Insurance has been a prominent spender across sponsorship industries in sports over the last few years but has been unable to match some of the higher-spending sectors. The major spending across insurance brands has come due to the number of deals that brands have, as opposed to huge sums for a deal. Spending amongst insurance brands has gone above $1 billion for 2023, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

GlobalData’s latest report, ‘Financial Services – Insurance 2023,’ reveals that there has been an increase in both the deal volume and spending of the insurance sector since 2021, with the industry recovering strongly enough from the pandemic to further invest in sponsorship spend. Also, there are two active deals amongst insurance brands, which are estimated to be worth around $50 million a year, proving that insurance brands are capable of spending these kinds of sums.

Tanveer Aujla, Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Insurance brands have established themselves strongly in the world of sports sponsorship in the last few years. This is only likely to increase going forward with the constantly increasing sums of money within sports. This is especially true of soccer, where many of the values have become wildly inflated due to enormous spending and the commercial power of many of Europe’s biggest teams.”

The strongest evidence of soccer’s commercial power within the insurance sector is the shirt sponsor deal between Tottenham Hotspur and AIA, which is worth a reported $49.9 million a year. The two have had a partnership dating back to 2010, but the fees attached to this deal have dramatically risen as the nature of the partnership has evolved.

Aujla continues: “This deal is a great example of how sticking with a brand long-term can be incredibly beneficial for a club. The value of this deal has multiplied by almost five times due to the brand becoming the club’s shirt sponsor. Agreements like this can only be developed when a certain level of trust exists, and that takes years to build up.”

This is why the likelihood of these kinds of deals involving insurance brands will increase in the coming years. Bigger agreements generally tend to come about after partnerships of a smaller nature have been in place for some time. When this does start to happen, the annual spending associated with insurance brands in sports sponsorship could potentially soar.

Aujla concludes: “More deals like Tottenham’s with AIA are likely to be reached in the coming years in terms of value. Other deals that have been struck within the sector, including the IOC and Allianz deal for an estimated $50 million a year, highlight the sector is capable of striking major deals. The challenge is whether insurance brands can continue to push on and increase their spending within sponsorship, and reap the benefits attached to deals like these.”