Stop pitching the same five categories: a smarter way to identify sponsor prospects

Most rights holders pitch the same target list every year: car, telco, bank, beer, airline. There's a reason — those categories are familiar and they have budget. There's also a problem: every other property is pitching them too, the buyers are saturated, and the deals get smaller each cycle.

The properties out-performing the market are running structured category intelligence: a repeatable process that identifies which categories — including ones you've never pitched — should be on your top-10 list this year.

Here's how to build it.

1. Start with category momentum, not category familiarity

Look at which categories are growing fastest in marketing spend over the last 24 months. Search trends, ad spend reports (Nielsen, WARC), funding flows in private markets, and IPO activity are leading indicators. Categories that grew 30%+ last year — health tech, EV charging, second-hand fashion, generative AI, sleep, wealth management — are actively looking for new attention channels. Sponsorship is one of the first they consider.

2. Map category fit to your fan base

For each high-momentum category, ask: do my fans over-index against the category's target audience? Use TGI, YouGov, Nielsen or simple first-party survey data. A growing category with strong fan fit is a top-tier target. A growing category with poor fan fit can still work if you bring a credible audience-extension story.

3. Identify the brand-level decision-makers

Within each prioritised category, list the 3–5 brands most likely to invest in the next 18 months. Signals to watch: new CMO appointments (new CMOs reset budgets), recent acquisitions (need brand-building), repositioning campaigns, or a competitor's high-profile sponsorship just landed.

4. Build a brand-specific business problem hypothesis

For each target brand, draft a one-line business problem and how your property solves it. "DTC mattress brands need to drive consideration in EU markets — our endurance series delivers 38m engaged sleep-quality-conscious fans." This becomes the lead line of your outreach.

5. Pre-empt the inevitable "but we don't sponsor sport" objection

Many high-growth categories have never sponsored sport or live events. That's not a blocker — it's an opportunity. Lead with the business case, not the rights inventory. Show how comparable categories made the leap and what they got back.

A few more disciplines

• Refresh the category list every six months. Momentum shifts quickly.
• Don't ignore B2B categories. Cloud, fintech and HR-tech sponsorship is growing faster than most consumer categories.
• Track M&A in your target categories — newly-merged businesses often have brand-rebuild budget.

The point is to swap "who do we think might be interested?" with "who is statistically most likely to buy, and why now?"