Posted: December 12, 2024, 07:33.
Last updated: 13 December 2024 09:38h.
Penn Entertainment’s (NASDAQ: PENN) ESPN Bet mobile sportsbook went live just over a year ago, and there are signs that the site is benefiting from its ties to sports broadcast networks.
ESPN Bet tutorial image. Sportsbook operators benefit from ties to media giants. (Image: YouTube)
According to a recent study by YouGov, Penn is the fifth largest sportsbook operator in the United States, behind competitors DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM and Caesars Sportsbook. But YouGov says ESPN Bet benefits from relationships with “world leaders in sports” and that potential customers with a positive view of ESPN are more likely to give the betting app a try. states.
Note that this can work both ways. Among Americans who have a very negative opinion of ESPN, almost 0% said they would consider ESPN BET. By comparison, 5% of this audience said they would consider DraftKings and FanDuel, respectively,” YouGov said. “Fortunately for brands, the share of Americans with very positive ratings on ESPN numbers is almost double the share of Americans with very negative ratings on media brands (23% 10%).
YouGov’s study comes at a time when there are growing signs that while FanDuel and DraftKings continue to dominate the domestic online sports betting market share, there are also signs that Penn’s business is making progress.
Penn paid a lot of money for the ESPN perk.
Signs that ESPN Bet is moving forward will likely provide some reassurance to cautious Pennsylvania investors, but the region’s casino operators paid large sums of money to acquire the rights to the ESPN brand. As such, they are also likely to demand more than incremental progress.
When the gaming company inked a deal with the sports network in August 2023, it would pay ESPN $1.5 billion in royalties over 10 years for the use of its name, while giving the media entity $500 million in stock warrants. announced that it would be given. Some investors later criticized the move, arguing that Mr. Penn had overpaid.
Still, data shows ESPN Bet attracts a younger customer base than competitors like DraftKings and FanDuel while attracting more female bettors. According to YouGov, 43 percent of ESPN Bet customers are between the ages of 21 and 29, compared to 30 percent for DraftKings and FandDuel.
“ESPN BET also has a slightly higher percentage of female users in its user base, but the difference is not as large as seen in the age breakdown of its viewers. Just under one-third of ESPN BET’s weekly users are female; , 27% of DraftKings users and 28% of FanDuel users are women,” the research firm added.
A bet that ESPN will carve out its own niche.
In the United States, football is by far the most expensive sport, followed by basketball. That idea is further solidified by the fact that more than half of DraftKings and FanDuel customers bet on one of those two sports the most, but ESPN Bet blazes a different trail.
According to YouGov, half of ESPN Bet customers cite basketball as the sport they bet on the most, followed by soccer at 49% and esports at 41%. Less than a third rate soccer that highly on DraftKings and FanDuel, and about a quarter have a similar affinity for eSports. These data points could indicate that ESPN Bet has found a way to grow its market share without relying heavily on soccer.
“This differentiation highlights ESPN BET’s unique positioning to cater to non-traditional and emerging sports tastes while remaining relevant to the mainstream sports betting market,” YouGov concluded.
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