Brands are increasing investment in sports fan engagement, but many are struggling to measure the business impact, according to research commissioned by Infobip.
The global study of 500 marketing and digital leaders across industries including retail, financial services, telecommunications, travel, and food and beverage across 11 markets found brands allocate an average 13% of annual marketing budgets to sports-related activations.
Nearly 73% expect that investment to increase over the next 12 months.
However, while live sports moments generate the highest levels of fan engagement, 47% of organisations said they struggle to deliver real-time engagement during live events. A further 57% said proving the return on investment from sports marketing was difficult.
“Half of brands can’t prove the ROI of their sports marketing – that’s not a measurement problem, it’s an infrastructure problem,” Ben Lewis, vice president of Marketing and Growth at Infobip, said.
“AI and conversational channels like RCS turn every fan interaction into a trackable touchpoint, so brands can finally connect spend to results,” he added.
The study also found strong interest in artificial intelligence, with 87% of respondents saying AI is critical to the future of sports fan engagement.
AI-driven content and journey automation were among the improvements respondents said could have the greatest impact. As sports engagement investment increases, the report said orchestration, connected data and real-time interactions are becoming important to delivering personalised fan experiences at scale.
Infobip recently launched PitchMate, an AI-powered fan engagement solution for global football audiences built on its AgentOS platform. The solution turns real-time fan interactions into trackable touchpoints across the fan journey.
In Latin America, Claro Sports launched an AI assistant using Infobip’s platform and Google’s RCS technology, providing Mexican sports fans with real-time scores, athlete alerts and interactive experiences across messaging channels.
Infobip said customer communications have evolved over the past two decades from one-way messaging to intelligent, conversational engagement at scale.
