Operator Tracker Q2 2024: Upward trajectory for tier-two brands

Following a packed sporting calendar across football and horseracing for the UK market in Q2, FairPlay’s Operator Tracker has shown several developments and perception trends among the leading sportsbook brands and the chasing pack.

Reversing a slight fall in ‘Awareness’ last quarter, bet365 continues to lead on other core perception metrics, including on regular usage, where the Stoke-on-Trent-based operator holds a 15% lead over Sky Bet in second, and brand favouritism, where it remains well clear of its competitors with a score of 41%, with Sky Bet again in second with 15%.

Looking at the past year’s trends, much of what underpinned bet365’s success has revolved around their customer generosity, but there are early signs this is an area where perceptions have softened of late.

Positive perceptions around ‘Offers & promos’ has dropped by 9% since the turn of the year, with it now tying with Sky Bet on 37%. Similarly, ‘Price boosts’ recognition has dropped by 3% on last quarter and the FairPlay data also shows ‘Generosity’ falling 4% in the same period.

Where some of the market leaders’ positions have seen their positions slip, other brands have begun to make gains.

BetVictor has boosted its brand awareness among those surveyed by 3% in Q2, with 888sport and Unibet also seeing positive rises for the metric. In fact, seven of the eight leaders in awareness dropped away in the three-month period, with only bet365 cementing its position.

BetVictor’s improvement in its awareness score also ties in with being regarded as more ‘Trustworthy’ (up 4%), which is now its leading perception. Other qualified values, including ‘Make sport more exciting’, ‘Generous’, and ‘Care about customers’ increased in Q2.

While we should be wary to make any significant claims on the reasons behind any one metric, a consistent upwards trend across these more emotional perceptions could be regarded as significant for its future success in more tangible measures, such as usage.

Paddy Power’s marketing department has been successful in driving awareness of its bet builder offering throughout Euro 2024, with its innovative ‘Super Sub’ campaign helping it cement third place among Oddschecker users as the brand most associated with ‘Bet builders’, just behind Sky Bet in second. The brand also now ranks in line with the market leaders for ‘Offers & promos’, following four quarters of improvement in a row.

As a general trend for Q2, ‘secondary’ brands look to have been the key winners with lower ranking sportsbooks picking up some momentum across various metrics, with the usual market leaders remaining static or falling away. Paddy Power has also once again shown its disruptive marketing prowess to drive perceptions among its target market with a genuinely new and innovative product.

Key events playing a role

The UK market was dominated in Q2 by attention around the competitive end of the Premier League season, as well as the prelude to and early games of Euro 2024, and to a lesser extend the Copa América.

We can expect the full fallout of Euro 2024 brand campaigning to continue into FairPlay’s Q3 Operator Tracker. But for now, many bettors are starting to be more open-minded about alternative operators, while continuing their day-to-day use with the usual giants of the UK sportsbook scene.

About FairPlay Sports Media

EGR and FairPlay Sports Media have partnered to bring a data-led, quarterly report on brand perception of leading firms in the sector. These insights are produced by FairPlay Sports Media senior customer insights manager Peter Morris.

Morris has more than a decade of experience working in market research, starting his career working at agencies Ipsos Mori and then 2CV, with a particular focus on brand and marketing research projects.

In 2018 Morris joined what was then Oddschecker, focusing on UK product and marketing insight. Since then, he has expanded his role, heading up customer insight within FairPlay Sports Media, providing intel across all their operations and territories.