Report: US sportsbook operator advertising spend rockets 281%
New data highlights FanDuel marketing muscle and impact of NFL partnership on viewer impressions
Total advertising spend by US sportsbook operators jumped 281% year on year (YoY) to $282m, according to the latest data released by advertising standards measurement agency iSpot.tv.
The data, released as part of iSpot.tv’s annual report into the advertising of sports betting in the US, focuses on a period between September 2021 and May 2022.
It shows that total TV advertising impressions in the US (i.e., when a user sees an advertisement) rose 48.4% YoY to 18.2 billion impressions.
Of these, 60% of impressions were through national TV networks, while 37% came via local TV, and 2.7% of impressions from streaming sites.
The top programs for sports betting operator TV ad impressions, inclusive of in-game/in-play TV commercials, include the NFL (42.5% share); NBA (7.9%); Major League Baseball (5%); college football (3.3%); NHL (1.3%); and PGA (1.2%).
In terms of operators and their total TV ad impressions, FanDuel led the way with a 34% share, just ahead of Caesars Entertainment with 21.7%, and DraftKings with 18.6% of user impressions.
FanDuel was highlighted by the iSpot report as doing particularly well through NFL ad impressions, where 29% of total NFL ad impressions were for the sportsbook brand, adding credence to Flutter CEO Peter Jackson’s claims that the sportsbook “won” Super Bowl LVI.
BetMGM and Fox Bet were the next highest operators, garnering 13.4% and 7.5% of impressions respectively.
However, those figures were down significantly from the last reporting period (September 2020 to May 2021) when FanDuel accounted for a 40.6% share of ad impressions, just ahead of DraftKings with 36.3%.
The data also illustrates the impact of Caesars Sportsbook relaunch in August 2021 and subsequent media campaigns on US bettors.
Between September 2020 and May 2021, Caesars only accounted for 0.01% of total ad impressions from sportsbook operators, a contrast to the same period a year later when the operator’s share of total ad impressions rocketed to 21.7%.
Caesars’ focus on marketing has seen the firm leverage partnerships with comedian JB Smoove and the Manning Family, particularly during the NFL Super Bowl LVI period, when the operator spent an estimated $7m to air a 30-second TV spot during the showpiece game.
The operator also made a number of changes to its props betting in preparation for the event.