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Sports gambling, in many ways, has been a lifeboat for the sports media industry. From online to radio to TV to inside arenas and stadiums, it has been nearly impossible for fans to avoid exposure to sports betting advertisements or promotions – even for an hour or two – for a couple of years now.
In this week’s newsletter, we will evaluate the current state of the industry and what look ahead to 2023 and beyond.
As the sports gambling marketplace matures, betting operators’ marketing spend will not go away altogether — the business has been mature in Europe for some time now, and you still see it advertised around soccer games and other European sporting events — but industry experts already see it starting to slow.
“Overall, the boom of aggressive sponsorship and promotional spend has slowed industry-wide, but many long-term relationships and partnerships still exist and will continue to drive value to sportsbooks,” PointsBet US CEO Johnny Aitken told The Post. “In 2023, there will likely be a far more targeted approach based on the jurisdiction and available properties as the days of broad-based marketing and sponsorship campaigns are coming to an end, particularly given the macroeconomic environment expected next year.”
Darren Rovell, a sports business expert who covers gambling for Action Network, also sees advertising spending already evolving.
“It has to be meaningful and add to ROI immediately,” Rovell told The Post. “I think TV is kind of fading away because someone won’t follow through with it in the moment. Someone thinking he should check out that bonus because he sees it on TV is probably less effective than an online promotion.”
Rovell gave the example of a series of promos on Action Network where you click on them and they lead directly to the site. They run “quick slips” where they post a bet, and when you click on it, you are taken to FanDuel with the bet slip already filled out when you log into your account.
If we tried to name all of the content initiatives in the sports gambling space, we could be here all week. Penn Entertainment acquired Barstool Sports and has constant cross-promotion for the sportsbook. Caesars ambassadors include the Manning family, Trey Wingo and Kenny Mayne. PointsBet had Drew Brees as a pitchman, but parted ways with him this past week after Brees took a job on his alma mater Purdue’s coaching staff. DraftKings hired Mike Golic, Mike Golic Jr. and Jared Carrabis in 2022, and has a $50 million licensing deal with Dan Le Batard and John Skipper’s Meadowlark Media.
FanDuel rebranded TVG, its linear TV channel, as FanDuel TV. The network has a show hosted by Kay Adams, as well as one that includes Michelle Beadle, Shams Charania and Chandler Parsons, and FanDuel has ambitions to air live niche sports with live betting tie-ins.
In off-the-record conversations with keen industry observers, the expectation is that there may not be as much money available going forward to the proverbial middle class of sports gambling talents, but that people with large followings and a proven track record of being able to deliver their audience to sportsbooks in affiliate relationships will continue to have major financial opportunities.
Live betting is going to be an increasingly important market for sportsbooks to nail.
