94 per cent of marketers surveyed in India expect to increase spending on sponsorship and event media over the next 12 to 24 months, the highest proportion among six markets studied by audience measurement company Nielsen.
The company’s 2026 Annual Marketing Report also found that 61 per cent of Indian marketers viewed sports sponsorship as a testing ground for new audiences and markets, ahead of their counterparts in the United States and Germany.
The findings point to the importance of live events and sports properties in marketing strategies, as brands look for ways to reach consumers across different platforms.
The survey covered 1,200 marketers, with 200 respondents each from India, the US, the United Kingdom, Italy, France and Germany.
Nielsen’s spending finding covers sponsorship and event media more broadly, including sporting and cultural events. It reflects marketers’ expectations and does not specify how much of the proposed spending will go towards sports alone.
India leads on event spending expectations
The proportion of Indian marketers expecting to increase sponsorship and event media spending was 19 percentage points higher than in the US, where the figure stood at 75 per cent. In Italy, 67 per cent of marketers expected an increase.
Nielsen said no channel in the study showed a higher projected budget increase than sponsorship and event media.
In the US, 28 per cent of marketers expected their spending on the category to rise significantly, while 2 per cent planned to spend less.
The survey also showed a difference by budget size in the US. Among marketers managing budgets of $50 million to $100 million, 91 per cent expected to raise event sponsorship spending. The figure was 71 per cent for those managing $10 million to $50 million and 62 per cent for the $1 million to $10 million group.
The report did not provide a comparable breakdown by budget size for India.
Sports sponsorship as a route to new audiences
India also led the surveyed markets in viewing sports sponsorship as a way to test new audiences and markets. The share of marketers who took this view was 61 per cent in India, compared with 54 per cent in the US and 32 per cent in Germany.
The US findings offered a further indication of what marketers seek from sports partnerships. Reaching specific fan segments was cited by 66 per cent of US marketers as a reason to invest in sports, followed by building brand awareness at 59 per cent.
Only 8 per cent of US marketers said sports was not currently a priority, according to the report. It did not provide corresponding figures for these measures in India.
India’s sports sponsorship market
The Nielsen findings come after a separate WPP Media report estimated the value of India’s sports economy, measured through media spending, sponsorship and celebrity endorsements, at ₹18,864 crore in 2025, up 13.4 per cent from the previous year.
Sports sponsorship spending accounted for ₹7,943 crore, rising 7 per cent year-on-year, according to WPP Media’s Sporting Nation report. Cricket represented 81 per cent of sponsorship spending.
The WPP Media figures measure spending in 2025. Nielsen’s survey, by comparison, captures marketers’ expectations about future spending on the broader sponsorship and event media category.
Creator content finds favour
The Nielsen report also found that 81 per cent of Indian marketers rated influencer and creator content as very or extremely effective, compared with 54 per cent in the US.
The 27-percentage-point difference was the widest between the two markets across the channels measured, according to Nielsen.
The finding covers creator content across marketing and is not specific to sports creators or athletes. However, athlete endorsements remain a significant part of India’s sports business: WPP Media estimated such spending at ₹1,350 crore in 2025, with cricket accounting for 87 per cent of the total.
Measuring returns across platforms
Despite the appetite for sponsorship and event media, fewer than half of Indian marketers said they measured returns on investment across traditional and digital media on a combined basis.
The figure stood at 42 per cent in India, compared with 48 per cent in the US and 53 per cent in Italy. India recorded the lowest result among the markets covered, Nielsen said.
The company said evaluating media on different bases can make it harder to compare performance across channels. It also found that 8 per cent of US marketers did not measure returns on sponsorship, influencer and creator spending. The report did not provide an equivalent figure for India.
