Youth Sports Sponsorship Outearns TV on Parent Trust
Marketers weighing sponsorship against TV and influencer spend should note the 68% trust figure among surveyed parents.
Updated on Nov. 2, 2026 in Philanthropy
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Do you trust a brand more when it sponsors your child's sports team?
A YouGov Sport survey of 1,004 U.S. parents with children in organized sports found that youth sports sponsorship builds more brand trust than TV commercials or influencer posts. The survey was fielded online from August 27 to September 3, 2026, and commissioned by Priority Partnerships; its findings were published November 2, 2026.
Why it matters
The findings give sponsors and marketers a parent-audience comparison of trust and consideration across channels, with sponsorship scoring above TV commercials (68% vs. 47% on trust) and influencer posts (68% vs. 38%). For businesses weighing where to place marketing dollars, the data suggests local youth sponsorships may compete with mass-media spending on trust-building.
Of 1,004 U.S. parents aged 25-54 with children in organized sports, 68% say program sponsorship would make them likely to trust a brand, compared with 47% for TV commercials and 38% for influencer posts. Sixty-four percent say youth sponsorship would make them likely to try a new company, versus 51% for professional sports sponsorship and 49% for college sponsorship.
The players
Priority Partnerships
Portland, Oregon-based sponsorship firm that commissioned the study and works to connect brands with sports sponsorship opportunities.
YouGov Sport
Sports-focused arm of the YouGov market research firm that fielded the online parent survey.
The details
The survey asked parents how different forms of marketing would affect their likelihood to trust or try a brand, comparing youth sports sponsorship with TV commercials, influencer content, and professional or college sports sponsorship. Youth sponsorship's advantage was most pronounced on brand recall: 77% of parents said they would be more likely to remember a sponsor on a child's uniform than on a professional team jersey. The study frames this as a function of parents' close, repeated contact with youth programs, though the stub does not provide the survey's own explanation of mechanism.
Timeline
Survey fielded online from August 27 to September 3, 2026.
Study findings published November 2, 2026.
Market Landscape
The study tests youth sports sponsorship against TV commercials and influencer posts, the two channels most often used to build brand awareness at scale. Its results reposition local, program-level sponsorship as a trust-building channel against the national-reach media that dominates marketing budgets.
Marketers evaluating youth sports sponsorship should compare its trust and recall figures against their current TV and influencer spending before reallocating budgets. Sponsorship placements with local programs may warrant a closer look for brands targeting parents of school-age children.
The takeaway
Operators treating sponsorship as a discretionary line item should evaluate it against trust and recall metrics, not only reach. Before shifting budgets, review sponsorship inventory with local youth programs and request audience data from the program or sponsor-facing firm.
Further reading
For related context on how companies direct community giving and sponsorship dollars, see Philanthropy.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Portada.
Live Poll
Do you trust a brand more when it sponsors your child's sports team?
