Pulse
ESPORTS PANDASCORE WHITEPAPER
PandaScore: Taking a punt on esports means going ‘all in’
With one major operator stating that esports betting turnover is second only to football and another saying the sport is knocking on the door of basketball, it is understandable esports stakeholders’ express frustration when their product is portrayed as niche.
Oliver Niner, Head of Sales at PandaScore, says esports shouldn’t be added onto a sportsbook to compensate for stagnated growth in other products or an inability to innovate due to little technological bandwidth and being hamstrung by regulation. Esports is a product that works and is proven to be extremely popular when operators follow certain principles.
What are the key findings of the white paper?
We approached the white paper from the perspective of an operator looking to deliver a successful esports product. One of the paper’s key takeaways is that whilst there are different approaches to succeeding with esports, there are certain areas that need dealing with differently compared to a standard sportsbook product.
Essentially, through following certain principles operators can unlock their own esports customer base. We tried to be objective by not just sticking to partners who work with us, but also those who work with our competitors that have different working methodologies such as Pinnacle and Genius.
What is the next iteration for esports?
Digesting and understanding customer data. As a data supplier, we don’t have access to this information, and are keen to engage as and when the possibility arises. If we are currently at Mark III with esports, Mark IV will be about truly understanding what an esports bettor looks like and, most significantly, how they behave and cross-sell.
If we are at Mark III now, how do you reflect on the initial launch of esports and how the offering has evolved from a product
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Betting needs to be a good and pleasurable experience for the user, but it also must make operators money. Initially, esports didn’t do that. Now you are starting to see products mature with improvements in technology and esports data providers such as PandaScore who know how to shape esports products based on specialist knowledge. Knowledge is power, and this has been demonstated through esports’ development over the last few years.
We know that esports acquisition is cheaper and player profiles are different from other
Oliver Niner Head of Sales, PandaScore
perspective? The right product at the wrong time?
Tat’s exactly right. Te likes of Pinnacle, Bet355, Rivalry, and Betway embraced esports early on and have done very well. Tey structured their offerings in a similar way that worked. Ten you have operators such as Sky Bet who went quite early and wanted esports to look like sports betting. Tey didn’t understand how the game was changing in media consumption and this is where several operators got it wrong.
verticals. Te usual constraints operators work under such as being unable to cross-sell a casino player into sportsbook isn’t there with esports.
Why is the cost-per-acquisition for an esports bettor lower than a sportsbook?
As esports is relatively new, there is very little affiliation. Tere is minimal regional profiling from companies such as Catena and Better Collective - the latter is a massive esports website, yet it is still very restricted and hasn’t grown much to date. We understand what our average bet size is, but not the player value.
Te market hasn’t developed sufficiently enough for the acquisition cost to rise. It will do, but we are now in a sweet spot. We are seeing growth and a low player acquisition cost, so it is a good moment to start embracing esports.
We live in a data-driven world and esports is a data-based product. It is the only product where there is no operational need to fetch the data. What we don’t have is a settled market.
Esports doesn’t have a fixed calendar like traditional sports. Operators need to accept there is an element of unpredictability with regards to pricing. We are only now starting to understand the full nature of what esports is.
The paper states that 'esports is a hub of 21st-
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