The Value Xchange Quarterly Newsletter keeps you ahead of the game across Sports, Media and Entertainment, focusing on sponsorships, media rights and more.
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The Real Growth Problem Facing Tech Brands
The latest TVX report, ‘The Real Growth Problem Facing Tech Brands’, explores a growing challenge facing tech brands. Whilst they are better than ever at reaching their audiences, they're finding it harder to actually influence them.
Performance marketing still works, but it's hitting a ceiling. Customer acquisition costs have risen over 60% in five years, and at any given moment, only around 5% of B2B buyers are actively in-market. Competing more intensely for the same in-market minority tends to offer diminishing returns.
The gap that's opened up isn't about awareness. In cybersecurity, fintech, SaaS and AI, most audiences already know these products exist. The real challenge is trust, familiarity and preference, and those things take time and the right context to build.
That's where sponsorship comes in. When approached strategically, it offers a different kind of commercial lever built on context and credibility as opposed to targeting efficiency.
The most effective sponsorships place brands inside environments that already hold meaning - moments where attention has already been earned and audiences are more open to forming lasting associations. When done well, brands stop explaining relevance and start demonstrating it, with research suggesting 2–4x greater effectiveness than short-term activation alone.
The right environment varies by sector and objective: Formula 1 resonates with enterprise tech audiences, tennis reaches senior decision-makers with low sponsorship saturation, gaming and esports connect with digitally native technical audiences, and live music builds emotional connection that product-led messaging often struggles to achieve.
Brands like Airwallex, SafetyCulture and Anthropic are already moving in this direction, embedding themselves within environments where their products and positioning can be experienced, not just advertised.
The opportunity for tech brands isn't to do more sponsorship. It's to do it with greater intent.
Keen to find out more? Get in touch.
Industry Intel
FIFA World Cup 2026 Partnership Trends
Across the World Cup, brands are showing up inside culture in more meaningful ways.
One of the most notable trends is the rise of fan-first activation. With strict control over stadium branding, partners are pushing spend into fan zones, host city experiences and digital. In practice, the World Cup is becoming something that happens across multiple places at once, not just inside the stadium.
Another clear trend is how brands are reacting to restrictions. Instead of relying on official rights alone, many are finding creative ways to stay part of the conversation through content, storytelling and culturally relevant campaigns. Even brands without formal partnerships are finding ways to stay visible by leaning into moments fans are already engaging with.
We’re also seeing brands think less about one-off exposure, instead opting to build presence across the full tournament period. With a long schedule and constant match flow, the opportunity is no longer just about scale, but about staying relevant week after week as attention moves between teams, stories and moments.
Overall, the brands getting the most value are the ones treating the World Cup like an ongoing cultural moment they can plug into in different ways.
Partnership Spotlight
Premiership Women’s Rugby x JAECOO
Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR) has confirmed a multi-year title partnership with JAECOO UK from the 2026/27 season, marking a significant commercial step for the women’s domestic game in England.
The deal, worth more than £1m per season over three years, will see the competition rebranded as JAECOO PWR, with the pre-season tournament renamed the JAECOO PWR Next Gen Cup. The agreement includes title sponsorship rights across league branding, matchdays and digital platforms, embedding the brand across the full fan and media ecosystem.
The partnership arrives at a pivotal moment for women’s rugby. PWR has reported a 275% increase in TV audiences, alongside rising attendances following England’s recent World Cup success. This growth has strengthened the league’s commercial positioning as it continues to build a more structured and scalable domestic product.
The broader women’s sport market still faces a key challenge: converting audience momentum into long-term, consistent commercial value. Naming rights deals like this remain a critical lever in bridging that gap, alongside broadcast expansion and sponsorship diversification.
For JAECOO, the move reflects a wider strategy from emerging Chinese EV manufacturers using sport to build brand trust and recognition in key international markets. The brand already holds partnerships in rugby, including European Professional Club Rugby and the For the Love of Rugby podcast, signalling a clear focus on the sport as a platform for building credibility.
As Chinese EV brands continue to scale globally, sport offers a route to emotional connection and market familiarity that traditional advertising alone struggles to deliver.
Open for Partnership
Rugby League World Cup 2026
The Value Xchange is proud to be supporting the International Rugby League on the commercial programme for the Rugby League World Cup 2026, helping build the tournament's partner portfolio and secure the federation's first-ever global commercial partners.
Running from 15 October - 15 November 2026 across Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, the tournament will feature 26 teams across men’s, women’s and wheelchair competitions, making it one of the most inclusive global events in international sport.
Rugby league is in a clear growth phase, with rising participation, expanding international reach and increasing digital engagement across core markets such as the UK and Australia, alongside emerging territories. Unlike many major global tournaments, RLWC 2026 offers brands a less saturated commercial environment, with meaningful access to passionate fanbases.
The 2021 Rugby League World Cup in the UK demonstrated this scale, delivering 60m+ global TV viewers, 500k spectators, and 300m+ social impressions.
RLWC 2026 provides a compelling platform for brands to combine global broadcast reach with authentic, community-led activation. Its dual-market footprint across Australia and the UK enables culturally relevant campaigns in two of the sport’s strongest regions, while the tournament’s structure ensures visibility across diverse audiences.
Beyond tournament rights, partners can develop longer-term relationships with International Rugby League through year-round content, international competitions and wider federation initiatives.
With TVX supporting the creation of International Rugby League's first global partner portfolio, this represents a rare opportunity for brands to become founding partners of a growing international sports property with significant long-term potential.
Keen to find out more? Get in touch.
