Global sponsorship from beer brands has reached $1.4 billion per year, according to research from industry specialist Sponsorship Today. A major survey of the top 420 deals worldwide shows a spend level of $1.03 billion and it is estimated that smaller sports properties earn a further $400 million from beer sponsorship.

“The findings show that the world’s top three brewers, ABInBev, SAB Miller and Heineken, account for the majority of spend,” said Sponsorship Today editor, Simon Rines. “However, not all major beer brands use sport. Stella Artois, Becks and Skol, all in the top ten global brands, are not big users of sport. Carlsberg and Kingfisher, on the other hand, each spend more than $40 million per year on sport.”

The report found that the USA accounted for half of all beer sponsorship spend with Bud Light’s NFL deal, worth $1 billion over six years, being the biggest deal in world sport. The UK is the second biggest recipient of beer sponsorship with an estimated $71 million per year spent on sport.

The report found no direct link between beer sponsorship spend and consumption. “The data has been analysed on a per capita basis,” said Simon. “We analysed consumption, sponsorship spend and disposable income per head in all the major markets. There was a very clear correlation between consumption and disposable income, but no clear pattern regarding sponsorship spend and consumption.

“In Germany, for example, beer consumption per capita is among the highest in the world, but sports sponsorship spending is comparatively low, whereas in Portugal sponsorship spend is high, but consumption is low. The findings are not definitive proof of no impact, but they add to the body of research that suggests that sponsorship is not a major contributory factor in increasing alcohol consumption.”

NFL and soccer are the biggest recipients of beer sponsorship in world sport and account for nearly 60% of all spend. Ice hockey, baseball and basketball make up the next three spots with motorsport in sixth place and earning more than $60 million annually from brewers.

This blog post is not by Wobbly Wallet but originally appeared on Beer Today: http://beertoday.co.uk/?p=12288