The evolution of sponsorship: Paddy Power, ambassadors and football podcasts

Thanks for rejoining us, Russ. We recently spoke on the Huddle about betting sponsorships in sport (that episode will be available on Global Gaming Insider soon). In your opinion, what's the best active sponsorship/partnership in the industry right now?

There are lots of strong betting sponsorships in sport right now, with more and more betting brands activating a lot of partnerships well. This is music to my ears as someone who is massively passionate about ensuring partnerships are leveraged, and rights maximised.

But the best active sponsorship, in my opinion, is Paddy Power and the PDC World Championships Darts. Darts is growing massively and the sport perfectly matches Paddy Power’s brand personality. They deliver outstanding activation at Alexandra Palace, the iconic London venue, creating a super fan zone experience for everyone attending the tournament. The activation includes spinning a wheel of fortune and throwing darts to win prizes. Inside the amphitheatre, everything is green, with branded cups and 180 signs, so fans are entertained the whole time they are in the venue. In addition, they maximise the use of player time and create outstanding content for socials, which get huge views and brilliantly themed outputs.  

Finally, this sponsorship comes to life at the end of the year from mid-December to the first week of January, the festive period and when all their target audience are in good spirits. It is perfect for driving betting turnover in sports and casino.

What is the overall opportunity for betting sponsorships with podcasts, transfer shows, watchalongs and the rise and rise of the football content creator?

This is a growth opportunity for sure, and you’re seeing more betting brands partner with podcasts, transfer shows and watchalongs, as well as other content creators who target and have a subscription base of an 18+ UK audience with a predominantly male audience.

With decent dwell time, multi-social-platform output, and timely content, the brand can achieve strong impressions, good brand awareness and legal compliance.

Because the podcast or content creation is not owned, the owner is usually the production company, fan TV channel, or platform, which makes the partnership branding-only. With experts who can maximise social output, views can work well vs spend.

In what situations is partnering with a regular podcast more effective than sponsoring a football team?

Depending on your marketing spend as a brand or affiliate, you need to look at where you can get the best return and maximum impact with your target audience.

So, if you have a decent marketing budget, you will usually see brands (especially in the UK) look to partner with a football team and then with a podcast as well. Partnering with a podcast eliminates team bias, so you can reach a wider segment of the target market and associate your brand with them, whereas partnering with a single team can make your branding target only those fans.

Also, with the podcast and sponsored YouTube shows, social engagement and impressions can be significant for really growing awareness and potentially increasing conversions, as it’s all online. Depending on your assets with the partnership, you can drive in-show offers.

What are the pros and cons of reaching football/sports audiences this way?

Pros of reaching football/sports audiences in this way are that it is all online, so one click away from your brand's website to convert to a new account and reactivate the customer. Also, the quantity of output can mean daily engagement throughout the season (football) or during an active period of the tournament.

A con is that if the team behind the show is not delivering the number of impressions or content on time, the content can become out of date. Also, with this now being a competitive market, the brand-in-association partnership doesn’t connect with the audience.

Another con is that the brand isn’t seen on mainstream TV, and some will argue there is nothing that beats your brand being seen on TV, whether it’s a front-of-shirt partnership, regularly on LED (Perimeter Boards) or in the stage setting of a darts event.

What happens if someone says something wrong on a podcast – what's the potential cost in terms of negative exposure there?

Absolutely, as there is little control over content, and given you are purely a branded partner, there is some potential for negativity. Still, if you trust the production/podcast owner, they are usually smart. The content output, social shorts, will be very strong and your brand can be seen.

But also, if someone were to say something wrong that is aired, the number of impressions can certainly go very high, meaning that even if the content may not be positive, the eyes on the brand can be strong (which can still be positive). However, you wouldn’t want to operate this way.

Ambassadors are still hugely popular for operators. It's a tried-and-tested method – is it still as effective as it once was?

Absolutely. Delivering and activating ambassadors for brands/affiliates is one of our most popular services. As experts in this, we work closely with the brand/affiliate to generate as much content as possible. In certain markets around the world, having the right ambassador can really increase trust with the brand, especially in Asia and Africa. With our access to former Soccer players, we have been successful in partnering many with brands and delivering strong imagery and content that the brand can use in the region of partnership.

Focusing on the right ambassador is so important, as this doesn’t actually need to be a former Sportsman or woman. It’s so important to deliver a brief of what you’re looking for, how this person can benefit the business and how this aligns with the brand and what you’re looking to achieve.

We recently brokered the ambassador partnership between Gambling.com and Shaun Wallace, one of the smartest minds in the UK, who becomes Head of Smarter Gambling at Gambling.com. The synergy is perfect here, and we look forward to seeing the activation come to life (an interview with Gambling.com on this will also be available soon in Trafficology). Another reason ambassadors are still as effective as they once were that more former sportsmen and women have really strong social channels, so they can share your brand's content on their channels.

Moreover, depending on how much access you have to the ambassador, you can meet them in person at industry events and get regular video content from them to preview, review current sport and get their opinions on the major talking points. And given we’re entering the 2026-27 season in England, previewing matches and giving predictions can then be used by the brand to price-boost online and drive incremental turnover.

Traditional kit sponsorships – shirts, sleeves, training gear – are also still very common. And, as we discussed on our recent Huddle, this popularity is increasing in the lower leagues. Do you see this growing or could smaller UK clubs/leagues clamp down on gambling sponsorship, like the Premier League did?

Yes, this is increasing in lower Leagues in the UK. The Championship, especially, is getting more broadcast attention both in the UK and abroad through rights deals, so it it can be worthwhile to invest here. So, this is growing as long as any regulation or League delivers a clampdown and a voluntary ban on front-of-shirt partnerships, as the Premier League have done.

But given SkyBet sponsors the EFL and this sponsorship is still running for a good few years, there is likely to be less change in these Leagues.

Finally, how do you see sponsorship evolving, especially with the evolution of football content we are discussing here?

I see sponsorship evolving, with more brands and affiliates delivering a mix-and-match approach to engaging with Leagues / Rights Holders while maintaining regular brand coverage via a podcast / YouTube show.

To be front of mind with the target audience as often as possible, this strategy can help optimise the marketing spend the brand/affiliate has at its disposal.

By maximising traditional marketing spend through affiliation, SEO, PPC, etc., the above sponsorship angle can help the brand/affiliate deliver a strong funnel for new acquisition, retention, and reactivation in key regions.