SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Providing content for the biggest sports events is the easy bit, but the challenge for Superfeed is to deliver the same level of coverage across the board – and “make more events matter” to the player, said Spotlight Sports Group Head of Digital Will Fyler.
SBC News caught up with Fyler to reflect on the first three months for the Group’s flagship betting-centric content engine, which was designed to combine data science with expert opinion to produce increased betting engagement.
During this exclusive interview, which you can watch in full HERE, we learned that the content itself is made up of three key elements.
“Firstly you’ve got your verdict, which is the expert’s best bet of the match,” said Fyler. “So out of all the markets on an event, we pick out our best bet and give some valuable reasoning why that is.
“The next is the insights, which is the most relevant information and stats for each specific betting market. So if you’re looking at, for example, the spread market or the total points market, we’ll provide you with the information needed to make an informed decision.
“And then the final element is computer science, which is where our models project how each market will pan out. This might be the chances of Man United winning the next game, or the expected number of passing yards for Patrick Mahomes.”
There is perhaps an irony in that he uses one of the biggest football clubs in the world and a Super Bowl winning quarterback to explain how the science behind the Superfeed works. That’s because the product’s biggest value may ultimately be in casting the content net much wider.
Fyler continued: “We did a bit of research a few months ago. And we found out that the average bettor only has enough knowledge to bet on about 5% of the betting market. And we want to provide our clients with the capabilities to keep the audience informed for all of them, because – as we know – sports betting is a 24/7 product.
“What’s interesting now is when companies contact us about wanting content and products, initially perhaps for the major tournaments, the demand starts permeating down into the perceived lesser events. And there’s an argument there’s more value in this, the content relating to the events that less people know about. Yes they might come in for the major events but it’s then how they spread their tentacles to smaller events as well.”
But that’s not to say that the value will fall completely away from the top end sports, which is where the three key elements to the content are so important.
“It all depends on the player, and how much knowledge they have about the sport,” explained Fyler. “So if you’re looking at an event you don’t know much about and just want a quick opinion, the verdict would be your answer there. But if you’re more statistically based, and want to dig a bit deeper into a market you perhaps already know more about, then you’ll be looking more to our insights and projections.”
If scaling up the content is the number one aim for Spotlight Sports Group for the rest of 2021, the second lies in the ease of integration for its customers.
“We want to provide products and content that can be easily integrated, making it really simple for our clients. And that’s something we’re working on, both for major sportsbook operators and publishers, where we can provide them with essentially a plug in solution which enables them to convert their audience through betting.
“We know there are huge roadmaps at the moment. And these are constraints that we’re up against. But what we want to do is make it so the Superfeed product is easily ingested and obtained by our customer base. We have the plugin solutions that mitigate the roadmaps.”
The focus on publishers, or affiliates, is important to pick up on – not because it’s a new thing for Spotlight Sports Group given its Racing Post background, but because it’s such a priority for prospective clients in the US market.
Fyler said: “It would be fair to say that in the B2B space, particularly in the UK and Europe, we’ve been prioritising sportsbooks more, but now we’re looking to move across to show more interest in the media side of things.
“The main reason for this is the US. As you know, the US is a key strategic goal for almost any business in the gambling industry at the moment. If you’re looking at our two customer segments there, you’ve got operators, then you’ve got media and affiliates.
“Operators really only have one aim at the moment, which is just trying to roll out as many states as possible and get their market share. And consequently, if they’ve got a really good baseline product in their sportsbook, additional content or products that sit on top of this might not be a priority.
“Whereas if you’re looking at the other side of the coin, it is completely different in that suddenly media and affiliates have been given this opportunity to access this new revenue stream in the form of betting and there’s a huge amount of content and product that they need to supply for that.”
To watch the full interview with Spotlight Sports Group’s Will Fyler, click HERE.
