By Warren Murphy, Managing Director of Betting and Gaming
This year a lot of attention has been on emerging markets, especially the US, where legal sports betting continues to unfold and provides promising opportunities for the igaming industry. In Europe, however, as an established market, the prospects of sports betting have been embraced for a number of years. This can be seen from the sports betting turnover in Europe (estimated from our data to be around €356 billion) and the proliferation of sports betting through retail betting sites, across TV, billboards and adorning some of the region’s most popular sports events.
There are a number of reasons why sports betting continues to prove hugely popular across Europe. Some of these include ongoing advancements in technology, especially mobile and app technology, which make it so much easier for fans to place a bet whenever and wherever they like; modern trends in betting entertainment, including virtual sports and live streaming, which have increased engagement; as well as the popularity of some of the most common betting sports, like football and tennis, across the region.
Whilst the European market may not be as susceptible to change as newly emerging markets, it’s just as important that operators continue to evolve with the various factors that continue to affect their operations, including technology, trends and legislation. With more emerging markets added to the global mix as well, the industry as a whole is becoming a lot more crowded and competitive. Essentially, this means bookmakers need to become smarter in regards to their advertising, marketing and risk managing efforts if they want to see ongoing results.
Sportradar’s ad:s marketing and sponsorship solution was developed specifically for operators with this understanding and need in mind. Launched in January this year, it essentially helps bookmakers acquire and retain suitable customers through a more concerted and reliable approach.
Like our entire 360-degree product and service offering, ad:s employs our comprehensive big data across the sports and betting fields, which we have been accumulating and administering for almost two decades, to derive highly valuable insights about betting consumers and their interests and behaviours. Taking this a step further, we recently launched a programmatic ad offering as a key component of ad:s. Utilising a Data Management Platform (DMP) to collate millions of anonymous user profiles, the programmatic ad solution can create audience segments and automated campaigns to target them more efficiently.
This same data is at the foundation of our trading and risk management solution, Managed Trading Services (MTS). MTS utilises a bespoke combination of in-house developed cutting-edge technology together with the world’s best sports trading experts to support bookmakers in managing risk across their customer base. This involves monitoring and identifying betting patterns from specific individuals or groups anonymously and creating customer profiles based on their betting behaviours. Using AI-derived models, MTS enables bookmakers to adjust, where required, based on customer performances too.
Together, ad:s and MTS are effective methods for achieving more results-driven marketing and advertising , whilst providing more efficient ways for operators to guarantee profit and reduce volatility. MTS can identify and manage the risky bettors that may lead to losses and, using proprietary driven algorithms, can help improve margins and turnover. ad:s can help bookmakers take more of a sniper approach to their marketing efforts, using proprietary marketing technology as well as relevant content and messaging to target and acquire audiences who may be more attuned to a particular offering.
The key to both is not only in the data, but in their flexibility and technology too. Both can be customised to suit the individual needs of various operators and the changing elements of the market, while the in-house innovation that provides the framework for MTS and ad:s allows for real-time optimisation. This is essential for successful sportsbooks given the fast-paced and constantly shifting nature of sports betting these days.
No matter which market you’re operating in, there will always be elements that will require ongoing adjustments. With the right tools at hand, bookmakers can navigate and leverage from this successfully to achieve more effective brand awareness, reduce losses and maximise revenues.