Written by: Vickie Sullivan | March 11, 2014
2014 Sponsorship Stats
As more conferences are using sponsors to pay big speaking fees, it pays to know what is going on in the wacky world of sponsorship. Industry giant IEG provides some interesting stats in their year-end review of spending and trends. My favorite findings:
- Digital media is eating into the budget. Just a heads-up now, no need to panic. But it’s the main reason why spending grew only a little (4.3%) in 2014. That’s over a percentage point under the projected 5.5 percent. Prediction: sponsorship will never go away but will be redefined. This is only the beginning.
- Like most markets, there is no more “middle.” Most money is spent on big-bucks sports events, considered a safe bet. Association spending is the smallest market with a paltry 1.4% increase, “only” $576M projected for 2014. (Compared to over $14B in sports deals.) Again, no need to panic. That’s still enough money to pay attention.
- Smart associations are doing some major pivots here. The traditional “transaction” deals aren’t getting traction. Watch for more relationships that develop content (hey, that’s us!) and create new products and focus on activation. Prediction: your followers will become more important than you are.
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