Six Sponsorship Categories for Fall 2020

As we head into the final quarter of 2020, consider this -- the number of sponsorship deals in Q3 of this year rose 21.5% from Q2. Look for Q4, starting tomorrow, to see the continuation of this upward trend. With that in mind, here are six sponsorship categories to keep an eye on as we enter the home stretch of 2020.

HealthTech - Wearables like Oura are delivering realtime health insights at unprecedented scale and speed, while health marketplaces like Roman are making it possible to get common medical treatments at home. Both have been assembling significant sponsorship portfolios over the past few months.

Percussion Therapy - Trying to shake the image of the old school home massager, brands like Theragun and Hyperice are rapidly using sponsorships to define an entirely new category as the official percussion therapy or recovery technology of a variety of properties.

Sports Betting - As more states legalize sports betting, the land grab extends to sponsorships with more 25 major sponsorship deals in the past month alone in this category. Newcomers like Barstool Sports, PointsBet and Roar Digital were among the most active in recent months, while industry stalwarts FanDuel and DraftKings are continuing to expand their footprint.

Teeth Aligner - Always an active category headed into the back-to-school season, we could all use an extra reason to smile this year. SmileDirectClub and Invisalign are leading the charge and are signing deals with major sports teams to be their official smile sponsor.

Data Security - As more and more companies scurry to play catch -up with data security in a WFH world, expect sponsors like Acronis to continue to be active in this growing category.

Secure Identification - If event and stadiums are to welcome back fans, sponsors will be needed to securely identify, test, track and trace in a Covid-19 world. Already active sponsors, expect companies like CLEAR and Identogo to play a key role in filling this much needed function.