Partnership trends
What consumer electronics brands and adjacent brands are doing in partnerships today, by territory and by Samsung business unit, then across the category and by market.
Across 6 territories and 3 business units, 31 of 47 trends are moving up. Each one rests on a named deal or figure.
So what16 trends are steady or cooling. The matrix below shows where each sits.
Sports carries the most current deals from the researched competitors, from 7 of 7 brands.
So whatA new Samsung deal in sports would sit alongside deals from 7 of the 7 researched competitors.
Social impact has the fewest current competitor deals found.
So whatFewer competitor deals found here. Audience fit for this territory is tested in the Audience and Whitespace tabs.
TCL holds Olympic TOP rights in home audiovisual and home appliances through 2032. Hisense held FIFA World Cup 2026 and holds UEFA EURO 2028.
So whatTwo of Samsung’s named TV competitors now hold the TV category at the largest global sports events.
Tech companies buy the rights outright
Apple became F1's exclusive US broadcaster from 2026 in a five-year deal reported at about 150 million dollars a season, and promotes races across Apple Maps, Music, News and Sports. A tech brand that owns the broadcast controls how fans experience the sport, not just where its logo sits.
Apple, Formula 1, F1 TV
Streamers turn live sport into ad inventory
Netflix nearly doubled its 2026 upfront ad commitments on the back of NFL, WWE and MLB, and its sponsorships for the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup sold out early. Its ad tier passed 250 million monthly active viewers.
Netflix, NFL, MLB, FIFA Women's World Cup 2027
The product does a real job
Omega has timed the Olympics since 1932 and brought 40,000 frame-per-second photo finish cameras and skating motion analysis to Milan Cortina 2026. TAG Heuer replaced Rolex as F1 timekeeper from 2025 under a ten-year LVMH deal, and WhatsApp is the Mercedes F1 team's messaging partner, used for race weekend coordination.
Omega, TAG Heuer, LVMH, WhatsApp, Mercedes-AMG F1
Sustainability proven with numbers
DHL became Coldplay's tour logistics partner using biofuels and electric trucks, and the band's verified tour emissions came in 59% below its previous stadium tour. Lenovo says 95% of F1's obsolete hardware has gone through its asset recovery service since 2022.
DHL, Coldplay, Lenovo, Formula 1
Women's sport keeps growing
Deloitte projects global women's elite sport revenue above 3 billion dollars in 2026, up from 2.4 billion in 2025, with commercial revenue the largest driver. Google Pixel already holds phone rights with the WNBA and NWSL.
Deloitte, WNBA, NWSL, Google Pixel
Creators become a core channel
IAB put US creator ad spend at 37 billion dollars in 2025, growing 26% a year, about four times faster than total media, with 48% of buyers calling creators a must buy. Sponsored YouTube videos rose at least 54% in the first half of 2025, led by tech brands.
IAB, YouTube, Tubefilter
AI is now the partnership content
Google built its London Fashion Week and Golden Goose deals around Gemini doing visible creative work, and Lenovo sold its FIFA technology partnership on AI tools for the World Cup. Aston Martin's F1 team signed AI coding agent firm Cognition for its 2026 launch.
Google Gemini, JW Anderson, Golden Goose, Lenovo, FIFA, Cognition, Aston Martin F1
Chinese challengers buy top-tier rights
In under two years TCL signed an IOC TOP deal to 2032, Hisense sponsored the 2026 World Cup, Midea took Barcelona's sleeve, Haier added Liverpool and PSG, and HONOR became Esports World Cup smartphone partner. These brands are paying for the prestige Samsung already holds.
TCL, Hisense, Midea, Haier, HONOR
The US market is led by the big leagues and by tech companies buying rights directly, with Apple taking F1 from 2026 and Netflix adding NFL and MLB games. Team deals are often built on venue screens, as with LG's Red Sox deal at Fenway.
Football dominates, and a national betting ban from October 2026 is stripping logos that supplied about 34% of the 20 biggest clubs' marketing revenue in 2025. That opens shirt inventory for consumer brands at a moment when 164 brands already appeared on Serie A shirts.
Premier League football sets the price, and gambling brands leave the front of shirts after 2025/26, freeing prime slots. Liverpool's new Turkish Airlines shirt deal is worth over 60 million pounds a year, and Haier and Google Pixel already partner the club.
The Bundesliga is the dominant passion, and its 36 clubs posted a record 6.33 billion euros in revenue in 2024/25, helped by media and advertising income. Football remains the main route to mass reach in Germany.
Paris Saint-Germain is the main football asset for global brands, with Haier signing through 2028, while Paris Fashion Week gives tech brands a culture stage, as Apple showed with Jacquemus.
Domestic brands lead, with China Life as main CBA sponsor and Li-Ning in its 14th season as league partner for 2025/26. Local phone brands also run China-only fashion and IP editions, such as HONOR's Jimmy Choo foldable and its Pop Mart Molly edition.
Cricket and the IPL dominate, with the IPL's business value put at 20.6 billion dollars in 2026 and connected TV reach up 26%. Phone brands also fund mobile esports like BGMI, and appliance makers such as Haier sponsor IPL teams.
AFL and cricket anchor the market, with Toyota as AFL's main partner since 2004 and also backing Cricket Australia. Summer tennis is the tech showcase, with Haier as Australian Open TV and appliance sponsor and Google Pixel as official smartphone.
Muay Thai is a global export, with Singha renewing its ONE Championship deal for 2026 and 2027 to push ONE Lumpinee to 195 countries. T-pop acts are now used to reach young buyers, as with boy group BUS fronting NEO's laundry range.
K-pop and esports lead, with Samsung on the BTS Arirang tour and LG building its own idol group for appliances. The LCK signed Naver and SOOP as exclusive domestic broadcasters for 2026 to 2030, with Naver taking naming rights to LoL Park.
Research as of 2026-11-02. China, France and Thailand notes rest on fewer sources. Trends describe what brands are doing now, not a forecast.