Awareness is the start.
Purchase is the goal.

ROSI (Return on Sponsorship Investment) is the sport-specific evaluation framework for sponsorship partnerships. Unlike classic ROI, which measures direct financial returns, ROSI takes the complete four-stage impact chain into account: awareness (perception), image transfer (likeability, trust, brand fit), willingness to buy (preference, price premium tolerance) and conversion (actual purchasing behaviour). Formula: ROSI = total monetary value of all four impact stages (weighted by goals) ÷ (sponsorship fee + activation costs). A ROSI above 1 means a positive net return. According to Nielsen Sports, the global benchmark target for strong sponsorship performance is 4:1.

Awareness is the indispensable first stage of the sponsorship impact chain — without perception there can be no image transfer, no willingness to buy and no conversion. The problem is not measuring awareness as such, but treating it in isolation as the end goal. Anyone who measures only reach, impressions or awareness values sees at most the first of four impact stages. Whether awareness led to willingness to buy, and willingness to buy to actual purchases, remains invisible. In professional football, according to the ONE8Y Database (Fan Buying Power Report 2026, n=3,030), 63 percent of fans have bought because of sponsorship — a sales impact that does not show up in pure awareness reporting.

The methodology is independent of the sport: all four impact stages (awareness, image transfer, willingness to buy, conversion) can be measured through representative primary surveys in the respective fan and target group. The data differ between sports — winter sports fans have different demographics, buying patterns and price premium tolerance than football or motorsport fans. The ONE8Y Database collects sport-specific primary data in up to 70 markets and thus enables a complete ROSI calculation for non-football partnerships too, directly comparable with the extensive football benchmarks.

As an industry guideline: a ROSI of 1.0 means break-even. 2:1 is considered a solid standard, 4:1 a strong performance (Nielsen Sports Global Benchmark). These values vary by sport, by the overlap between fan base and the sponsor's buyers, by activation intensity and by the term of the partnership. Important: football benchmarks cannot be transferred one-to-one to niche sports — the target-group structure and fans' buying intensity differ. ONE8Y Database provides sport-specific reference values for a valid comparison.

Full ROSI studies by external providers (Nielsen Sports, Kantar) typically cost from 20,000 to more than 100,000 euros depending on scope — and usually appear only once a year. The ONE8Y Database takes a fundamentally different approach: subscription access to weekly updated primary data for all four ROI stages — with no project effort and no waiting time. For companies that want to steer continuously rather than evaluate once a year, that is the decisive advantage. The subscription does not cover just one sport, it enables comparisons across sports.

Activation is the mechanism that turns awareness into willingness to buy, and willingness to buy into conversion. A sponsorship without activation usually creates perception (stage 1), rarely image transfer (stage 2) and hardly any willingness to buy or conversion (stages 3 and 4). The industry rule: activation costs amount to at least 50–100 percent of the sponsorship fee on top. This means: anyone who spends 5 million euros on a shirt deal and 0 euros on activation gives away most of the ROI potential. Based on primary data, the ONE8Y Database shows which activation formats achieve the strongest pass-through from stage 1 to stage 4 for which fan segments and sports.