Live Consumption OF Sport Continues TO Dominate

The Nielsen Sports SA’s Annual Trends Breakfast featured a panel of (l to r) Tumelo Selikane - MD Nielsen Sports SA, Errol Madlala - commercial & marketing manager, SAFA, Mtunzi Jonas - chief commercial officer, Cricket South Africa, Bronson Mokabela - GM: marketing, communications & commercial, SASCOC and Ryan Cumming - head of marketing, SuperSport.

The report was presented by Annalie Watt, Nielsen sport strategic director at the recent Nielsen Sports SA’s Annual Trends Breakfast, themed Edge of Adaptability: Rethinking Sport, Sponsorship and Strategy.

The report is based on Nielsen Sports’ specialist tracking service that enables the monitoring of sports and sponsorship trends and developments, including the measurement of fan avidity toward sporting disciplines, sporting events, and lifestyle activities.

Nielsen Sports uses historical fan data to make forecasts on effective sponsorship using a secure Google large language model (LLM).

Other report findings include:

• Watching sport on TV and streaming services remains a top 2-tier lifestyle activity among all NFI SA respondents. Additionally, listening to podcasts has shown incredible growth, having moved up from a top 5-tier lifestyle activity in 2024 to a top 3-tier in 2025.
• AI usage has surged to achieve a top-2 rating of 60% amongst all NFI SA respondents, with those interested in AI showing significantly higher engagement across emerging sports like cycling, padel and horseracing.
• TikTok’s rise as a platform for sports consumption is particularly striking, as it is now used by 75% of surveyed fans, up from just 43% in 2022.

Sports fans' ongoing metamorphosis

Brands need to adapt as South African fans’ sport consumption and demands continue to shift rapidly, often unpredictably.

This is according to Amy Daley, chief operating officer of Nielsen Sports SA, as she highlighted the ongoing metamorphosis in South African fans’ sports consumption.

Nielsen Sports SA managing director, Tumelo Selikane, emphasises the power of smart data and strategic agility.

“In an environment defined by disruption, our goal is to help partners adapt — intelligently and quickly — by anchoring decisions in trusted data,” he says.

He showcased Nielsen’s unique Quality Index (QI) methodology, offered as the most effective measurement tool in terms of sport sponsorship.

Reframe adaptability

The morning event that took place at the Bryanston Country Club in Johannesburg closed with a panel discussion, moderated by Selikane.

The panellists include:

• Ryan Cumming, Supersport head of marketing
• Mtunzi Jones, Cricket South Africa chief commercial officer
• Errol Madlala, SA Football Association commercial and marketing manager
• Bronson Mokabela, Sascoc general manager: Marketing and communications.

The panellists challenged the industry to reframe adaptability as a response to pressure and a competitive edge.

Attendees were urged to rethink how sponsorship rights are selected, valued and activated in a fragmented media environment, and to focus on what fans really want, based on specific consumption habits.

“Adaptability isn’t a reaction; it’s a responsibility. And it starts with knowing exactly where your audience is, what they care about and how to meet them there in real time,” says Selikane.