Arts & Media Sponsorship Market Report Reveals Robust Broadcast Market

Sponsorship of the arts by businesses was down for the third year in a row in 2010, by 5.3%, to its lowest level since 2003/2004, and 16.5% below its peak in 2007, according to a report just published by Research and Markets. It is very clear that, in the wake of the Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review, challenging times lie ahead for the arts sector as the budget for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) reduces by 24% to 1.1bn by 2015. Grants to national museums will be cut by 15% by 2015, and Arts Council England’s budget will be reduced by 29.6% over the coming four years.
According to Arts & Business, national art institutions in London remain the largest recipient of arts sponsorship, accounting for 68.2% of all private investment in the arts in 2010. The combined investment in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, by contrast, accounted for just 10.3% of private investment nationwide. Whereas heritage organisations, museums and visual arts and galleries, the three largest recipient categories of private sponsorship nationwide, have seen their donations increase, private investment in art services, opera, dance and film and video have all steadily declined over the last three years.
In contrast to the arts, sponsorship in broadcast media has been relatively resilient, with its value remaining above pre-recession levels. Total sponsorship spending on broadcast programmes (both television and radio) in 2010 is estimated to have been worth £290 million. Live sports, popular soap operas and reality shows have no apparent difficulty in attracting interest from sponsors. Sponsorship for television programmes was robust, increasing by 10.7% in 2009, and a further 17.5% in 2010. It is expected that media sponsorship will continue to grow substantially over the next two years, boosted by the approach of the 2012 London Olympics.
The authors of the reportexpects total sponsorship spending for arts and broadcast programmes to increase by around 5.6% in 2011, driven largely by broadcast media sponsorship, whereas sponsorship for the arts is expected to remain subdued in 2011. By 2015, the total UK market for arts and media sponsorship is expected to be worth close to 506m.
For more information on the report, please visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/153fd1/arts_media_spons