The fan games sponsors will actually pay for

Four mechanics that bring fans back

Strip away the branding and most fan games run on four simple mechanics. A predictor asks fans to call a result before kick-off. A poll or vote asks for an opinion, whether that's player of the match, goal of the month or next season's kit. Player cards let fans collect, trade and complete sets, and rewards tie it all together with points, badges and leaderboards.

There's good evidence that these mechanics change behaviour. A randomised field experiment published in Information Systems Research in 2023 tested gamification at one of the largest shopping malls in Asia. During the trial, leaderboards lifted sales by 22.5% and badges by 21.5%. Coupons did better in the short run, at 31.7%, but the coupon effect faded once the trial ended while the gamification effects persisted. I'd pay most attention to that last detail, because a sponsor paying for a whole season wants an effect that lasts.

Your fans are already looking for something to do while they watch. Deloitte found that 77% of sports fans had done at least one additional game-related activity while watching a sporting event from home. A predictor or live poll gives that second screen a reason to be your app rather than someone else's.

Fans play for free. What the sponsor's really buying is the chance to know who they are.

Give the sponsor a job to do

Most fan games carry a sponsor's name, but far fewer give the sponsor anything to do. A 'presented by' badge on a predictor is visibility. A sponsor that sets the weekly question, funds the prizes from its own products and receives opted-in leads is part of the experience, which is a very different thing to renew.

The 2026 World Cup showed the scale that's possible. More than 225 million players engaged across FIFA-branded games, activations and digital experiences, and FIFA Play Zone engaged more than 33 million fans through games, challenges and digital rewards. There was even a digital sticker app, built in collaboration with Coca-Cola. Most rights holders will never operate at that size, but the principle still scales down: let the partner own a mechanic, and treat the banner as a bonus.

What's left when the season ends?

What's left is the most valuable part: first-party data, from people who've told you who they are, what they like and how often they turn up. In WFA research, only 5% of brands felt very confident that their sponsorship portfolio was reaching the right audience. A fan game can answer that question directly. As for what that data is worth, BCG and Google found that brands using first-party data for key marketing functions achieved up to a 2.9x revenue lift and a 1.5x increase in cost savings.

So report on what matters to the partner: how much visibility their brand got, what their presenting rights actually gave them, and the numbers behind it, from registrations, weekly active players and repeat play to partner opt-ins and reward redemptions. Then tie at least one of those figures to the partner's own sales, downloads or sign-ups. A game that can show that link becomes an asset worth renewing.