NFL Network reporter Kay Adams prepares to go on the air outside Lambeau Field during NFL … [+] football training camp Saturday, July 31, 2021, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Matt Ludtke)
During Super Bowl week in February, FanDuel chief marketing officer Mike Raffensperger met with Kay Adams, the popular host of the NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football” program.
Adams knew at the time that she would voluntarily leave the show after the NFL draft and was happy to see what opportunities she could pursue. Meanwhile, Raffensperger was trying to recruit her to join the company.
The two have now reunited as Adams on Sept. 6 begins hosting his own show on FanDuel TV, a cable channel known until this month as TVG, a horse racing network. Both FanDuel and TVG are owned by Flutter Entertainment plc, an Ireland-based company whose shares trade on the London Stock Exchange.
The rebranding reflects Flutter’s desire to drive more business to FanDuel, which posted its first quarterly profit in the second quarter of this year. Flutter noted in a presentation to investors last month that FanDuel had a 51% market share of gross gaming revenue in the states where FanDuel operates. But the company faces competition in the United States from DraftKings, BetMGM and many other sports betting operators that spend heavily on attracting new customers.
While Adams’ show primarily covers football and other mainstream sports from 11 a.m. to noon EST each weekday, FanDuel TV still airs almost exclusively live and taped horse racing, a sport with a long tradition of betting. .
FanDuel has also signed a licensing agreement with Sportradar to broadcast more than 3,000 hours of live sports from overseas such as basketball from Australia, China, France and Germany. In addition, the company also has agreements with former NFL punter and sports media star Pat McAfee and The Ringer, the company founded by former ESPN star Bill Simmons in 2016 and sold four years later to Spotify for more than $ 200 million. FanDuel already has marketing deals with McAfee and The Ringer, but would not disclose details about the types of shows McAfee and The Ringer will produce or how often those shows will air.
For now, TVG viewers won’t see much of a difference with the rebranded FanDuel TV, but Raffensperger hopes the station will expand its reach by adding Adams and other high-profile sports media talents and airing events other than races horse. Much of the content will be broadcast on FanDuel+, a premium streaming platform that is free for people with FanDuel accounts.
“It has a good foundation, with us showing horse racing, with great talk shows hosted by great talent, because we have other live sports in the form of international basketball and others, we know it will increase that’s your loyalty to FanDuel and the likelihood that you’ll bet with us when you bet,” Raffensperger said.
FanDuel will not pursue major streaming deals with established professional leagues in the US, as those are expensive and most are unavailable. Instead, it will look at niche sports in the US and other countries. In some markets, the leagues and/or sports teams will share the revenue if viewers bet on the games using the FanDuel app or website.
“We’re focused on tertiary sports that maybe can’t find traditional distribution through traditional media companies,” said Raffensperger, who was promoted to FanDuel’s chief commercial officer in July. “I think FanDuel provides a unique opportunity to get your sport in front of millions of highly engaged sports fans and do really creative deals where we structure things in a way that we share the same the advantage that sport grew from. betting attitude.”
Raffensperger added that Flutter expects the FanDuel TV brand to help increase sponsorship and partnership revenue as well.
“Companies are trying to reach our audience, primarily affluent, tech-savvy young men,” Raffensperger said. “It’s a very attractive demographic that they’ve historically reached through playing free games or branded bets or branded odds boosters… it’s just a new platform for FanDuel TV for them to expand that promotional relationship with us and reach our audience in a way different.”
Patrick Crakes, a former Fox Sports programming executive who now runs his own consulting company, said the rebrand makes sense for Flutter as it looks to expand its betting market share.
“I think it’s logical,” Crakes said. “He’s building a profitable business (in TVG) and marketing it by rebranding it. And then in the bigger picture, it (FanDuel) is a global company that is already profitable. They are able to grow their business, and as gambling becomes too much, roll up (other sports betting operators).
For Adams, participating in FanDuel TV provided an opportunity to work in a somewhat corporate environment. It reminds her of about a decade ago when she was one of the first hosts for SiriusXM’s fantasy sports station and six years ago when she helped launch “Good Morning Football.”
Adams said FanDuel gave her the flexibility to work on potential projects with NFL Media and other sports media entities while working on her daily show. But for now, she is focusing on improving the show and evaluating what is and isn’t working.
“What (Good Morning Football) looked like on the first day, it didn’t look like the 30 days,” Adams said in an interview earlier this month. “There’s something about that process that I really like. In six years on Good Morning Football, I felt very good about what I did. I’m really proud of it. I loved it so much, but I’m excited about what’s going on with FanDuel. It’s like that way. I’m not a pioneer, but I’m often not an idiot. I see where sports are going, and I’m curious about it.”
