(By Marc Greenspan) On March 11, North Carolina will become the 30th state, in addition to the District of Columbia, to legalize sports gambling. This revenue category has grown exponentially over several years and will continue to grow as other states follow suit. Estimates have the sports betting industry spending over $2 billion in advertising, with radio capturing greater than its historical 7% share.
The major players in the space (in no particular order) include DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, Caesars, Fanatics, ESPN BET, BETFRED, and Bet365. The sportsbooks are targeting three types of customers: the occasional bettor (think Super Bowl, Kentucky Derby, Final Four, and The Masters), the casual bettor, and the active bettor across all sporting events.
The largest revenue opportunity for sports gambling is currently in its first 18 months of legalization and will then taper into more of a maintenance mode. It is therefore critically important to get well ahead of the launch date with your sales efforts to win more than your share. It is never too early to make contact and begin presenting a station’s qualitative strengths and overall ratings in their target demos.
While most sportsbooks target sports formats, play-by-play, and other male-targeted formats, they also invest in the broader audience as well. The marketing strategy is a mix of personality endorsements, events with activation opportunities, promotions/sponsorships, and content integration in support of the underlying spot schedule.
The team of experts at Research Director, Inc. can assist you in uncovering key qualitative strengths as well as the show and daypart ratings specifically targeting this category.
This category can make a good year great… covering your spread, so to speak.
This essay is part of a series titled “Growing the Radio Pie.” To view past articles, visit The Ratings Experts at Research Director, Inc. online here.
Marc Greenspan is the CEO and founding partner of Research Director, Inc. He can be reached at 410-295-6619 x11 or by email at [email protected]. Research Director, Inc. offers consulting services to media companies to help them grow their audience, ratings, and revenue. Read Marc’s Radio Ink archives here.
