FanDuel Bets On Unique Experiences, Content With Denver Broncos

BY ADAM GROSSMAN

The Denver Broncos announced that FanDuel Group would become their official sports betting partner and an official daily fantasy partner. It is the first sports betting partnership for an NFL team since the league opened the category last month.

The appeal of a Broncos partnership to FanDuel appears to be self-evident as “football is no doubt the most popular betting sport in the United States.” In addition, FanDuel Sportsbook launched an online and mobile “experience” in Colorado in partnership with Twin River Worldwide Holdings, Inc and Golden Gates Casino Black Hawk.

What is arguably more interesting about the partnership is what FanDuel is emphasizing as a primary benefit of the partnership. In particular, “partnering with an innovative organization like the Denver Broncos allows [FanDuel] to offer engaging fan experiences both inside and outside the stadium and access to unique betting promotions and content.”

Why would FanDuel prioritize unique content and experiences in the partnership? The betting category is extremely competitive and companies often can struggle to achieve differentiation. Therefore, it can be difficult for these companies to reach their target audiences using traditional advertising and sponsorship which is one reason that acquiring new sports betting customers is expensive and difficult.

FanDuel is following a trend when it comes to gambling and betting partnerships by using content to create differentiation and reach its target audience. Digiday (among others) highlighted this trend starting in mid to late 2019. Digiday focused on how theScore, Barstool Sports, and Fox Sports at the time were all using content as a way to build their sports betting businesses in potentially more profitable ways.

The bet (pun intended) was (and still is) that engaging content was an effective way to attract customers at the top-of-funnel and then drive customers to a retail or mobile experience. The bet paid off for Barstool as Penn National Gaming (PNG) acquired a 36% stake in the company for a $163 million. 

One key reason that PNG is investing in Barstool is that it helps the company better reach audiences that can help drive future purchasing decisions core to its business even if the first engagement with the company is in mobile, social, and digital channels. More specifically, sports bettors will then be more likely to visit the company’s onsite locations where it generates more of its revenues.

However, Barstool’s core business is not focused on creating unique experiences in ways that the NFL and sports teams more generally do for fans particularly at stadiums (when fans are allowed back at venues). We have discussed how companies are looking to use sports partnerships to develop unique experiences that create competitive differentiation in past posts.

The Broncos are taking two previous successful activation types and combining them together for this sports betting partnership. In particular, sports content and unique experiences should be particularly lucrative for FanDuel as they focus on creating differentiation in a competitive industry.   

Having a demonstrable value proposition that enables FanDuel to address a core strategic challenge in ways unique to sports is one reason the Broncos secured this partnership. This shows that new partnerships can be examined and launched even with the current economic climate when value is clearly articulated.