IG Buys Premier League Airtime Alongside bet365 in First Season without Betting Shirts

IG has agreed a three-season advertising deal with Sky Media that puts the FCA-authorised trading platform inside every live Premier League broadcast on Sky Sports, beginning with the 2026/27 campaign. The agreement, announced on Friday, is the first to start since Premier League clubs stopped carrying betting brands on the front of their matchday shirts. Neither IG nor Sky Media disclosed the value, though IG described it as one of its biggest UK marketing investments to date.

The sponsorship covers Sky Sports television channels, Sky Sports+, the Sky Sports app, skysports.com and the broadcaster's social channels, and extends to out-of-home broadcasts in pubs and venues across the UK and Ireland. Sky Media said the placement runs whistle to whistle on each live broadcast. Sky Sports shows more than 80% of live Premier League matches, at least 215 games a season. IG is the only investing and trading platform in a co-sponsor group that also includes bet365, Guinness, Coca-Cola, Uber Eats and EA Sports.

"The Premier League is one of the world's biggest sporting competitions," said Elise Ash, IG's senior vice president of marketing, adding that the deal places the brand "in front of millions of football fans throughout the season."

Marketing Spend Outpacing Revenue

IG spent GBP 75.4 million on advertising and marketing in the six months to June 30, up 51% from GBP 50.0 million a year earlier, according to its half-year results. Revenue rose 18% to GBP 642.8 million. Marketing accounted for 12% of revenue, up from 9%, and the company said it expects to increase marketing spend further as a percentage of revenue. IG also reported blended payback of under six months and lifetime value around four times customer acquisition cost, its own figures without published methodology.

The shirt withdrawal, agreed by all 20 clubs in April 2023, applies to matchday kits rather than broadcast advertising, which is why bet365 remains in the co-sponsor group IG has joined. IG contracted with the broadcaster rather than a club, so the Financial Conduct Authority's June 3 warning letter setting out five due-diligence checks for financial services sponsors governs a different set of arrangements. IG holds FCA authorisation.

Rivals are pursuing club-level deals: XTB agreed a main-partner agreement with Olympique Lyonnais on August 11, four days after signing FC Porto, its third football club since April. Eleven Premier League clubs carried gambling sponsors worth a combined GBP 101.1 million in 2024-25, while Swissquote, eToro and Plus500 together spent $183 million on sports partnerships that year, roughly triple their outlay two seasons earlier, according to sponsorship agency SportQuake. IG's UK and Ireland first trades reached 51,500, up 178% year over year, with 43,500 from stock trading and investments and 8,900 from CFDs and other OTC derivatives. IG separately announced the $1.3 billion acquisition of US prediction markets and fantasy sports operator Underdog on July 30, expected to close in late 2026 or early 2027.