Standing Out In A Crowded Field

Here at SportsDataIO, we speak to a multitude of Individuals and Organizations looking to break into the Sports Betting and Fantasy Sports markets. Who wouldn’t want to part of this fast-growing, innovative space? We know how lucky we are to eat, sleep, and breath sports and want to share some of the knowledge we’ve accrued over the past few years. 

Like any rapidly expanding market Sports Gaming (a term we’ll use to encompass Betting and Fantasy) is set to see an influx of people looking to stake their claim. As such, we expect some winners, some losers and some that will scrape on by. 

So what will determine who’s around after the dust settles in a few years? No one knows for sure, but looking at other markets that have matured since the turn of the century the best way to stand out is differentiation and specialization. The legal gambling market will be big enough to support many players, but you’ll still want to stand out. So how can this be done?

1. Unique content has to be the first thing you look to produce. Our Advanced Metrics drive a ton of traffic to our sister site FantasyData as they allow our members to manipulate unique data and find diamonds in the rough.  Additionally, our writers use them to provide insight and analysis that is unlike anything else on the web. We license these metrics here at SDio because we know that enterprising organizations and content creators can use these Metrics to create unique and compelling content to hook their audience. With the creation of new game types and wagers, we expect to see sites that will target a specific niche. Think of a parlay expert, IDP expert, etc. With the creation of new games (we haven’t even mentioned in-play), we expect to see a sub-set of experts for each emerge.   
2. Consolidate content into one application and/or website. You might be thinking “you just wrote about the need for specialization.” However, this bullet correlates with what happened in the world of Ad Agencies since 2000. Some just do Social Media, some E-Commerce, heck some are just putting out Snapchat filters but there are many that exist as a jack-of-all-trades. The same will be true of the Sports Gaming market. While there will be specialists for specialized players a large portion of the market will remain gaming as they are today. These users don’t want to have to go to one site for news, another for projections and another for odds. Those sites that put it all in one place become sticky and are viewed by their audience as more of a trusted partner, rather than one of many bookmarks they may visit. 
3. Clean, intuitive and if possible a unique UI. It’s a known fact that users expect sites and applications to load quickly and be easy to use. You don’t want to overcomplicate things but apps like Sleeper (an SDio client) that are intuitive and add an extra level of personalization stand the best chance of standing out in the crowd. Organizations should also take the time to understand the type of player that their game-type is going to attract. Legacy bettors who are now moving online will expect a more traditional Sportsbook experience while those younger players who perhaps come up through DFS will be more accustomed to betting on their phone. Understanding your audience and enabling them to get from point A to B with minimal friction (and perhaps compelling them to lay a few more dollars along the way) will be key to an organization’s long term success. 
4. Innovative games and experiences round out our list. Just as Facebook wasn’t the last major social media application we expect to see variants of wagers and games come to market. Things that may seem out there today could be commonplace within the next 5 years. This harkens back to bullet #1 but bears repeating, people want to experience something new and if you can create a game where people feel like they have some sort of “edge” all the better. We also hear from a lot of people who are looking to include some sort of “social” aspect into their game-type. While it is nearly impossible to recreate the experience of being at the Sportsbook online if someone figures out a way to come close to experience the instant camaraderie you get when someone has the same bet as you. We would expect them to do very well and be a viable product for years. 

In the end, it’s all about knowing your audience and building a product geared towards them. If you take care of that, we here at SportsDataIO will make sure the data that powers your product will remain accurate, clean and fast for years to come.