WPP Media launches WPP Media Sports to integrate sports and gaming planning

New Delhi: WPP Media has launched WPP Media Sports, a unified sports and gaming practice that brings sports sponsorships, integrations and content planning under a single operational framework. The move comes as sports marketing undergoes a shift driven by changes in how audiences consume and engage with sport.

While live sport continues to deliver large, real-time audiences, fan interaction now extends well beyond the stadium or broadcast, spanning streaming platforms, social media, creators, gaming and wider culture. The new practice builds on WPP Media’s existing sports operations, which have overseen media planning, partnerships and activations around major sporting moments.

The group says the new structure reflects a shift away from isolated sports buys towards a more connected approach that links planning, activation and measurement across platforms. Rather than treating sports as standalone moments, the practice positions sports investment within broader growth planning, shaped by how fans now experience sport across multiple touchpoints.

“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 expected to grow 8.8% in 2025 to reach $1.14 trillion. The outlook attributes growth to AI-driven efficiency, new advertiser categories and the reinvestment of savings into media. Live sport continues to play a central role within this landscape, supporting streaming growth and delivering premium, culturally relevant attention at scale.

WPP Media notes that extracting value from sports now requires tighter integration across media buying, partnerships, content development, experiential activity and analytics. Fragmented planning and disconnected measurement, it argues, limit the long-term effectiveness of sports investment.

WPP Media Sports brings these capabilities together within a single practice, allowing brands to plan sports activity holistically, activate across channels and assess performance over time rather than on a campaign-by-campaign basis.

A key component of the practice is its data and measurement infrastructure. WPP Media Sports combines proprietary, partner and marketplace data, alongside partnerships with GumGum and Relo Metrics, to support real-time sponsorship measurement and contextual analysis across platforms.

As Susan Schiekofer, WPP Media U.S. Chief Media Officer, 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 in a period marked by major global sporting events, including Super Bowl LX, the Winter Olympics and the build-up to the FIFA World Cup 2026. WPP Media positions the practice as a response to a faster, more complex sports environment where integration and speed are increasingly important.

“For millennia, sports has united people and ignited passion across cultures and generations,” adds 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.”

WPP Media says the future of sports marketing will be shaped less by short-term visibility and more by sustained, multi-year strategies that reflect where and how fandom now exists.