Is sports marketing the perennial winner for watch brands?
The association between watch brands and sport is a long and illustrious one.
In the simplest terms, the demographic overlap between some (not all) sports fans and lovers of watches is significant. It’s hard to say what the Venn diagram would look like exactly, but there wouldn’t be much space outside of the middle intersection.
And so, in recent years especially, watch brands have been getting their cheque books out to be seen at live games and on TV with certain sports leagues, teams, or individuals, not to mention the activations that it allows them to execute away from the mass public.
In his forthcoming article for Watch Insider, leading watch journalist and podcast host Robin Swithinbank crunches some numbers and takes a deeper dive into the raw money being spent on some of the highest profile sponsorships in sports, and, crucially, what return these brands expect on their investment.
One of the key examples that Robin flags up is the $1 billion that LVMH (TAG Heuer specifically) is thought to have paid for its comprehensive sponsorship of Formula 1.
“According to the top brass of F1’s official timekeeper, it’s already prompted a sustained spike in web traffic, social engagement, boutique footfall and so on,” writes Robin. “LVMH’s contract is over 10 years and this is a long-term project. Consensus among analysts is that in time, it will prove a smart move, leaving TAG Heuer higher up the grid than before. How could it not? Around 1.5 billion people tune in to Formula 1 at some point during a season. And it helps that a lot of those viewers are female – more than 40 per cent, according to audience measurement experts Nielsen – or Gen Z-ish.
“Does this make sport a guarantor of success?” he asks. “Look at Swiss watchmaking’s top 10, and the only brands not pinning their hopes on sport are Cartier, Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin.”
But he also highlights the counter-argument to the sports marketing arms race.
“Some watchmakers have decided that as sports leagues, teams and tournaments ratchet up the cost of involvement, enough is enough. Hublot recently dropped the FIFA World Cup, so that next summer’s 48-team, three-country football kickathon will be the first of its kind without the company as its timekeeper in two decades. Hublot has also dropped the Premier League.
“Why? Cost must be up there, although as valid a suggestion is that as it looks to realign itself as a home for artists, musicians and creatives, Hublot’s top execs have determined there is such a thing as too much football, and too much sport.”
Robin’s full article will be published in the January 2026 edition of Watch Insider.
