Sponsorship valuation companies, and which clubs they serve
The sponsorship measurement market has three layers, and they do not compete with each other as much as it appears. The mistake clubs make is approaching the wrong layer and concluding measurement is unaffordable.
The three layers
Broadcast valuation agencies
Frame-by-frame analysis of televised coverage against national panel audience data, plus consultancy. Nielsen Sports and Futures Sport are the established names, the latter owned by Omnicom.
Genuinely expert, genuinely expensive, and priced for federations, leagues and top-tier franchises. If you are a provincial union, they will not quote you and the report would be commissioned by your league rather than you.
Digital and social monitoring tools
Blinkfire, Relo Metrics and similar. Logo detection across social and digital, sold as software. Strong products, priced for professional clubs and rights holders, quote-only.
Club platforms
Measurement built into the system that runs the club's own website and app. Smaller scope than either of the above, and it counts impressions it served rather than only monitoring them.
The important distinction: the first two layers observe exposure that already happened. A club platform creates and serves the inventory as well, which is why it can count rather than estimate. Different jobs, not competing products.
Which one you can actually use
| If you are | Realistic option |
|---|---|
| A league or federation | Broadcast agency |
| A top-tier professional club | Broadcast agency plus a digital tool |
| A provincial union or franchise | Club platform, alongside whatever the league commissions |
| A community or semi-pro club | Club platform, or nothing |
What we do not claim
We do not do broadcast measurement, and a club that needs televised exposure valued should use an agency that does. We show our figures beside theirs rather than instead of them.
What we do that they do not is serve the inventory in the first place — the website, the app, the placements — which is why our impressions are logged rather than modelled. The method is on sponsorship measurement, and how to package what you measure is in sponsorship packages.
The three layers, compared directly
| Broadcast agencies | Digital monitoring tools | Club platforms | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Examples | Nielsen Sports, Futures Sport | Blinkfire, Relo Metrics | Octafield Club and similar |
| Measures broadcast | Yes, expertly | No | No |
| Measures social and digital | Sometimes | Yes | Yes |
| Serves the inventory | No | No | Yes |
| Runs the club's website and app | No | No | Yes |
| Typical buyer | League, federation, top-tier club | Professional club, rights holder | Provincial union, franchise, semi-pro |
| Pricing | Quote only, enterprise | Quote only | Published tiers |
| Who commissions it | Usually the league or sponsor | The club | The club |
The row that explains the market is the last one. At most levels of rugby and cricket, sponsorship valuation is commissioned by somebody other than the club, which is why the club receives a report it did not order and cannot interrogate.
Futures Sport, specifically
Worth understanding if you are a URC or Premiership-level club, because several already work with them. Futures Sport and Entertainment is an Omnicom agency with offices across the UK, US, Australia and Johannesburg, running exposure monitoring, sponsorship valuation, primary fan research and strategy consulting.
Their broadcast valuation is genuinely better than anything a club platform will produce, partly because of proprietary tracking and partly because Omnicom's media buying gives them real transaction rates rather than rate card figures. Their Blank Space Analysis — identifying coverage that could have carried branding and what it would have been worth — is a good product with no equivalent at our level.
What they do not do is build websites, run fan apps, serve advertising or manage inventory. Their sponsorship tooling is described as portfolio management in Excel and web form. That is a different job, not a competing one.
Nielsen Sports
The incumbent in most markets, including South Africa, where valuations sit on the national television audience panel. Reports commissioned through Nielsen are typically ordered by a league, a federation or a sponsor rather than by an individual club.
If your competition already commissions Nielsen work, ask for it. Clubs frequently do not realise a valuation of their own exposure exists, and the league will usually share it.
Choosing between layers, honestly
- If broadcast is the majority of your sponsor's exposure — you need an agency, and no club platform substitutes for one.
- If you are a professional club with a large social footprint and no owned app — a digital monitoring tool is the right fit.
- If you are a provincial union or franchise with real sponsors and no reporting at all — a club platform is what you can actually buy, and it also creates the inventory.
- If you are a community club — a platform or nothing, and nothing is a legitimate answer if you have one kit sponsor.
The distinction that actually matters
Monitoring tools and agencies observe exposure that already happened. They are analysts of someone else's media.
A club platform also creates and serves the media — the website, the app, the placements — which is why its impressions are logged rather than modelled, and why it can report delivery against a contract rather than only exposure achieved.
That is not a claim to be better. It is a different position in the chain, and the reason our numbers and an agency's should sit on the same page rather than compete for the same line.
Common questions
What sponsorship valuation companies are there?
Three layers: broadcast valuation agencies such as Nielsen Sports and Futures Sport, digital monitoring tools such as Blinkfire and Relo Metrics, and club platforms with measurement built in.
Which one can a provincial union actually use?
A club platform, alongside whatever the league commissions. Broadcast agencies are priced for federations and top-tier franchises and will generally not quote a smaller union.
What is the difference between monitoring and serving?
Monitoring tools observe exposure that already happened. A club platform also serves the inventory, so its impressions are logged rather than modelled.
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