$pace $ponsor$hip: The Next Frontier for Revenue Generation

Space sponsorship: the next frontier for revenue generation

by Andrew Penn and Tony Simpson May 23, 2025

Credit: Oliver Wyman

The similarities between space and sports

But can the space industry truly attract the right sponsorship partners and replicate the sports experience? 

One thing space and sports have in common is their ability to attract viewers. The Apollo mission to the moon in 1969 captured global attention like nothing before, with around 650 million people tuning into the live television broadcast of Neil Armstrong’s historic first steps on the moon. This monumental event unfolded in a pre-internet and social media era, underscoring the immense public fascination with space exploration. But as human spaceflight became less novel, the fascination with the space industry faded, as major programs faced delays and the pioneering ambition of early missions gave way to seemingly routine low Earth orbit missions to the International Space Station.

Enter the era of new space — a private-sector-driven space race that is reigniting public interest in the cosmos. 

• Visionary companies are pushing the boundaries of innovation and ambition and recapturing the public’s imagination with groundbreaking technology. 
• Global government investment is rising, and with it, so too is audience size. 

For instance, close to 79 million viewers watched India’s moon landing. 

> Imagine what attention the first woman to land on the moon might garner. 

> If it were to replicate Armstrong’s moon walk, which attracted 18% of 1969’s global population, it would reach in the neighborhood of 1.7 billion viewers. . .

 

 

To maximize the potential of sponsorship, space companies must adopt a bold and comprehensive strategy. 

• Rather than simply selling advertising rights to the highest bidder, they should reframe sponsorship as a partnership ecosystem. 

This approach allows companies to 

1. shift the value proposition from mere logo visibility to broader brand equity, 
2. expand monetization channels and 
3. broaden branding to encompass the entire journey and mission of the company. 

Drawing an analogy from sport, the sponsorship portfolio may include 

• one partner from sporting goods and apparel, 
• another from travel, 
• a third representing food and beverage 
• and yet another for payment processing. 

Building an overarching narrative for the ecosystem can help create a “halo effect” for brands, allowing for precise brand fit with sub-categories of consumers and fostering a broader belief system for consumer engagement.

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