Is Crypto.com's UFC sponsorship working?

Crypto.com isn't sleeping on sponsorship and it shows.  

The past year has seen a steady stream of partnership announcements from the cryptocurrency platform, including naming rights deals (goodbye, Staples Center) to high-profile celebrity endorsements (hello, Matt Damon).

But none has been as monumental as their deal with the UFC. The fight kit sponsorship, announced in July 2021, is one of the largest to date for the UFC. In addition to naming Crypto.com as its first-ever global fight kit partner, Crypto.com is also the UFC’s first official cryptocurrency platform partner.  

Of course, such a strong presence comes with a price tag, and all told, the deal is estimated to cost $175M over the 10-year contract.  

With such a healthy sponsorship investment, we want to know, is it paying off?

Crypto.com has reached 43% sponsor awareness

In just 6 months, Crypto.com has secured the 5th spot among UFC sponsors. Monster, Draft Kings, Harley Davidson, and Modelo take the top spots respectively. Equally of note, is Draft Kings, sitting at 65% sponsor awareness less than a year since signing the deal.  

The initial momentum for Draft Kings could be an early indicator of awareness growth to come for Crypto.com. We could see the cryptocurrency platform edge their way into the top 3 given the initial traction they’re experiencing at the 6-month mark. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Branded content is the top awareness driver  

In addition to their branded presence on fight kit logos and in the octagon during all pay-per-view events, Crypto.com has also benefited from integrated brand content, which is proving to be the top awareness driver among UFC fans.  

With three NFT collections in partnership with the UFC to date, it will be interesting to see how future drops continue to drive awareness as the NFT market continues to grow.    

Almost 1 in 2 people aware of the sponsorship agree that Crypto.com is the leading crypto app and is accelerating adoption of cryptocurrency worldwide

Looking at brand perception is probably one of the strongest indicators of success when measuring the effectiveness of the partnership between Crypto.com and the UFC. With 47% of engaged UFC fans believe that Crypto.com is accelerating the global adoption of crypto, it’s safe to say the sponsorship deal is making an impact.