularity drifts below esports among Gen-Z fans age 13 to 23, European soccer players fall among the generation’s most recognizable sports figures. Paris-Saint Germain star Lionel Messi was named a favorite by 23% of those surveyed, more than any hockey, baseball, tennis, golf or American football player—including Steph Curry (19%) and Tom Brady (16%). That’s created a substantial opportunity for U.S. brands to expand into the world’s game. https://twitter.com/LAYS/status/1499399274416656384 “If you serve a U.S. brand that is working specifically in the U.S., then you look at the soccer properties that have the biggest footprint in the State: your bigger clubs, particularly Barcelona and Real (Madrid) ... Premier League properties,” said David Wright, marketing consultant for Horizm. “European clubs have been targeting the U.S. as a market for many, many years—like Bayern (Munich) and the Spanish clubs. These guys are all kind of reaching out there and growing a fan base.” But U.S. brands, among others, aren’t taking what clubs are offering through their digital channels. Brands used less than 5% of the digital marketing inventory available to them from Europe’s top six leagues during the 2021-22 European soccer season. A new report from digital data and analytics firm Horizm found that 682 brands partnered with the Premier League, LaLiga, Serie A, Ligue 1, Bundesliga and Liga Portugal on content for their Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube feeds. That resulted in €75.6 million (or $79.1 million U.S.) in value for brands, but left €1.5 billion ($1.6 billion) in the ether. EA Sports, which just ended its video game partnership with soccer governing body FIFA, accounted for more than $10 million of last year’s brand value. That leaves even more up for grabs going into the next European soccer season. “EA opened a big gap for activations from other brands and other categories,” said Pedro Mestriner, founder and CEO of Horizm. “And we truly believe that new players will jump in, but who? We don't know.” Brands Take Note—Soccer Will Become the Top Sport in the US Getting in the game Video game companies comprise European soccer’s biggest digital marketing sector, accounting for 17.2% of the overall market and a combined $14.7 million in value. Horizm suggests that game company Konami, which produces the eFootball league-manager game series, could help fill the void left by EA. Konami drew $4.2 million in value from campaigns in Spain and Italy alone and was Serie A’s top brand, with roughly $2.4 million in digital value—or nearly double EA’s $1.4 million Serie A take. But Horizm sees potential in “the rest,” a $24.2 million catch-all category that represents 28% of European soccer’s digital value. Though there are known commodities including Adidas, Puma, Emirates and AXA among the continent’s Top 20 digital marketers, upstarts like NFT company Socios.com, gaming fir Pari Match, payment firm Skrill and tech company Team Viewer are expanding digitally native companies’ soccer presence. https://www.twitter.com/skrill/status/1529097539005431808 Mestriner notes that the digital brands aren’t looking for the 3% to 5% sales increases of their retail sponsorship counterparts: They’re looking for increased traffic, increased client numbers and the per-head cost of converting those fans. “They come with DNA that is digital, so they understand a click, a CPM, an activation,” he said. “Those brands, because they're native digital, they look precisely for the funnel, at every dollar invested. Their mindset is totally different—and it’s a struggle for other ones, which are spending hundreds and hundreds of dollars but still not converting.” Horizm also notes that digital advertising allows companies to pivot more quickly and react to changes in the market. As international travel opened up in 2021, for example, brands including Emirates, Eithad and Palladium Hotel Group could embrace digital marketing and target returning travelers. Emirates, for example, saw $10,500 in value from each post—putting it among the Top 10 most efficient European soccer marketers. https://twitter.com/emirates/status/1530673597601161216 “Travel is a perfect example,” Mestriner said. “When you have a spike, you have more campaigns running. When you don't have a spike because it's the low season, you adjust the budget or invest in something else.” Reading the pitch So where should brands looking for a piece of European soccer’s digital market start? It depends on their target audience Horizm uses its Marketplace tool to connect brands with soccer rights holders and get the most value for their digital spend. While Horizm’s $1.5 billion in digital inventory comes from partnerships with Arsenal, Borussia Dortmund, Chelsea, Everton, Real Madrid, Juventus, Olympique Lyonnais, Benfica, Flamengo, Wolverhampton Wanderers and the Portuguese Football Federation, their report indicates there’s value to be found beyond the sport’s top tier. Italy’s Serie A features big clubs like Juventus and AC Milan raking in $5.9 million and $5.5 million in value respectively. However, their share of activated inventory (13% and 19.3%) falls behind the nearly 23% rate of a club like Atalanta. https://www.twitter.com/Atalanta_BC/status/1536265883349393408 While no club in France comes close to generating Paris Saint-Germain’s $3 million in digital value, Nice’s 5.8% activation rate is more than double PSG’s 2.6%. And while it’s difficult to get more value in Bundesliga than Bayern Munich’s nearly $1 million or Borussia Dortmund’s $550,000, Köln’s 10% activation rate and Bochum’s 12.2% margin far outpace Munich’s 2.8% or Dortmund’s 3.3%. Mestriner pointed to La Liga’s Athletic Club Bilbao as an example of smaller-scale success. In a separate digital value of fans report, Athletic produced 13,827 social media posts in 2021: more than any major sports club in the world. The $1.35 in value it produced from each of its fans trailed only the EPL’s Leeds United ($1.60) among soccer teams and ranked ahead of the Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams ($1.24). Mestriner said the Athletic’s super engaged fan base made up for its inability to reach the broad audiences of bigger European clubs. “This is not only about the top 20 boys, big ones,” Mestriner says. “This opportunity in digital is sometimes stronger for the tier-two and the long-tail clubs. Infographic: What Marketers Need to Know About U.S. Soccer Fans