Infobip study finds brands struggle to prove sports ROI

Infobip has published research showing that 57% of brands cannot prove the return on investment from sports fan engagement. The study also found that brands allocate 13% of annual marketing budgets to sports activations.

Nearly 73% of respondents expect that share of spending to rise over the next year, signalling continued momentum in sports marketing even as measurement remains weak. The survey covered 500 marketing and digital leaders across 11 markets and sectors, including retail, financial services, telecoms, travel, and food and beverage.

The findings suggest a mismatch between growing enthusiasm for sports-related campaigns and the systems brands use to assess them. Live sports moments were identified as generating the highest levels of fan engagement, yet 47% of organisations said they struggle to deliver real-time engagement during live events.

That leaves marketers facing two problems at once: reaching fans in the moment and linking those interactions to commercial outcomes. For companies devoting a larger share of annual budgets to sponsorships, activations, and match-related messaging, the inability to track results could make sports investment harder to defend internally.

Rising spend

Sports has become an increasingly attractive channel for brands seeking large, emotionally engaged audiences. The Infobip study suggests many companies are leaning further into that strategy, with sports activations accounting for a notable share of total marketing spend.

The appeal lies in the immediacy of live events and the potential for direct interaction with fans on mobile devices and messaging platforms. Yet those same qualities can create operational pressure, especially when campaigns depend on rapid responses to goals, scores, athlete updates, or other in-game moments.

Infobip argued that the gap is less about marketer interest and more about the systems behind fan communications.

"Half of brands can't prove the ROI of their sports marketing - that's not a measurement problem, it's an infrastructure problem. AI and conversational channels like RCS turn every fan interaction into a trackable touchpoint, so brands can finally connect spend to results," said Ben Lewis, Vice President of Marketing and Growth at Infobip.

AI focus

The research found strong backing for artificial intelligence as brands rethink sports engagement. Some 87% of respondents said AI is critical to the future of sports fan engagement, while AI-driven content and journey automation ranked among the changes marketers believe would make the biggest difference.

That points to a broader shift in marketing technology, as companies try to combine customer data, messaging tools, and automated decision-making in a single workflow. In practice, that could mean sending tailored messages based on what happens during a match, how a fan has interacted before, or which channel they are most likely to use.

For marketers, the commercial appeal of that model is as much about measurability as personalisation. If each interaction can be tracked across a customer journey, sports campaigns become easier to compare with other forms of digital spending such as search, social media, or email.

Product push

Infobip is also using the research to underline its role in the market. It recently introduced PitchMate, a fan engagement product for football audiences built on its AgentOS platform, designed to turn live fan interactions into measurable touchpoints across the broader journey.

The group cited an example in Latin America, where Claro Sports launched an AI assistant using Infobip's platform and Google's RCS technology. The service offers Mexican sports fans real-time scores, athlete alerts, and interactive experiences through messaging channels.

Such deployments reflect a wider industry shift towards conversational marketing, in which brands use chat-based interactions rather than one-way broadcasts. In sports, that can include match updates, polls, promotions, ticketing information, and sponsor-led content delivered in direct messages rather than through traditional display advertising alone.

For telecoms and communications platform providers, sports represents a high-visibility use case for newer messaging formats such as RCS, intended to offer richer and more interactive mobile experiences than standard text messaging. The commercial question, however, is whether those tools can help brands tie fan attention to sales, loyalty, or other measurable outcomes.

The findings suggest many marketers believe the answer may lie in better integration between campaign delivery, customer data, and analytics, rather than in spending restraint. With most respondents planning to raise sports investment, pressure is likely to grow on marketing teams to show that fan engagement delivers more than momentary attention.