Sports Innovation Lab and Dentsu have teamed up to provide greater sports marketing data for Merkury, the agency network's data-driven service. 

Sports marketing is still quite popular, and investments are growing swiftly in areas like women's sports and US soccer. As the jewels of live programming for marketers, well-known heavyweights like the NFL and NBA are driving hefty media rights payments. 

Dentsu's sports strategy, by partnering with Sports Innovation Lab, is to increase the agency's proficiency in creating approaches that appeal to its frequently fervent fan bases.

As more leagues move to streaming and fans use social media to keep up with players and games, the agreement also recognizes the expanding trend of digital sports consumption.

Sports Innovation Lab, marketing itself as a “fan intelligence” company creating a data cloud for the sector, has access to entertainment venues, sports betting platforms, and audience segments from the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, WNBA, MLS, and NSWL. Olympic ice hockey player Angela Ruggiero co-founded the business, which is a top Snowflake partner with data available through the Snowflake Marketplace. 

Sports audience data has historically been restricted and kept behind the walls of particular publisher promotions and sponsorship agreements, according to a statement from Jennifer Pelino, chief commercial officer and president of data cloud at Sports Innovation Lab. This is shifting, making the data more useful for certain events, like creating marketing campaigns for the holidays or aligning with the NFL season.