Pulse
Sports Betting North America NBC SPORTS
The aim is to prevent it the audience from feeling overwhelming and negate whatever negative stigmatism there might be towards betting. A secondary channel gives us two and a half hours to talk to an audience about sports betting in a positive, constructive manner with responsible gaming messaging. We know who the audience is because we're driving the acquisition of new first-time users for our sportsbook partner. And they're getting that first party data.
I did that for a while and then I transitioned to a role with US Open Tennis with USTA. Initially, it was the opposite side of the coin. I was selling our broadcast rights to partners. I knew the value of content and then sold it to our global partners. Predominantly we sold it to ESPN here in the States and then working with IMG Media out of the UK. Tey were our global rights partners, so they were the ones representing us worldwide.
Tis transitioned into a production management role, which was overseeing the U.S. Open World Feed, which was great, because then I was working with the people creating the content - the producers, directors, audio techs and operators - understanding what their roles were. I oversaw that for four or five years which really let me appreciate how production comes together.
Tis uniquely positioned me in my role now with NBC Sports because I know what it takes to get something done. I don't ever ask production for something that's unreasonable. If a partner comes to me and asks for something that is untenable for production, I can steer the conversation into a direction that’s reasonable but still really good content. It’s hits on something they want to achieve, but it's also something that I know we can execute upon, as opposed to going to production and asking them for something they can’t execute upon.
I joined NBC Sports right before the pandemic in a different role working across our regional sports networks. My boss at the time was big into NFL betting and I've always been someone who bets on things. I find it fascinating. It's all probability and statistics, right? It is just probable outcomes based on the data set that
you have in front of you. When I told him that I went 58 per cent against the spread the previous year, he was shocked but saw an opportunity with a new department being established. At the time it was just a side project where I was helping and then the pandemic hit, sports shut down and we didn't have as much to do which gave me an opportunity to transition into the role full time. And I've ran with it since then.
A couple of promotions later and now I'm the one that's running the content piece of it for us. I think all my experience in tennis and at ESPN really allowed me to have a full picture of what our rights are worth, what the value is to the sportsbook, and how to turn a concept into content in a way that makes it compelling for viewers and not just to slap a sponsor logo on the screen. Rather than a sponsored segment for DraftKings, we're going to talk to you about a particular parlay that makes sense for tonight and here's why. We break it down through football analysis. Live in-game betting is where it's at, a favourite for sportsbooks at the moment.
How do you utilise this experience and an understanding of how NBC's audience watches sport to help sportsbooks execute strategies for integrated sports streaming content?
It's a good question. We've done probably north of 20 different BetCasts. So, BetCasts are an alternative telecast whilst the main show is live and we've done these across our regional sports networks - NBC Sports in Philadelphia, Chicago, we have still got our Washington DC-area network, RSN, which rebranded to Monumental Sports Network in September. We've got a few planned for Boston this year.
Let's use Philadelphia as an example. We've got a Philadelphia 76ers game going on the main channel and a live betting show on a secondary channel which we use to discuss live markets, live bets, and follow the game along. When Joel Embiid gets his 11th rebound of the game, we can talk about how and why the over-under was set at 10.5 prior to the game. Tis allows us to break down the nuts and bolts of betting for an audience that might still be nascent to it.
Te aim is to prevent it the audience from feeling overwhelming and negate whatever negative stigmatism there might be towards betting.
A secondary channel gives us two and a half hours to talk to an audience about sports betting in a positive, constructive manner with responsible gaming messaging. We know who the audience is because we're driving the acquisition of new first-time users for our sportsbook partner. And they're getting that first party data when that person signs up to use their app to use the book. And we learn who they are.
I joined NBC Sports right before the pandemic in a different role working across our regional sports networks. My boss at the time was big into NFL betting and I've always been someone who bets on things. I find it fascinating. It's all probability and
statistics, right? It is just probable outcomes based on the data set that you have in front of you. When I told him that I went 58 per cent against the spread the previous year, he was shocked but saw an opportunity with a new department being established.
NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE / MARKET DATA P159
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