How FanDuel’s Amazon Prime NBA sponsorship extends beyond the court logo

This month, betting app FanDuel was unveiled as the first sponsor of Amazon’s Prime coverage. It’s no surprise that a sportsbook wants a front-row seat, but FanDuel’s partnership goes beyond the usual sponsor’s playbook to alter how viewers experience the coverage itself.

Digiday caught up with the betting firm’s president of sports Mike Raffensperger to discuss why the company’s pushed the boat out for its Amazon sponsorship, how it’s backing it up with a broader program of media buying with agency Horizon, why it’s keen to insert itself into the game — and what he thinks of Horizon’s team-up with Havas.

This conversation has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

Why was it so important to FanDuel to become one of the first sponsors of Amazon’s NBA coverage?

It’s two-fold. The NBA is a critically important sport to our business. We knew we needed a tier-one partnership with a national broadcaster. Why Amazon? Well, our cultures are really well aligned; we’re both tech companies, both really obsessed with great customer experiences. [And] Amazon has proven [itself a] fantastic sports broadcaster. It wasn’t that long ago that they were airing Thursday Night Football for the first time. People were curious how that would go; I think it’s been a home run.

In cost terms – how does it shape up next to equivalent sponsorship deals?

Look, I won’t share the specific economics of the deal, but we were very pleased with the value this partnership represents. I don’t know exactly what other deals in the marketplace are…. [but] FanDuel has a great history of being financially disciplined. We are leaning into this partnership in a material way [and] it’s one of the largest partnerships that we have.

You’ve added a live betting feature to Amazon’s NBA stream as part of the sponsorship, right?

This is a graphical interface that you can toggle to; an “Odds View” which shows relevant information about the live odds of the game. You can choose to authenticate your FanDuel account, so you can track your specific bets. We have a similar partnership [since October] with Main Street sports, which has a lot of local basketball, hockey and baseball games. But this will be the first time a national broadcaster has done anything like this.

Having this device [he holds up a smartphone] talk to the big screen in your living room, we think, is really illustrative of the future of potentially all TV viewing, particularly sports.

Generally speaking, when people engage in value-adding interactions like this, they both watch the game more and for longer periods of time, and they bet on and engage with FanDuel at higher rates. Which is exactly what both sides of the partnership want. 

The NBA is already your most popular sport for betting. Why not look to other sports and grow revenue there?

[In] any business you’re looking for where customer demand is and maximizing your service of that customer demand. That’s not to say we aren’t very interested in sports where we think there’s a growth opportunity in the ‘States, soccer being one. But we can do both. We can invest in more blue-ocean territory but also — stretching the analogy — fish where the fish are.

How are you backing up the sponsorship with other media buys?

Everything from out-of-home to social media and programmatic and podcasting. We will be meaningfully active as we come up to tip off… it’ll be a full-stack media mix across top funnel, mid funnel, bottom funnel channels. We work with influencers from the kind of top tier folks like Rob Gronkowski and Bill Simmons; we have a robust influencer program. 

Is X still as important for sports marketing?

I’d say one of X’s killer value props is live sports and discussion about sports. I’ve actually described FanDuel as one of the most successful second screen experiences in the world. [X] is one of the other most successful second screen experiences in the world when it comes to sports dialogue.

NBA viewership was a little bit down last year — is that a concern?

It was. We see ourselves as positive members of the sports ecosystem, including our official partnership with the league. We’ve had a lot of conversations with them about how we make sure people are as engaged and interested in the NBA as possible. I think this new suite of media partnerships with Amazon, NBC and ESPN is a really powerful moment for those broadcasters, as well as the league itself.

The WNBA’s brought new brands to basketball. Does its growth translate to betting engagement for FanDuel?

It definitely doesn’t attract the same level as the NBA. But it’s a meaningful part of the business, and in terms of absolute volumes, significant. There are days, particularly in the summer, where it’s the biggest sport on the platform. We’ve leaned into investment. We have a partnership with the [Indiana] Fever. We have a partnership with the WNBA itself. It’s an area of growth that we’re excited about.

Horizon’s your media agency. Any thoughts on its joint venture with Havas?

Bill [Koenigsberg, Horizon’s founder] and I caught up last week. I was excited for him. I think it’s a great opportunity for them as they think about their global platform — similarly with Havas [it’s] a real opportunity as they think about the U.S. market. It’s a smart tie up.