WPP Media has announced the launch of WPP Media Sports, a unified sports and gaming practice designed to help brands drive growth by connecting with fans across today’s evolving sports ecosystem. While live sports continue to deliver unmatched reach and real-time engagement, fan behavior has shifted dramatically — spanning streaming platforms, social media, creators, gaming, and broader cultural moments.
WPP Media Sports builds on the network’s long-standing expertise in sports media, partnerships, and activations, offering brands a more integrated, future-ready approach. The practice delivers scalable sponsorships, brand integrations, and content solutions that align sports investments with broader business and growth objectives.
At the core of WPP Media Sports is the belief that passion alone is no longer enough. Effective sports marketing today requires unified planning, precise activation, and continuous measurement within a connected growth system that mirrors how audiences experience sports across platforms.
“It’s one thing to be on a fan’s mind during the game, but it’s another thing to stay there after the final whistle,” says Martin Blich, WPP Media Executive Director and Head of U.S. Sports Investment & Partnership. “We focus on making every sports moment count — using data, insights, and tools to help brands turn fleeting attention into lasting engagement and real business impact.”
According to WPP Media’s This Year, Next Year forecast, global advertising revenue is projected to grow 8.8% in 2025 to $1.14 trillion, driven by AI-led efficiencies and smarter reinvestment strategies. Live sports remain central to this growth, anchoring streaming platforms, commanding premium attention, and delivering cultural relevance at scale. Unlocking this value, however, requires a more connected operating model that brings media, partnerships, content, experiential marketing, and analytics together.
WPP Media Sports addresses this need by shifting brands from reactive, fragmented execution to proactive, holistic sports strategies. By integrating capabilities under one practice, the model enables brands to plan cohesively, activate with precision, and optimize performance over time.
A key differentiator of the practice is its data-driven foundation. By leveraging proprietary, partner, and marketplace data — enhanced through collaborations with GumGum and Relo Metrics — WPP Media Sports offers real-time sponsorship measurement and contextual intelligence. This allows brands to evaluate not just visibility, but performance across platforms and moments.
As WPP Media U.S. Chief Media Officer Susan Schiekofer explains, “Sports delivers unmatched attention. The real challenge is converting it into results. That’s what we do at WPP Media — we bridge the excitement of the game with the rigor of data-driven marketing, ensuring passion translates into performance.”
The launch comes ahead of a landmark period for global sports, including Super Bowl LX, the Winter Olympics, and the road to the FIFA World Cup 2026. In this high-stakes environment, WPP Media Sports is positioned to help brands move faster, think smarter, and integrate more effectively.
“For millennia, sports has united people and ignited passion across cultures and generations,” says Blich. “Our role is to make sure that power translates into tangible growth, embedding sports strategically into broader marketing and growth plans, so every partnership contributes to measurable impact.”
Through WPP Media Sports, the network aims to redefine sports marketing — shifting focus from isolated moments to connected, multi-year strategies that meet fans where fandom truly happens and deliver sustainable business results.
