Ninety-four percent of Indian marketers expect to raise sponsorship and event spending, the highest share of any market Nielsen surveyed. That is a bold bet. India’s sponsorship spend surge is also a warning, because the same data shows most of those marketers cannot yet compare returns across channels. Global creator budgets will feel this pressure next.
What did Nielsen actually find?
Start with the facts, because the headlines have outrun the fine print. According to Business Standard’s coverage of the Nielsen report, 94 percent of marketers surveyed in India expect to increase spending on sponsorship and event media over the next 12 to 24 months. The Nielsen survey covered 1,200 marketers, with 200 respondents in each of six markets: India, the US, the UK, Italy, France and Germany.
The gaps are what matter. The Indian figure sits 19 percentage points above the US, where 75 percent expect an increase. In Italy, 67 percent of marketers expected an increase. Nielsen also said no channel in the study showed a higher projected budget increase than sponsorship and event media.
Three caveats before anyone rewrites a media plan:
- This is stated intent, not booked spend. Expectations and invoices are different things.
- The category is broad. It covers sponsorship and event media, including sporting and cultural events, and does not say how much goes to sports alone.
- The sample is 200 marketers per market. Useful for direction, thin for precision.
Read it as a sentiment signal. A strong one, but a signal.
Why India’s creator numbers deserve more attention than the sponsorship headline
Buried below the spending stat is the number creator teams should care about more. In the same report, 81 percent of Indian marketers rated influencer and creator content as very or extremely effective, compared with 54 percent in the US. That 27-point difference was the widest between the two markets across every channel measured.
Here is the nuance. The finding covers creator content across marketing. It is not specific to sports creators or athletes. So do not tell your CFO that Indian brands are pouring sponsorship money into creators. The data does not say that.
India pairs the highest sponsorship appetite with the strongest creator confidence, but also the weakest cross-media measurement. Confidence is running ahead of proof.
That tension is the story. Marketers in India believe in creators more than their US peers do, and they are leaning into live properties. Yet they are the least likely to evaluate everything on one yardstick. We have covered this confidence gap before, and the Nielsen data sharpens it.
The measurement hole
Only 42 percent of Indian marketers said they measure returns across traditional and digital media on a combined basis. By comparison, the US stood at 48 percent and Italy at 53 percent. India was the lowest of all six markets. Nielsen noted that evaluating media on different bases makes channel performance harder to compare.
Sit with that for a second. If sponsorship is judged on impressions and brand lift, creators on engagement and affiliate codes, and paid social on ROAS, nobody can answer the simplest budget question: where does the next dollar go?
The report also said 8 percent of US marketers did not measure returns on sponsorship, influencer and creator spending at all. No equivalent India figure was given, so do not assume the Indian number is better or worse.
For brand teams, the practical read is simple. Rising spend with fragmented measurement is how budgets get cut in the next review cycle. This is the same dynamic behind reach failing CFO review, and it is why finance teams keep asking creator leads for a common currency.
Sports as a test lab for new audiences
India also led on a more strategic question. Sixty-one percent of Indian marketers viewed sports sponsorship as a testing ground for new audiences and markets, against 54 percent in the US and 32 percent in Germany.
That framing is useful for creator budgeting. A brand that treats a sponsorship as an audience experiment, not a trophy, is already thinking like a performance team. It asks: who showed up, what did they do next, and can we find them again through creators?
The US data adds color on motives. Among US marketers, 66 percent cited reaching specific fan segments as a reason to invest in sports, followed by building brand awareness at 59 percent. Just 8 percent of US marketers said sports was not currently a priority. The report did not give matching figures for India.
Context: the money already moving in Indian sport
Nielsen’s survey measures expectation. A separate WPP Media report, cited in the same article, measures 2025 spend. It estimated India’s sports economy, across media spending, sponsorship and celebrity endorsements, at ₹18,864 crore, up 13.4 percent. Sponsorship alone accounted for ₹7,943 crore, up 7 percent, and cricket represented 81 percent of that spending.
Look at what that says. Sponsorship grew more slowly than the wider category: 7 percent against 13.4 percent for the broader sports economy. Intent is running hot, but actual sponsorship growth was more modest. Athlete endorsements were estimated at ₹1,350 crore, with cricket accounting for 87 percent of that total.
Concentration is the risk. When one sport absorbs most of the money, inventory gets expensive and creative gets repetitive. Smart brands look at the adjacent plays: creators who cover the sport from the fan side, regional athletes, and women’s leagues.
What global creator budgets should take from this
Not “move money to India.” Not “buy sponsorships.” Three narrower moves.
- Build one measurement spine before you scale. Pick a shared set of metrics across sponsorship, creators and paid media. Our piece on creator funnel benchmarks shows how to give finance a common language.
- Treat sponsorships as audience tests. Define the new segment, the hypothesis and the kill criteria before signing. Then use creators to extend and measure the reach of that audience.
- Separate belief from evidence in your own deck. If your team rates creators as highly effective, can you point to a number that proves it? The approach in treating creators like media is a good place to begin.
What about brands with smaller budgets? The US breakdown is telling. Among US marketers managing budgets of $50 million to $100 million, 91 percent expected to raise event sponsorship spending. The share was 71 percent for the $10 million to $50 million group and 62 percent for the $1 million to $10 million group. Bigger budgets lean in harder. The report gave no comparable breakdown for India, so mid-size global brands should not assume they need to match the pace of the largest players.
How to read survey optimism without getting burned
A few habits help.
First, check the question. “Expect to increase” is not “will increase by.” Nielsen found that 28 percent of US marketers expected a significant rise, while 2 percent planned to spend less. Those are very different pictures from one headline number.
Second, check the scope. Sponsorship and event media is a wide bucket. Creator content is a separate line. Mixing them produces the sort of inflated claim that gets quoted in vendor decks.
Third, pressure-test against your own data. If your attribution is weak, the five layer measurement audit is a practical way to find where the leaks are before you add budget.
FAQs
What is India’s sponsorship spend surge according to Nielsen?
Nielsen’s Annual Marketing Report found that 94 percent of Indian marketers surveyed expect to increase sponsorship and event media spending over the next 12 to 24 months. That was the highest share among the six markets studied. It reflects expectations, not confirmed spend.
How does India compare with the US on sponsorship budgets?
That is 19 percentage points above the US figure of 75 percent. Italy was lower still, at 67 percent. The survey had 200 respondents per market.
Does the Nielsen data mean Indian brands are spending more on creators?
Not directly. The report found that 81 percent of Indian marketers rate influencer and creator content as very or extremely effective, versus 54 percent in the US. That measures perceived effectiveness across marketing, not spending, and it is not specific to sports creators.
Why does measurement matter so much here?
Only 42 percent of Indian marketers measure returns across traditional and digital media on a combined basis, the lowest of the six markets. Without a shared basis, it is hard to compare sponsorship, creator and paid media performance, which makes budget defense harder.
Should global brands copy India’s approach to sports sponsorship?
Copy the mindset, not the spend. Sixty-one percent of Indian marketers see sports sponsorship as a way to test new audiences. Setting a clear audience hypothesis and a measurement plan for each sponsorship is the transferable lesson.
What is the risk of cricket dominating Indian sponsorship?
WPP Media’s data, cited alongside the Nielsen findings, shows that cricket represented 81 percent of sponsorship spending in 2025. Heavy concentration can raise prices and crowd creative. Brands may find better value in adjacent properties and creator-led fan content.
Before your next planning cycle, pick one sponsorship or creator line and rebuild its reporting on the same metrics you use for paid media. If it cannot survive that comparison, it is not ready for a bigger budget.
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