BRANDS IN VOLLEYBALL ASIA 2024

In Asia in 2023, US$38.4 million was invested in volleyball according to ASN’s just-released Brands In Volleyball Asia 2024, making it the 11^th ranked regional sport sponsorship platform, despite volleyball accounting for only 1% of all regional investment in sport sponsorship.

At the global level, volleyball in Asia accounted for 9.3% of the global volleyball sponsorship investment (US$415 million).

The rapid evolution of volleyball in Asia is illustrated by the massive 280% growth in sponsorship investment between 2013-2020. While this dropped sharply in pandemic-hit 2021, it shot back up in 2023 to just below its highest ever level. While globally volleyball is set to achieve 7.2% CAGR between 2023-2030, industry insiders anticipate that Asia will substantially outperform the global picture.

In 2023, 92% of all sponsorship investment in Asian volleyball was in just five markets – China (32%), Thailand (20%), Japan (18%), India (15%) and Pan-Asia (7%), each market exhibiting significant differences in sponsorship investment metrics.

The Top 10 brands in Asia sponsoring volleyball in 2023 were: RuPay at US$5.6m (India/Financial Services) Est Cola at US$1.9m (Thailand/Non-alcoholic bev), Peak at US$1.4m (China/Apparel), Stake.com at US$1.3m (Pan-Asia/Gambling), China Mobile at US$1.1m (Telcoms), Ganten Water at US$1.1m (China/Non-alcoholic Bev.), Loong Airlines at US$1.1m (China), Luzhou Laojiao at US$1.1m (China/Alcoholic Bev.), Orion Confectionery at US$1.1m (China/FMCG) and Panpan Foods at US$1.1m (China/FMCG).

The Top 10 brands accounted for US$16.8 million – 44% of total investment – the next 10 ranking brands bringing that up to US$24.6 million (64%). A further 52 brands invested the remaining US$13.8 million (36%) with spending from US$25,000 up to US$596,000, demonstrating volleyball’s appeal to brands looking to sponsor at a wide range of sponsorship levels.

Just to reiterate from ASN analysis, the following were the top 10 brands in volleyball sponsorship in Asia in 2023.

RuPay (India) spending US$ 5.6m

Est Cola (Thailand) spending US$ 1.9m

Peak (China) spending US$ 1.4m

Stake.com (Pan-Asia) spending US$ 1.3m

China Mobile (China) spending US$ 1.1m

Ganten Water (China) spending US$ 1.1m

Loong Airlines (China) spending US$ 1.1m

Luzhou Laojiao (China) spending US$ 1.1m

Orion Confectionery (China) spending US$ 1.1m

Panpan Foods (China) spending US$ 1.1m

These 10 brands contributed just over 64% of the total volleyball sponsorship investment in Asia in 2023.

RuPay’s investment in Prime Volleyball League (formerly India Pro Volleyball League) has been consistent at just over US$5 million since 2019. This is RuPay’s only sponsorship vehicle and volleyball’s only significant Financial Services sponsor in Asia.

The rest of the Top 10 brands (except for Stake.com) were all Chinese sponsors of the China Volleyball League, all sponsoring at the same ‘Main Sponsor’ level with identical investments.

Since 2013, the main sponsorship brand categories have seen some major shifts. Financial Services shot from 2% of total investment in 2013 to 20% in 2023. This is not, though – as it might seem at first glance – a trend towards a new leading sponsorship category across the markets and sponsoring brands. Rather, it is the impact of a single sponsor coming into play in 2019 with a multi-year deal in a single market: India’s RuPay with its US$5+ million investment.

Non-alcoholic beverages, surging from 3% to 16%, represents more of a trend – influenced by Est Cola’s entry into the market, its US$1.9 million accounting for 30% of all investment in the category.

FMCG was another category seeing positive change, climbing from 3% to 12%, China’s Orion Confectionery and Panpan Foods accounting for almost 50% of the total.

2013’s top category with 30% of all investment, Apparel, saw a major negative shift down to 15% in 2023, yet it remains a significant player with several brands, led by Peak, showing long-term commitment.

The combined effects of cultural pressure and legislation saw Alcoholic Beverages drop from No.2 with 11% of the total to No.7 with just 4%.

The 20 biggest deals in 2023 were not particularly exciting, with eight of the 20 ranked deals made by brands in China, all for just over US$1 million and all as Main Sponsors of the China Volleyball League.

Notably, several of the biggest deals came from brands that did not feature in the Top 20 brands. Non-ranking brands The A2 Milk Company, Schwarzkopf, Shinhan Financial Group, Puma, Wave Company, Allianz PNB Life and VolleyStation all invested at least US$500K, which put them among the biggest deals, while Mikasa, Grand Sport, Euro Cake, Piyavate Hospital, CP Meiji, ANA and Sealect – while all ranking in the Top 20, were not amongst the biggest deal makers.

The biggest deal by a factor of 5x was RuPay’s Title Sponsorship of India’s Prime Volleyball League, the brand’s only sponsorship investment in 2023.

Taking all the above into consideration, it is clear that volleyball sponsorship in Asia does not yet exhibit any meaningful trends, while investment by single brands can have such a strong impact on the market. 

It is worth noting that Pan-Asia, while ranked fifth out of five markets, saw 68% of investment come from Gambling and Technology – categories absent from the other four markets… at least for this year.

Perhaps the only trend of note in 2023 is that 25% of all volleyball sponsorship went to Women’s volleyball (as opposed to events or associations for both men and women). This fits well with the global trend towards diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), values that are inherent in the sport.

ASN released its Brands in Volleyball Asia 2024 in late September 2024