Behind the scenes: Inter Milan and Paramount+ sponsorship story

In the second episode of our SponsorScan project, we explore how the online streaming service Paramount+ activated its sponsorship contract with Inter Milan as the club’s front-of-shirt partner for just over one season, and the remarkable outcomes of this partnership.

How It All Started

On April 30, 2023, during the 32nd round of Serie A, Inter Milan faced Lazio in a match that left many fans puzzled. The reason for the surprise was not just the gameplay but the absence of the front-of-shirt sponsor logo, DigitalBits, on Inter Milan’s jerseys. This unusual occurrence, especially for a top-tier club.

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The root cause traced back to late February 2023, when Inter Milan published their financial report for the 2021/2022 season. The report revealed a troubling financial situation with their title sponsor, the blockchain company DigitalBits.

According to the report, Inter Milan received payments amounting to €5 million from DigitalBits, along with an additional €100,000 bonus for advancing to the Champions League playoffs. However, DigitalBits failed to pay €1.6 million in bonuses owed for winning the Coppa Italia and securing second place in Serie A. This shortfall contributed to a significant 22.6% decrease in sponsorship revenue for Inter Milan during the 2021/2022 season.

In the 2022/2023 season, DigitalBits failed to make any of the payments outlined in their agreement with Inter Milan. The company was obligated to pay €8 million in June and October 2022, as well as in February 2023, along with €1.25 million in bonuses. Initially, Inter Milan’s management was hesitant to terminate the contract outright. However, they took preliminary actions by removing DigitalBits’ logos from the club’s website, advertising boards, and the jerseys of the youth and women’s teams.

Despite these measures, no payments were made to Inter Milan. Consequently, the club decided to remove the sponsor’s name from the first team’s jerseys. The contract with DigitalBits, signed in September 2021 and set to last for four years, could have brought the club a total of €85 million.

In just over two weeks after the initial appearance of Inter Milan players without a front-of-shirt sponsor, the club experienced a significant turnaround. Inter Milan triumphed over AC Milan in both legs of the UEFA Champions League semi-finals, securing their place in the final. On June 2, 2023, Inter Milan announced a new sponsor for the last two matches of the 2022/2023 season – the streaming service Paramount+.

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The Paramount+ logo made its debut on Inter Milan’s jerseys on June 3 during a Serie A match against Torino. This was followed by the highly anticipated UEFA Champions League final against Manchester City on June 10 in Istanbul.

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In July 2023, Inter Milan announced an expanded partnership with Paramount+, extending the sponsorship to a full-year contract. Under this new agreement, the Paramount+ logo is prominently featured on the kits of the men’s and women’s first teams as well as the Under-19 team, across all competitions throughout the season.

Paramount+ (formerly CBS All Access from 2014 until 2021) is an American subscription video-on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Paramount Global. The service offers a rich library of content from CBS Media Ventures, CBS Studios, Paramount Media Networks, and Paramount Pictures. It also features original series and films, live sports coverage, and in the United States, live streaming of local CBS broadcast stations.

In 2020, CBS acquired the rights to broadcast UEFA Champions League and Europa League matches. Starting from the 2021/2022 season, CBS replaced ESPN for Serie A broadcasts, securing these rights for three seasons until 2023/2024. This includes more than 400 club matches on Paramount+, with 380 Serie A matches, 25 Coppa Italia matches—including select knockout rounds—and the Supercoppa Italiana match each year.

As a result, Paramount+ subscribers in the United States can watch Champions League and Serie A matches, along with exclusive content from the media holding, which is also accessible in other countries through partner OTT services.

Marketing Activations

1. The art of presentation

During the summer and winter transfer windows, Inter Milan executed a robust transfer strategy, bringing in notable players such as Alexis Sanchez, Yann Sommer, Benjamin Pavard, Juan Cuadrado, Marcus Thuram, and Marko Arnautovic for the 2023/2024 season.

To capitalize on these signings, Paramount+ and Inter’s marketing team reimagined the player introduction format. They transformed it into a teaser format akin to a club series titled “New Brothers” and movie posters, which were utilized for social media communications. Here are a few examples.

Marcus Thuram presentation

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Benjamin Pavard presentation

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Marko Arnautovic presentation

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Additionally, the club placed posters around San Siro Stadium before home matches, mimicking the way cinemas promote films.

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After Paramount+’s sponsorship ended, Inter retained this activation, and from the new season, Qatar Airways became the sponsor of these cinematic player presentations.

2. From screen to stadium

As part of the additional activation of their contract, Inter Milan and Paramount+ launched several promotional campaigns to support new releases on the Paramount+ platform and increase engagement among the Inter Milan audience.

Inter Milan and Vita da Carlo

The first integration of Inter into a major film event occurred ahead of the Milan Derby on September 16, 2023, coinciding with the release of the second season of the popular Italian series “Vita da Carlo.” The club released a video featuring Davide Frattesi having a phone conversation with the main character of the series, which was distributed by Paramount+.

On match day, Paramount+ branded the arch through which the players enter onto the pitch.

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Inter Milan and Transformers

From December 8, 2023, Paramount+ made the latest chapter in the Transformers saga, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, available to subscribers. This includes access to the first six films – Transformers, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Transformers: Age of Extinction, Transformers: The Last Knight, Bumblebee, and the animated series Transformers: Earthspark.

To broaden the reach of the campaign, the club announced that in the upcoming matches against Udinese for the men’s team and against Sampdoria for the women’s team, the Nerazzurri would take the field with a special Transformers-themed logo on their jerseys. A series of marketing activities were planned, including having two Transformers characters on the sidelines during the match.

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The campaign also had charitable aims. After the matches, the game-worn jerseys were auctioned on eBay, which is also a sleeve partner of Inter Milan, with proceeds donated to children’s hospitals in Milan.

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Inter Milan and Halo

On February 2, 2024, Inter Milan released a teaser for two major events, combined into one exciting preview. On February 4, Inter faced off against title contenders Juventus in the 23rd round of Serie A. Just a few days later, on February 8, the new season of the sci-fi series Halo premiered on Paramount+. The result was an unforgettable video, where Inter players were showcased as the main characters of the Halo series.

Inter Milan and Ninja Turtles

On March 2, Inter Milan, in collaboration with Paramount+, announced the launch of the all-new animated film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem on Paramount+. To celebrate this event, Inter released a limited edition of home, away, and third kits inspired by the iconic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series. Unlike the Transformers collaboration, these new jerseys were available in the club’s online store and quickly sold out.

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Inter players donned the new kits in the match against Genoa. The event featured four special guests who visited San Siro: during the pre-match build-up, the characters Leo, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey took center stage on the sidelines and in the hospitality rooms. They also welcomed the players as they headed out to warm up. This initiative was complemented by exclusive content published on the Club’s official channels.

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Inter Milan and Star Trek

A new collection dedicated to Star Trek was launched to celebrate the release of the fifth and final season of Star Trek Discovery, which became available for streaming exclusively on Paramount+ from April 4, 2024.

To mark this release, Inter Milan played against Cagliari wearing the Star Trek logo on their jerseys. In addition to this unique kit, the club and Paramount+ rolled out a series of marketing campaigns.

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The match was preceded by a hero video published on the Nerazzurri club channels, celebrating the arrival of Star Trek at San Siro with a special piece of content featuring the legendary USS Discovery spacecraft flying over the stadium.

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The transformation of the stadium was completed with LED pitchside advertising boards and big screens displaying graphics from the series. Before the players walked onto the pitch, a special announcement in the style of Star Trek, accompanied by the iconic music from the series, was made.

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Fans could purchase the limited edition Home, Away, and Third Star Trek jerseys at Inter stores.

3. Social networks

As part of the contract, Paramount+ leveraged several of Inter’s assets on social media. Initially, the brand sponsored a video compilation featuring all the club’s goals from the 2022/2023 season.

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After Inter’s triumphant 2023/2024 season, Paramount+ branded a series of posts highlighting the best moments from their championship matches.

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To promote the Paramount+ brand, they also utilized entertaining content featuring Inter players. For example, in one segment, Darmian and Audero guess movie titles based on posters.

Additionally, the Paramount+ logo was periodically added to informational content on social media, such as match announcements or, as seen here, celebrating Inter’s resounding victory in the Milan derby.

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Effectiveness Assessment

Based on publicly available information, it is challenging to accurately measure the effectiveness of Paramount+’s sponsorship contract. This is due to the numerous channels the company uses to attract audiences and activate subscriptions. Moreover, data on the LTV (Lifetime Value) of Paramount+ users, such as the proportion of users renewing their subscriptions after the first month and the average subscription duration, is not publicly accessible.

The contract between the club and Paramount+ was valued at $4.5 million for the last round of Serie A and the Champions League final. There were also reports that the front-of-shirt sponsorship for the 2022/2023 season was valued at €20 million (US$22.4 million), excluding activation investments.

For the US market, a Paramount+ subscription costs $5.99 per month for the first two months ($11.99/month thereafter). Assuming a worst-case scenario where all new subscribers only purchased a one-month subscription, Paramount+ would need to attract approximately 4.5 million new users to cover the contract cost only.

Reports indicate that the number of subscribers increased from 60.7 million in June 2023 to 71.2 million in March 2024. Therefore, even in the worst-case scenario, the contract likely yielded a positive ROI for Paramount+.

Additionally, in May 2024, Paramount+ signed a short-term front-of-shirt contract with Atalanta, who reached and won the Europa League final in the 2023/2024 season.

We hope you enjoyed the second episode of SponsorScan. We’re already working on the next episodes. You can support the SponsorsGo team by donating via PayPal by clicking on the banner below.

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