New research from Ampere Analysis shows that the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris is on track to reach its $1.34bn sponsorship revenue target, which would represent a 60% increase in sponsorship revenue compared to the Tokyo Olympic Games of 2020. By comparison, the broadcast and streaming media rights for the 2024 Olympics are expected to reach $3.3bn, a 6% increase on the last event.

A challenging broadcast TV environment has seen many rights owners struggle to drive the double-digit broadcast rights growth that they might have experienced in previous years. As a result, rights owners are turning their attention to sponsorship sales to support their financial objectives. 

The USA, China, Japan, and the big five European markets (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK) account for over 80% of the combined media rights and sponsorship value, highlighting the importance of a small number of countries in funding the Olympics, especially in terms of sponsorship revenue. These eight countries account for 75% of the media rights value ($2.5bn) but 98% of the $1.34bn sponsorship income.

Media rights remains the more valuable revenue stream, accounting for 71% of the total revenue generated by sponsorship and TV deals. However, the gap is closing. In 2020, the IOC generated nearly four times more revenue from the sale of media rights than sponsorship. But in 2024, Ampere Analysis expects income from the sale of media rights to have dropped to 2.5 times higher than sponsorship – the latter being boosted by large-value deals such as those struck with Airbnb, Alibaba, and Mengniu Dairy.

Historically, the Olympics has always successfully attracted global sponsorship investment, especially for sponsors looking to drive brand awareness in foreign markets. Two thirds of the sponsorship income for the Paris Olympics is derived from companies headquartered in the US, France and Japan, but - as they did at the recent  UEFA European Championship - Chinese brands have also been investing heavily and now  represent the third largest source of sponsorship income for this summer’s games.