South Africa’s national football team is on a roll and so are the brands backing them. As Bafana Bafana continues its unbeaten streak in both AFCON and FIFA World Cup qualifiers, having last come out on the losing side in a penalty shoot-out against the DRC early in February, integrated sponsorship monitoring by Novus Group shows that the team’s performance is also scoring big off the field in terms of brand exposure and audience engagement.
According to March 2025 data, Bafana’s recent fixtures attracted a cumulative TV audience of over 675,000 adults across SABC Sport and SuperSport broadcasts. The most-watched match — South Africa’s dominant 3-0 victory over Lesotho on 21 March — reached more than 450,000 viewers across both platforms.
“SABC Sport remains a critical channel for mass engagement, especially with its reach into lower LSM groups,” says Joe Hamman, Director at Novus Group. “But what we are seeing now is a powerful convergence of public and paid channels delivering results for sponsors and those that understand how to interpret these numbers will gain a clear advantage.”
The sponsorship share of voice data shows this impact. Le Coq Sportif emerged as the leading brand by far, delivering over R3.3 million in advertising value equivalent (AVE) through logo placements, interview mentions, and product visibility. Other top performers included 10Bet (R1.055 million), SAA (R619,800), Freddy Hirsch (R600,1852), and Southern Sun (R574,450). What is also interesting is that a large percentage of this exposure came from clothing, interviews and signage.
The exposure wasn’t just wide, it was demographically rich. Novus Group found that 59% of the audience were men and 41% were women, with strong representation across age groups and a dominant Black viewership (97%). Notably, 58% of viewers were from LSM 5–6 households, showing the national team’s resonance with everyday South Africans.
“Sponsorship is not just about slapping a logo on a jersey anymore,” says Hamman. “It is about understanding who is watching, where they are watching, and how that exposure aligns with your brand strategy. Our role at Novus Group is to bring those insights into sharp focus so that brands can measure ROI and refine future campaigns.”
As Bafana Bafana builds momentum ahead of upcoming qualifiers, sponsors who invest in data-driven decisions are well placed to reap the rewards.
Contact Novus Group or visit the Novus Sports Sponsorship Monitoring site here to start optimising your sponsorship investment today.