2022-23 NBA Sponsorship Spend Up Slightly

Basketball’s Social Media Footprint Leads U.S. Sports

NEW YORK, May 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — KORE has released its 2022-23 NBA Market Intelligence Report looking at key sponsorship insights and social media values, including the top sponsorship market sectors, the NBA’s overall social footprint, the top NBA athletes on social media, and the top ten brands earning social media value through NBA partnerships. The report looked at the NBA season through the first round of the playoffs. 

“Overall, we’ve found the NBA sponsorship marketplace is thriving, and the league is second in the United States behind only the NFL in total sponsorship spend,” said KORE Head of Sponsorship Intelligence RJ Kraus. “However, when it comes to social media followers and total engagement, the NBA is first among sports in the U.S.”

According to the KORE NBA report, overall sponsorship is up +2% year-over-year, and up +11% from 2019. Sponsorship was led by the financial sector, comprising nearly +20% of the market, with food and beverage at 15%, and technology at 11%. While the overall value of sponsorships was up, the number of deals per team was down -41%, indicating brands were focused on doing fewer deals, but signing longer terms with larger annual spends.

On the social side, basketball’s footprint encompassed more than 2.5B followers and more than 45B video views over the last year – the largest among U.S. sports. Video viewership has seen a massive increase (+80%) due to new video formats. Among the different social media platforms, Instagram dominates with 80% of engagement and 50% of brand value, but Twitter holds a third of the brand value, better than in other sports.

The playoffs have created extra interest in the league, driving 10M new social followers for the first three weeks of the postseason. 

The biggest value drivers across social media are the league and teams. Combined they drive nearly 95% of the adjusted ad value. Among teams, the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers dominate social media, combining for 22% of the total followers and 33.5% of total engagement.

Nike leads all brands, earning the most value through social media NBA partnerships, followed by Google, State Farm, KIA, and Crypto.com.

Lebron James tops the social media values among players, accounting for 23% of all brand value, followed by Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, and Devin Booker through the first three weeks of the playoffs.

To see the complete KORE 2022-23 NBA Market Intelligence Report reach out to KORE, here.

KORE, now including Hookit, is the only single-source solution to offer a full suite of management, measurement, and optimization solutions for buyers and sellers of sponsorship, marketers, and organizations looking to better engage with their audiences. 

Annually, KORE releases a number of sport-, league-, and team-specific Intel reports, case studies, and white papers. KORE’s next report will be released in late May and will examine the state of sponsorship in golf.

ABOUT KORE:
KORE is the global leader in engagement marketing solutions. More than 900 brands, venues, and sports organizations trust KORE’s tools and platform as a source of truth to manage assets and measure partnership impact, with real-time insights, across all channels. 

Through Sponsorship Management and Evaluation, Ticketing and Fan Engagement, and Data Management and Analytics, KORE’s two-sided network unites corporate sponsors, sponsorship properties, and their fans with solutions that help enhance the fan experience, drive smarter decisions, and enable marketing and operations teams to spend time where it matters. Learn more at KORESoftware.com or follow us LinkedIn or Twitter. 

Contact: Eva Rieder, eva.rieder@koresoftware.com

Click here for the official press release.