Place Your Bets on Sports Gamification
“I think younger consumers relate to the gamification of all things — not just Fortnite, EA Sports and Madden. If you look at Las Vegas, younger consumers don’t use slot machines, they are more apt to bet on sports.” — Howard Mittman, Chief Executive at Bleacher Report, a leading online destination for millennial and Generation Z sports fans.
In my recent article about the gamification of sports marketing, I mentioned the intriguing deal between Amazon and the NFL in which the company is using their live-streaming platform, Twitch, to offer new gamification features to increase fan engagement. In addition to gaining the devotion of sports enthusiasts, the interactive features perfectly position marketers to reach consumers in the right place at the right time.
Gamification is extremely prevalent these days. Considering the immense popularity of eSports tournaments, the world of sports is ideally positioned to benefit from the highly engaged consumer climate that results from these and other events.
Amazon’s Gamification of the NFL
Amazon acquired Twitch about five years ago, leading to the company’s partnership with the NFL and the interactive features that are capable of sparking an incredibly deep connection with sports enthusiasts and a new level of devotion to the manner in which they watch live games.
The interactive gamification features launched by Amazon are remarkable. With a fantasy football-style experience, fans can make predictions during the game by answering questions about a variety of projected statistics, such as the number of touchdowns, rushing yards, field goals, and many others by quarter. Twitch users are rewarded with points and ranked on a live leaderboard after each quarter, thereby setting the stage for highly engaged fans who are interacting throughout the game. In addition to the ability to make quarterly predictions, sports enthusiasts can pull up a widget to view the score, standings, and statistics, and can also chat with other Twitch streamers to further increase their devotion to the platform.
The Engagement of Sports Betting
So, this all sounds fantastic, but how does it relate to gambling on sporting events?
It’s been over one year since the US Supreme Court legalized sports betting, and the marketplace has, not surprisingly, expanded quickly as a result. Currently, there are eleven states on board, with the number of states that allow wagering on sporting events expected to grow in the near future. The change in legality has been the catalyst for opening up a multitude of new opportunities, leading leagues, and teams to form partnerships with sportsbooks to reap the rewards of the blossoming betting market. Media companies are providing an expanding amount of innovative gambling content as the popularity of wagering on sports flourishes.
Although gambling has its share of controversial stories from the past, it appears that the highly sought-after younger generations don’t hold the same negative connotations as some of their older counterparts. In fact, a recent study conducted by Bleacher Report found that approximately two-thirds of sports fans between the ages of 21–34 consider betting to be a socially acceptable practice.
With highly engaged fans, bringing the increasingly popular world of sports betting into the fray is a very logical next step. I expect to see gambling features rolling out in platforms like Twitch very soon, although it’s not yet clear how this concept will be designed. Perhaps some of the big players will integrate a betting mode that’s prevalent in the main interface, or maybe developers will utilize companion apps for wagering on games. Regardless of the method that proves to be most successful, sports betting will likely be added to interactive gamification platforms such as Twitch, as a growing number of sports fans become devoted to putting down some cash on their favorite games.
The same principle is true also for betting operators. Integrating live streaming features into sports betting platforms and apps is a great way to engage bettors and make the process of placing in-play bets easier and more intuitive. This trend will only continue to be developed by operators and promoted by leagues not only for betting purposes, but to increase fan engagement.
Looking to the Future of Live Sports
Media rights to the “big four” US sports leagues — the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB — are currently owned by traditional media companies through multi-year deals. However, these agreements will end in 2021, thereby opening up a bidding war that may be unlike anything from the past. While traditional networks will try to retain their control of the most popular sports in America, tech companies are certain to attempt to gain some ground, and the potential for radical changes in live sports broadcasting is invigorating.
Although streaming video companies have purchased the rights to some sports, such as cricket and boxing, exclusive deals with major sports leagues have been out of reach for tech players. However, as a growing number of people abandon their cable and satellite subscriptions in favor of streaming live sporting events, the possibility that a technology company will gain exclusive rights to one or more of the major leagues is becoming realistic. And, of course, it’s almost guaranteed that streaming will grow massively between now and 2021 when the existing deals with traditional media companies expire.
Who do you think will win the rights to the “big four” US sports leagues when their deals come up for bidding in a couple of years? Traditional media or tech companies? Place your bets, everyone!
What are your thoughts about sports gamification as it relates to wagering on games? Please share your opinions in the comments below.
By Russell Karp,
Vice President of Media and Entertainment Practice at DataArt
