Online trading brands have tripled their sports sponsorship spend since 2019, hitting $183 million in the 2024/25 season, according to the latest Marketplaces report from global sports marketing agency SportQuake.
23 new brands have entered the market, double the number from 2023/24, with a total of 66 brands active across 122 deals.
The top 10 brands in the online trading sector collectively spend an average of $11m per year. Robinhood, Swissquote and eToro rank as the largest three spenders, as they seek to increase visibility, unlock new markets and deepen user engagement.
Across 30 countries, 20 sports are represented, with football the most popular. 59% of football spend is concentrated on Europe’s ‘Big Five’ leagues, with the Premier League accounting for 44% of all football sponsorship spend from trading brands, up 10% year-over-year.
Outside of football, a record seven online trading brands are now sponsoring Formula 1 teams, up from two in 2021, with brands seeing the potential in the sport’s global following, plus the opportunity for 24 local activations per calendar year.
Ambassador deals also increased in 2024/25, rising threefold compared to 2020/21 and have now overtaken uniform sponsorships as the second-most common sponsorship format.
Matt House, CEO of SportQuake said: “Sport is now a well-established part of the marketing toolkit for online trading brands providing a proven value proposition from brand building and awareness to supporting other key parts of the sales funnel.
“Sports’ ability to provide high reach and frequency against large, engaged investment minded audiences through premium IP has driven spend to all-time highs. This trend looks set to continue as ‘brand’ becomes more important to the sector.”
The report also outlines the key trends to look out for heading into 2025/26:
- 2026/27 Premier League Front of shirt betting ban and once-in-a-generation buying opportunity it provides for non-betting brands.
- Increased popularity and demand for Formula 1, with market tracking that all F1 teams will have trading partners by the 2026 season, up from 2 teams in 2021.
- Increased spend in regional sports, to support market entries into US, UAE, India, LATAM and Australia.
Unlock the Trading MarketPlace report: