Sports Marketing Trends report — January isn’t a warm-up anymore. It’s where the year’s biggest platforms prove their power.

The Sports Shift - January 2026 Edition

Australia Day has just ticked over, the tennis precinct is still humming and the summer of sport has done what it always does: it’s turned the whole country into a scrolling, streaming, group-chatting stadium.

This month’s big theme is simple: sport isn’t a ‘media buy’ anymore. It’s a platform. And January is where the best platforms prove it - with crowd scale, cultural relevance, and brands launching ideas in real time.

“If you own January, you own the year.”

The Australian Open 2026 start is the blueprint: record gates, BVOD surging and brands treating the tournament like a launchpad.

AO26 is not ‘a tennis tournament’ - it’s a national entertainment engine - Day 1 night session on Nine reached 1.9m Aussies; BVOD audiences were up 80%+ YoY, and Tennis Australia recorded a day-session gate record of 73,235.

UFC’s Australian home has changed - and the ad-load debate has started

From January 2026, Paramount+ carries UFC Fight Nights and numbered-event prelims. The first big talking point? Ads. That’s a reminder: platform shifts change the fan experience (and the rules for sponsors).

Vegas Round is officially a ‘thing’ now (and it’s a real brand week)

NRL kicks off 2026 on U.S. soil on 28 Feb at Allegiant Stadium. Think tourism, retail, and social-first activations - not just sports sponsorship.

The Australian Open - Game, Set, Match

The AO has completed its transformation. It’s no longer competing with other tennis tournaments - it’s competing with every other January entertainment habit: music, fashion, food, nightlife, creators and streaming.

What’s really happening

Tennis Australia is ‘festivalising’ the event: turning match tickets into a precinct pass, and the precinct pass into a social badge. Fashion activations, influencer moments and on-site brand experiences are now as visible as the backhand winners.

What brands should do

• Think ‘launch’, not ‘logo’. Activations that behave like campaigns (e.g. broadcast + BVOD + social + on-site) are winning attention.
• Design for the precinct and the feed. If it doesn’t photograph, film or meme - it doesn’t travel.
• Use BVOD spikes as your retargeting trigger. When BVOD is up 80%+ YoY, it’s telling you where the modern fan is watching.

AO26 by the numbers (early):

• Record day-session gate: 73,235 on Day 1.
• Day 1 night session: 1.9m reach; 660k avg audience (+24.5% YoY).
• BVOD audiences: up 80%+ YoY on opening night; other sessions up triple digits.
• Sponsor roster: close to 50 official partners; 10 new in 2026.

Super Bowl Monday In Australia

Australia doesn’t do Super Bowl Sunday. We do Super Bowl Monday.

Which means the Big Game isn’t competing with weekend sport, it’s competing with your first meeting, your inbox and the suspiciously convenient ‘WFH’ calendar block. The Aussie appetite is real

Super Bowl LIX pulled 2.5m+ total TV viewers in Australia, with Channel 7 noting a 20% increase since 2022.

That’s the core local truth: the audience is now too big to treat as ‘niche expat viewing’. It’s a mainstream, Monday-morning cultural moment, especially for brands that want mass reach with a U.S.-flavoured edge.

The global machine by the numbers

• US average audience (Super Bowl LIX): 127.7 million across TV + streaming (record).
• Streaming is now a real slice of the pie: 14.5 million watched via streaming platforms (including 13.6 million on Tubi, per NFL.com/AP report).

2026’s ‘price of attention’: 30-second ads are priced between US$7–8 million, and game tickets are reportedly US$6,085 to US$57,834.

When Super Bowl coverage is available via FTA, access stops being the advantage. The game is the same, the pictures are the same, the real battle is choice.

ESPN’s Have a Siiick Day strategy recognises that in Australia, the Super Bowl isn’t just a broadcast moment, it’s a Monday-morning cultural ritual. Rather than competing on coverage, ESPN competes on culture, using personality, humour and real-time relevance to make the Super Bowl feel like something Australians actively want to be part of, not just something they happen to watch.

5 Winning Factors

1. Culture over coverage

When the product is the same, differentiation comes from tone, personality and cultural relevance, not just access.

2. Meet fans where they already are

Lean into both pop-culture fans and fans of the game, without forcing a single viewing behaviour.

3. Personality beats platforms

Big voices (Stephen A. Smith) and celebratory, comedic hooks (Gridiron Guy) make ESPN feel like the place you want to enjoy and celebrate the game.

4. Win the moment, not just the match

Real-time content, second-screen moments and social conversation extend relevance beyond kick-off.

5. Turn awareness into tune-in

By owning how Super Bowl Monday feels, ESPN turns cultural participation into natural viewing behaviour.

The Streaming Stack Gets Taller (& Smarter)

Australians aren’t choosing one sports service anymore, they’re building stacks. This month alone, three signals reinforced it: ESPN living inside Disney+, UFC moving to Paramount+, and Kayo continuing to post record AFL consumption.

Stack watch: what changed the game

• ESPN on Disney+ launched with 10,000+ hours of sport - pushing US sports further into mainstream entertainment habits.
• UFC Fight Nights + numbered-event prelims moved to Paramount+ from Jan 2026.
• Kayo’s 2025 AFL season hit 7.37B minutes streamed (+19% YoY audience).
• A-League streaming audiences on Paramount+ are at all-time highs this season.

So what should marketers do?

• Plan in moments, not matches. Fans bounce platforms; your creative should too.
• Build modular assets: 6s, 15s, 30s, vertical, square, creator cut-downs - and deploy based on where the audience shows up.
• Measure across screens. NRL BVOD is up ~102% YoY; that’s where incremental reach is coming from.
• Use context targeting: sport + entertainment is merging (AO & SBLX is the proof). Your audience is there for vibes and value, not just the scoreboard.

Coming Up 

Fri, 6 Feb 2026 – Sun, 22 Feb 2026

Milano Cortina Winter Olympics 

Premium storytelling, sustainability, travel + luxury partnerships.

9 Feb 2026 (AEDT)

Super Bowl LX  - The world’s biggest second-screen ad lab. Social + retail + live activations.

28 Feb 2026

NRL Las Vegas (season kick-off) - Tourism + streetwear + retail collabs; turn it into an ‘NRL Week’ not a match. 

1 Mar 2026

NRL Season 2026 begins - Round 1 always over-indexes on casual viewers - perfect for broad reach.

March/April
2026 NBL Finals will be played in March and April, consisting of three play-in games, two best-of-three semifinal series and the best-of-five NBL Championship series.

5-8 Mar 2026
AFL Opening Round - Launch content early; real-time creative wins because the hype is concentrated. 

We hope this edition helps you start 2026 with clarity, context and a few fresh ideas. If anything sparks interest, we’d love to chat about how these shifts could translate into an opportunity for your brand.