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Table of Contents
The rise and rise of fantasy sports....................................................................................... 2
Study: Fantasy players spend big ........................................................................................ 5
Is Fantasy Football The Best Marketing Program Ever? Yes! ........................................... 7
Fantasy Football: Is It Going to Our Heads? ...................................................................... 9
Casual Games May Be Recession-Proof; Companies Report Record Revenues, and Some
Surprising Trends .............................................................................................................. 11
Fantasy Football. Grand Prize: $1 Million ....................................................................... 16
Making It to the Major League of Fantasy Sports ............................................................ 18
Are We All Casual Gamers Yet? ...................................................................................... 21
Fantasy Sports Adds Baseball HQ To Web Holdings ...................................................... 26
Fantasy sports come to China. .......................................................................................... 27
Magazine dated March 16, 2009 ....................................................................................... 27
FUN Technologies' Skill Games Network Reaches Industry Record of More than 30
Million Players Globally ................................................................................................... 29
Fantasy Sports Industry Grows to a $800 Million Industry With 29.9 Million Players ... 31
Fantasy Sports Ventures deal will send info from sites to Sprint’s Now Network .......... 34
New-media firm gets fans in the game ............................................................................. 39
Online Games Increase 22 Percent Compared to a Year Ago .......................................... 41
Playtech to buy games developer GTS 08/12/2009 .......................................................... 42
The Facebook games that millions love (and hate) .......................................................... 44
The fantasy golf sports market has grown ........................................................................ 50
Web fantasy becoming reality! ......................................................................................... 52
Football Fanzone
The rise and rise of fantasy sports
January 20, 2010 --
By James Montague, CNN
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
•
•
•
•
Fantasy sports
experiencing
phenomenal growth
The industry is worth
up to $2 billion in
the U.S.
Soccer seen as the
next big growth area
for U.S. companies
The English Premier
League's official
game has over two
million players
RELATED TOPICS
•
•
•
•
Fantasy Sports
Fantasy Sports Trade Association
Barclays Premier League
European Football
London, England (CNN) -- When USA Today became the first newspaper to publish
detailed baseball stats in the early 1980s, it seemed little more than a fad with appeal to
only the most geeky of readers.
2
However, three decades later, the stats-based fantasy sports industry that has
subsequently evolved from this pioneering paper is now a booming, multi-billion dollar
business.
The game is simple, pick a team of existing players from any sport. Then compare your
team's performance -- based on statistical analysis of real-life games -- with those of your
opponent, who, given the same option may have chosen alternative players.
The concept, which rewards the most knowledgeable and
passionate of participants, has proved a powerful draw to
fans keen to participate in the greater drama of their sport
in some small way.
It is estimated that 26 million Americans play some form
of fantasy sports league, a fact that has created an industry
worth close to $1 billion a year according to the U.S.based Fantasy Sports Trade Association.
"The primary reason why fantasy sports should be taken
seriously is its economic footprint," explains Professor Kevin G. Quinn of St. Norbert
College, Wisconsin , author of "Sports and their Fans" who estimates that the market
might be worth as much as $2 billion.
"The average amount that each of these players spends on their hobby might be $500 per
year or so, moreover, these figures appear to be growing -- even in a down economy -- at
near-double-digit annual rates."
If those figures continue at that pace, fantasy will soon overtake reality. Professor Quinn
points out that, by comparison, the National Hockey League's (NHL) total attendance is
25 million per year, bringing in close to $3 billion in the process.
Gridiron and baseball, with their easily quantifiable constituent parts, have long lent
themselves to statistical analysis. But for many within the industry the future of fantasy
sports can be found outside the U.S. and with one sport in particular -- soccer.
"We branded this company World Fantasy Games for a reason," Jeff Thomas, the CEO of
one of the biggest American fantasy sports companies told Entrepreneur magazine.
"Football -- by which I mean 'soccer,' as we call it here -- blows away the NFL globally,
and as a fantasy sport it has the potential to be even bigger than fantasy football is in the
U.S."
In Europe we talk about the art of football, the poetry of football. There's been a
resistance to breaking it down and analyzing it in the past
--Professor Stefan Szymanski
3
Fantasy sports have come relatively late to soccer, largely thanks to the game being
harder to analyze statistically, not to mention a philosophy that sits ill at ease with the
necessities of clear-eyed empirical analysis.
"In Europe we talk about the art of football [soccer], the poetry of football. There's been a
resistance to breaking it down and analyzing it in the past," said Professor Stefan
Szymanski, professor of economics at City University London's Cass Business School
and co-author of "Why England Lose: and Other Curious Phenomena Explained".
But since soccer started taking fantasy sports seriously, and thanks to the proliferation of
broadband, interest in the game has exploded.
"It has grown phenomenally, year on year, since we
started it in 2002," Robert Klein, executive director of
ISM Games, who designed the English Premier
League's official game, told CNN.
"It is not quite 40 percent growth a year, but the uptake
has been phenomenal. We are up to 2 million fantasy
managers for the game, playing in 200 different
territories around the globe."
Fantasy sports in Europe look very different to the
U.S., with the business model primarily being free-to-play, and according to an industry
expert, the popularity of the game has grown hand-in-hand with the more in-depth
analysis that is now offered by sport broadcasters.
"Does the rise of fantasy football show that the fans are becoming more sophisticated?
Yes, I think so," said Szymanski. "So does increased consumption. We watch much more
live football now. Again, the U.S. leads here. When I was growing up the only live
football was the FA Cup final.
"I just wasn't watching it enough to have a tactical awareness of it. We can see more, the
pictures are more sophisticated. You start to ask questions: Why did he do that? Why do
Italian teams do that?"
That trend, for more knowledge and more fantasy sport, is unlikely to slow down any
time soon.
"There's room for product development in terms of more sophisticated stats," agreed
ISM's Robert Klein. "We are moving into social networking and bringing them into the
game, creating web programs around fantasy football, and on mobile too. The game that
is currently available, that is just the tip of the iceberg."
4
This Week's News
Study: Fantasy players spend big
By ERIC FISHER
Staff writer
Published November 17, 2008 : Page 01
Fantasy sports players are voracious consumers, strongly outspending the general population in many
leading product categories, according to new research commissioned by the Fantasy Sports Association.
81%
73%
72%
of fantasy sports
players use a credit
card at least once a
month
of sports fans in general
of the U.S. population
Source: Ipsos Public Affairs study
The data, to be released this week and conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs, aim to give depth to earlier
general studies commissioned by the FSA and the Fantasy Sports Trade Association regarding the overall
size of the fantasy sports market.
The most recent studies have positioned the fantasy sports market at nearly 30 million players in the
United States and Canada with an average household income of more than $94,000. The new research
seeks to build on that by tracking fantasy player spending within several leading product categories,
including beer, air travel, credit cards and wireless.
In many of those sectors, fantasy players consumed products at a rate well in excess of both the general
population and sports fans at large. In the beer category, for example, 73 percent of fantasy players
made a purchase within a month of the study’s September and October compilation, compared with 47
percent of the general population and 52 percent of all sports fans.
Fantasy players, real (strong) buyers
Fantasy sports players are stronger consumers of many goods and
services than sports fans in general or the overall U.S. population,
according newly compiled data.
In the past 30 days,
purchased:
Beer
Fantasy
players
73%
Sports
fans
52%
General
population
47%
68%
52%
48%
Other alcohol*
5
Fast food
92%
87%
86%
Soft drinks
94%
91%
89%
In the past 12 months:
Flown on an airline
52%
42%
42%
At least once per month:
Read a sports magazine
63%
49%
48%
General:
Own a computer
97%
95%
96%
Have cable/satellite
service
95%
91%
90%
Use a cell phone
93%
89%
88%
Own athletic shoes
90%
80%
77%
Own a video game system
58%
42%
40%
* Includes wine, vodka, whiskey/bourbon, rum and tequila.
Notes: Results from online polling of more than 1,200 fantasy sports
players between Sept. 5 and Oct. 10.
Source: Ipsos Public Affairs study conducted for the Fantasy Sports
Association
Double-digit spreads were also seen in air travel, ownership of athletic shoes and video game systems,
and sports magazine readership (see chart).
Specific brands that were particularly popular among fantasy players compared with the general
population include Bud Light, McDonald’s, Subway, Visa, Nike, Sony and Sports Illustrated.
The research, the result of a series of interviews conducted by Ipsos, will be used as the fantasy industry
continues its pursuit of major corporate advertisers.
“We need to tell Madison Avenue that we’re not just this small, nichey geek audience,” said Greg
Ambrosius, FSA president and editor of the Krause Publications-owned Fantasy Sports Magazine. “This
gives us the next step into really seeing who the fantasy consumer is. In the ’90s, we were often
positioned simply as fantasy geeks. But looking at this, we’re really big-time consumers.”
FSA paid $30,000 to conduct the research. Ipsos has performed many of the prior studies for the FSTA
and obtained the consent of that organization before beginning the FSA study.
While the FSA generally represents larger fantasy operators than the FSTA, there is some overlap among
the members of the two groups, including Ambrosius.
“This is sort of common sense looking at what the prior research [and] income numbers suggested. But
some of the best research is common sense, and with this, we didn’t know until we did the research,”
said Aaron Amic, Ipsos vice president. “Still, you don’t necessarily have a lot of ‘Wow’ moments in
research, but in this, there was a bit. These are definitely hyper-consumers we’re talking about.”
6
Is Fantasy Football The Best Marketing
Program Ever? Yes!
by Cory Treffiletti, Wednesday, September 16, 2009, 2:17 PM
This past weekend marked the opening of the NFL season, which reminded me of the
simple brilliance that is fantasy football. Without a doubt, fantasy football is the most
perfect example of integrated marketing in existence today. It marries the best of online
marketing and social media with real-world events and that most basic of human traits:
pure, unbridled competitiveness.
If you really get down to the brass tacks, fantasy football is indicative of the future of
online marketing as well. First and foremost, fantasy football is an integrated marketing
platform. It takes an offline event, one that is still considered appointment viewing in
television and is less likely to be DVR'd and time-shifted, and marries it with online tools
that allow you to keep track of the games no matter where you are and what time it is. It
generates enormous page views for the sites and services that people use to stay in
contact with the game and it is also one of the fastest growing online video plays, with
people logging in to watch their favorite games and highlights online.
Fantasy football is also a social networking opportunity, with more and more people
engaging in competitive leagues each year for money and bragging rights alike. There are
numerous platforms for creating and managing a league and there are loads of services
you can use, either free or paid, to give you the edge against your fellow managers.
Within each of these platforms are tools for talking smack, managing and executing
trades and general communications with the rest of your league.
Active fantasy team managers don't just wait till Sunday to log in to their teams. They are
interacting daily: checking injury reports and waiver wires, reading local news on their
star players and researching other teams' players to see where they could make trades to
improve the quality of their teams. In some cases you see fantasy team managers logging
in and spending as much as 30 minutes or more per session just doing research (much of
which is likely done at work).
Now comes the idea that fantasy football is also an open, distributed platform, much like
Twitter and Facebook Connect. Fantasy football apps are all the rage this time of the year
in the iTunes App Store and there are many examples of paid services that will give you
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that extra leg up and insight. If you manage your fantasy team on Yahoo or CBS
Sportsline, you can most likely download either a licensed or a third party app that will
allow you access to your league and your team because these sites have an open API that
allows you to pull the data into other locations. It would appear there are just as many
people accessing their teams through mobile devices as through the Web and the standard
PC interface. This is purely qualitatively stated research, but walk into a sports bar on
Sunday and take note of how many people are looking down at their phones as compared
to looking up at the TV screens. I think you'll be pretty surprised!
And of course, fantasy football is the ultimate social lubricant. Just the other day I was in
the elevator talking with my wife about our fantasy teams (and yes, she has a better team
than I do) and the guy next to us jumped into the conversation. Fantasy sports, especially
fantasy football, are a unifying factor in the U.S. for just about all casual sports fans
because they force you to watch and root for multiple teams beyond just your hometown.
You root for individual achievement, not just the San Francisco Forty-Niners or The New
York Giants, and you share your insights with complete and utter strangers just because
they care. What other sport creates that sense of camaraderie? European football creates
mobs of fans and American baseball can do the same if you live in Boston and New
York! But fantasy football is a unique beast, and the NFL has skyrocketed in popularity
as a result.
If I were a sports marketer, I would examine the NFL and the ways they've embraced this
pastime because it can provide valuable insight into how to engage with my consumer.
Even CPG marketers can see that marrying together social and standard online media
with an offline event can help tap into the innate passion for a product and drive
consumer engagement.
I tip my hat to whoever started this whole crazy train (apparently his name was Bill
Winkenbach and he worked for the Raiders), though I'd be willing to bet money the poor
guy didn't make a dollar off the idea because he forgot to file a patent.
Cheers to Bill and good luck this season!
8
Fantasy Football: Is It Going to Our Heads?
By Sean Gregory Monday, Aug. 31, 2009
Football player: Corbis; Office: Holly Harris / Getty; Businessman: Jose Luis Pelaez /
Getty
But if you still think fantasy-dork mayors are a head scratcher, check out some of the
fantasy-related cottage industries that have started up or expanded during the Great
Recession. One of the hottest fantasy offshoots is in the trophy business, which is mindboggling: on the unnecessary-expenditure scale, a keepsake for the winner of a fantasy
league is off the charts. One site, TheUltimateTrophy.com just shipped an $800 prize to a
fantasy-league commissioner. "Part of the jollies of fantasy sports is you get to stick it in
the face of your buddies," says Tom Harkins, president of FantasySportsTrophies.com
whose sales have risen 50% during the downturn. "That trophy says, I know more than
you." It also says, I know how to spend money on stupid stuff.
What's more, for $15, a lawyer on FantasyDispute.com or SportsJudge.com will settle the
inevitable arguments that arise in fantasy leagues, like accusations of collusion. Wait —
just because I have no chance to win my league, I can't trade my Peyton Manning to my
wife, who has a shot at a $1,000 prize, for her Sage Rosenfels? (See sports pictures taken
by Walter Iooss.)
The fantasy craze has even crept into our educational system. Dan Flockhart, a former
middle-school math teacher in California, designed a fantasy-based curriculum that
thousands of teachers are using in their classrooms. His workbook, Fantasy Football and
Mathematics, encourages students to draft teams and compute points according to
formulas that incorporate basic math concepts like decimals, fractions and negative
9
integers. But before you conclude that this trend is the final sign that American education
is doomed, know this: fantasy math may be working. According to preliminary research
by the University of Mississippi, most teachers who use Flockhart's program are
reporting higher levels of math enthusiasm — and better grades — among students.
Why? "It's all about the hook," says Jennifer Wilnewic, a seventh-grade math teacher in
Elgin, Ill., who plans to use the fantasy-football curriculum again this year. As the
summer winds down, Wilnewic is prepping her lessons. "I'm going to have [Chicago
Bears quarterback] Jay Cutler on my team," she says. Who knew the future of our
children might depend on fantasy football?
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,19177312,00.html#ixzz0Wwf7KSBf
10
Casual Games May Be Recession-Proof;
Companies Report Record Revenues, and
Some Surprising Trends
Wade Roush
November 24, 2008
"Countercyclical" is a word you're probably going to hear a lot in the coming months -from entrepreneurs professing that their businesses are not only recession-proof, but will
actually fare better during lean times. It's a word that the leaders of the casual games
industry, which has a strong presence in both Seattle and Boston, have been using a lot
lately. But in their case, so far, it seems to be true. Seattle-based Big Fish Games and
Newton, MA-based WorldWinner both tell Xconomy that in October, while stocks were
swooning and unemployment was swelling, they earned record revenues.
Casual games is the gaming industry's term for break-time online games or small
downloadable games like "Bejeweled" or "Diner Dash," as opposed to console-based
video games or all-absorbing multiplayer games like World of Warcraft. I've written
about the Boston casual gaming cluster here, and Greg has covered Seattle-area gaming
companies extensively.
Not all of the regions' gaming companies are likely to be immune to the downturn. From
talking with executives at gaming outfits in Seattle and Boston, it's clear that there's
pessimism in the industry about Web advertising as a source of revenue, and about the
prospects for survival for companies that get the bulk of their revenue from display ads.
"For ad-based casual gaming companies, pretty much everyone agrees that it's going to
be tough for a while," says Christopher Cummings, senior product manager for
Gamesville, a gaming site owned by Waltham, MA-based Lycos. "Some startups
probably won't survive, and for others it might be lean times."
But casual gaming companies with more ways to make money, such as charging
customers for downloads or tournament play or licensing their games to other companies,
may fare better -- especially as computer owners turn to casual games as a less expensive
diversion than going to a movie or eating out.
"One possibility in a downturn would be that people would have an aversion to games,
because it's discretionary spending," says Jeremy Lewis, CEO of Big Fish Games, which
11
gets most of its revenues from purchases of the downloadable games designed by its
community of 650 freelance contributors. "But a second possibility is that people see it as
an attractive alternative to other more expensive forms of entertainment. And a third
would be that people who are out of work have more time to play games. We are
certainly seeing the second effect, and maybe also the third." Lewis says Big Fish's
October revenue was up a whopping 23 percent over September levels.
Gaming executives are also encouraged by surveys indicating that Americans plan to
retrench during the recession by spending more time at home and less on activities like
travel and theater-going. "Consumers are looking for entertainment options that they can
enjoy at home with their families," says Christian Meyer, chief marketing officer at
WorldWinner. And that means "home entertainment is well positioned to withstand the
downturn."
Here's a closer look at five major trends the gaming executives I spoke with are observing
or predicting as the industry confronts changing economic conditions.
1. Game Players Spending More Time Online
Meyer says WorldWinner, where players pay a small fee to compete against other players
in a variety of skill-based games, had more visitors in October than in any other month in
its nine-year history, and is on track to set another record in November. But even at sites
such as Gamesville, where traffic hasn't increased as much, the people who do come are
staying longer.
"The user base for Gamesville has been mainly flat, with a little bit of growth over the
course of this year," says Cummings. "But the amount of time that people are spending
on the site has increased dramatically." Not so long ago, the typical Gamesville user
played for about 40 minutes; now the average visit lasts 90 minutes, an eternity in Web
time.
And that means users see more ads while they're on the site -- which, along with the huge
popularity of the site's recently resurrected Bingo Zone, has helped to make the
Gamesville division of Lycos profitable this year. "That's a first in recent history,"
Cummings says.
2. Casual Games Appealing to a Larger Cross-Section of Consumers
Online game companies have long seen women in their 30s and above as their core
audience. WorldWinner and its sister site GSN.com, the online arm of TV's Game Show
Network, "tend to service Mom," says Meyer. "It's for those moments when the kids are
in bed and she has a few moments to herself. It's really 'me' time."
Women may still make up the largest part of casual games' user base, but at Gamesville,
at least, those women are in a lower age bracket than they used to be. "We have noticed
its been trending much younger over the past 12 months," says Cummings. "As you
12
might imagine, with Bingo being so big, our audience used to be a little older. Today, it's
more the college age group up to around age 54 that makes up the core audience."
Lewis has observed something similar at Big Fish. "Our customer demographic skews
from literally 5 years old to 95, but the peak is women 35 to 50 years old," he says. But
over time, the company has picked up many more users who are under 35 or over 50.
"The bell curve is flattening," says Lewis, who says the pattern is "consistent with the
dynamics of other mass markets as they have matured."
3. Casual and Mobile Gaming Positioned to Overtake PC and Console Gaming
With more people seeking inexpensive home entertainment, executives say, casual games
could grow even faster than the red-hot console and PC game market, which pulled in
more than $1.3 billion in October (a 19 percent increase over the same month in 2007).
"Any industry sector with a B2B element is going to suffer," predicts Xconomist Trip
Hawkins, the founder and CEO of San Mateo, CA-based mobile game maker Digital
Chocolate (and before that, founder of gaming mega-giant Electronic Arts). "With games,
that means that brick and mortar retailers are cutting back on inventory purchases of
boxed console games. Arguably, mobile games will fare the best, because it is not B2B -we only get paid when the consumer buys, and it is the lowest-priced form of gaming that
does not have a free alternative."
Jim Gregoire, vice president of marketing at Boston-based mobile social networking and
gaming site MocoSpace, says his company is seeing that effect already. "We continue to
see strong growth in our numbers through this downturn as the mobile Web grows in its
influence and people look for cheap or free entertainment outlets," Gregoire says. Page
views for MocoSpace's mobile games have been rising "on an equal plane with all other
activity" on the site, he says. "It has come close to doubling since January" -- helping to
land MocoSpace at the top of Hitwise's most recent rankings of mobile entertainment
sites.
David Roberts is CEO of Seattle-based PopCap, which just rolled out a sequel to its
blockbuster casual game "Bejeweled." He says the recession is likely to spook some
gamers into avoiding "higher-priced items that feel more like luxuries" -- including,
perhaps, those $30 to $60 PC and console games. "Consumers will be looking for more
value in everything they buy, and they'll defer second- and third-tier consumption until
they know what's going on in their lives -- essentially a flight toward quality that I like to
think will benefit games like those we make at PopCap," Roberts says.
4. Some Types of Advertising Revenue Remain Strong
Typical Web banner ads and other forms of display advertising are gradually drying up as
a revenue stream, say gaming executives. "As far as ad-driven gaming goes, demand for
free game-play will probably go up, but I expect decreased advertising budgets will lead
to a decline in available sponsorships," says Roberts. (PopCap itself relies on a mix of
game purchases, display advertising, video advertising, and, in partnership with
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WorldWinner, fee-based tournaments.) "There is so much inventory available across the
board, so it comes down to where you can access the demographic you want more
efficiently, and in that context there is a lot of competition," adds Meyer of
WorldWinner.
But some forms of advertising are still pulling in good money. "Here at Lycos we do
have some experience surviving economic downturns, and one of the things that we did
pretty early on was to create a family of strong brands with diversified revenue," says
Gamesville's Cummings. "That's basically how we survived when the bubble burst last
time. And we spent the first half of this year diversifying our own revenue sources
beyond display ads." In particular, Gamesville has started offering video ads, for which
advertisers have been paying "pretty spectacular" rates, according to Cummings.
Meyer points out that opportunities for cross-media exposure can also attract advertisers.
WorldWinner happens to be part of Liberty Media, which also owns the Game Show
Network. "We are in a little bit of a unique position, because we can pull media packages
together," says Meyer. "You can buy ad inventory on TV and have that link to
customized elements that show up online. That gives us a leg up when we walk into an ad
agency or an advertiser."
5. Gaming Companies Growing in Some Areas, Retrenching in Others
While many tech startups are being forced to lay off staff to conserve cash, several casual
game companies are still hiring. Big Fish, which has 340 employees, will likely grow by
another 60 positions in 2009, Lewis told TechFlash last week.
WorldWinner, too, is looking for more developers. "We are one of the few players, at
least here in Boston, that is hiring," says Meyer. "A lot of the candidates that I have
talked to recently say 'Wow, you guys are one of the few companies that are this upbeat
and charged up.'"
But that doesn't mean gaming companies are spending money as loosely as they used to.
At the same time as it is adding staff, for instance, WorldWinner has scaled back efforts
to rewrite its Windows-based games for the cross-browser Flash multimedia format, so
that they'll run on Mac computers and browsers other than Internet Explorer. "We pulled
in some of the R&D work to refocus resources on those things that have more immediate
return on investment," says Meyer. "On the GSN site we have doubled the portfolio of
Flash games, but at WorldWinner we have not moved forward significantly there."
Lewis, a veteran of Goldman Sachs, says that in a recession, the most important role for
the CEOs of gaming outfits -- or of any other type of company -- is to ensure that their
organizations are ready to adapt to changing conditions, and that they are meeting their
customers' needs.
"We've always questioned whether the Big Fish Games business is a defensive one or a
countercyclical one, and thus far the data demonstrates that it is countercyclical," Lewis
14
says. "But our focus ever since we founded the company has been on improving our
understanding of our developer community and our game customers, and having that
understanding reflected in the things we produce. That's something we can control,
irrespective of the economic cycle."
15
Fantasy Football. Grand Prize: $1 Million
By SEAN GREGORY Saturday, Feb. 28, 2009
Scott Audette / Reuters
DeAngelo Williams is a nice
running back who plays for
the
Carolina Panthers. He also
made a
Colorado youth corrections
officer
a millionaire. With an assist
from
Williams' strong play near the
end of
the season, Shane Schroeder,
31, in
December took home the first
$1,000,000 fantasy football
prize.
The Fantasy Football Open
Championship is now signing
up
entrants for the 2009 season: you can get in for as little as $75, but paying $275 for a
team improves your odds of bagging the grand prize. Might just be worth a Hail Mar
Fantasy Baseball. Grand Prize: $100,000
For $1,300, you can secure a spot at the table for the National Fantasy Baseball
Championship's March 21 draft, which you have to physically attend in one of four cities:
New York City, Chicago, Las Vegas or Orlando, Fla. The fantasy participants are divided
into 27 leagues, each consisting of 15 teams. Performance is based on five hitting
categories — batting average, home
runs, RBIs, stolen bases and runs —
and five pitching categories — wins,
saves, earned run average, strikeouts
and WHIP ratio (walks plus hits,
divided by innings pitched). League
champs each snatch $5,000; the overall
winner gets the $100,000 grand prize.
Fantasy Surfing. Grand prize: FiveDay Trip to Hawaii
16
Quinn Rooney / Getty
To compete in Surfer magazine's fantasy surfing competition, each player drafts a team
of eight surfers from the ASP World Tour. Your point values depend on how well these
players finish. The catch is that the site assigns dollar values to each pro, and your picks
can't exceed a $50 million spending cap (in fake dollars, of course). Before each event,
you can trade in your
wipeouts
for more surefire surfers,
as long as
you're under the cap. The
game is
free, and the '08 champ
won a
five-day surfing trip to
Hawaii.
Read more:
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1879114_1879113_1879120,00.html#ixzz0W
wiGVu2F
Fantasy Fishing. Grand Prize: $1 Million
Richard Rasmussen / The Sentinel-Record / AP
Yes, there is such a thing as fantasy
fishing. And you can win a million
dollars. And you don't have to pay an
entry fee. Before each of the six
regular-season tournaments for the
FLW Tour — the largest pro bassfishing circuit in the U.S. — you pick
10 anglers at fantasyfishing.com. The
better your picks do, the more points
you rack up. And you get a hefty bonus
for an exacta (if your pick for first,
second, third, etc., matches the tournament ranking). The winner of each tournament gets
$100,000. Whoever piles up the most points over all six tournaments wins the million.
That's quite a nice catch. The first tournament starts on Feb. 12 on Lake Guntersville in
Huntsville, Ala.
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Making It to the Major League of Fantasy Sports
By JACK BELL
Christopher J. Russo lives a life of fantasy in the real world.
He founded Fantasy Sports Ventures Inc. in 2006. Before that, he spent 15 years in the
media business as the vice president for marketing at NBC, the executive vice president
for franchise programming/marketing at New Line Cinema and in senior executive
positions at the National Football League, where he was the senior vice president for new
media-publishing from 1999 to 2005.
While at the N.F.L., Mr. Russo, who earned a master’s degree from the Harvard Business
School in 1990, helped start the league’s first fantasy football game.
And while Rotisserie baseball is recognized as the granddaddy of all fantasy sports,
football has emerged as the most popular fantasy sport among the 15 million Americans
who spend hours massaging statistical data and picking teams. There are now 17 million
unique users of fantasy football sites, compared with 3 million fantasy baseball players.
Mr. Russo scored a coup of sorts in the world of online fantasy games when Nielsen
Online reported last November that fantasyplayers.com was the No. 4 site among fantasy
football destinations, behind Yahoo, ESPN and CBS SportsLine, but ahead of NFL.com,
FoxSports.com and SI.com. His company was No. 2 in fantasy baseball.
In addition to providing fantasy fields of dreams in mainstream sports, the site has
fantasy games in tennis, cricket, ice hockey, basketball and soccer.
With more than 90 affiliated member sites providing content, the company has succeeded
in attracting advertising from Wal-Mart, Sprint, EA Sports, AT&T and Topps.
Excerpts from the interview follow:
Q. Who plays fantasy sports and why do you believe those players are so appealing to
advertisers?
A. The fantasy audience is highly engaged, it is composed mostly of men 18 to 49 who
spend five to six hours a week managing their teams. They rank high in terms of
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education, income and their propensity to buy products. They are among some of the
most engaged people on the Web. There are 18 million people playing fantasy sports in
the United States.
Fantasy sports combines games, sports and community — three of the most powerful
drivers on the Web, rolled into one. The users can be the general manager and select the
players on their team, and what they’re looking for is information that no one else might
have, or is not available on other sites. It empowers the fan and drives so much usage.
That is what advertisers find appealing — these are not casual users.
Q. You mentioned the new Web buzzword: community. Do the sites on your network
have anything in common with Facebook or MySpace?
A. In general terms, the users of community-based applications are highly engaged. In the
last couple of years, the buzz has been about what’s the social networking application for
sports — the killer app for sports. It really is fantasy sports. But it’s different from
Facebook, which to me really is a community of 12, your friends from college. In fantasy
sports, you’re playing together in a league, having fun, trash-talking.
And while Facebook and MySpace have added sports widgets, they are really about
casual play. Quick hit games. The more avid sports fans are spending time on specialty
sites on our games network.
Q. Why has football overtaken baseball, at least in terms of the number of fantasy
players?
A. Baseball was the first fantasy sport and, next to football, has the most audience. But
with baseball, you need to be on top of your teams and stats every day. It takes a higher
level of commitment. Football is more weekly. Of course, there is a commitment in time,
but with football it is more of a ritual leading up to games on Sunday. During the week,
fans are looking for news on injuries and on Sunday, fans will spend time looking for
last-minute news. Monday and Tuesday are post-mortem days. Really, fantasy games are
a natural for football because of its natural rhythm during the week.
Q. Recent data from Nielsen Online shows that your company has cracked the top five
fantasy football Web sites, putting you in the company of Yahoo, ESPN and CBS
SportsLine. Is there something fans find on your site that they cannot find elsewhere?
A. Our competition is the bigger media sites, but we’re also complementary to those
sites. People play fantasy games at those sites and then they tend to come to us for new,
fresh information and analysis. A user may make 12 visits a week for fantasy football;
seven to the main site and five to other sites to get new info. We have all those other
sites. We have injury reports, in-depth reports on the N.F.L. draft. Our sites are by
fantasy players for fantasy players.
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We are a network portal site. We own six of the sites, including freefantasy.com,
fantasyplayers.com and thehuddle.com, and have an integrated network of 95 affiliates
for sports like baseball, basketball and football run by independent contractors and one or
two entrepreneurs.
Q. Why do you think you can succeed as an advertisersupported environment when many Web sites are struggling to attract enough advertisers
to turn a profit?
A. Topps, the company that makes baseball cards, is one of our advertisers. When they
came to us and said they were interested in building some fantasy component into their
rookie cards, which is one of their most successful lines, we provided the content on their
Web site. We want to enable advertisers to wrap themselves in our content, into the
unique content of 100 sites.
An extended version is available at nytimes.com/business.
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May 21, 2008
Are We All Casual Gamers Yet?
by Andrew Krainin
Find out why there really is no difference between casual and hardcore gamers, and what
it will take for the rest of the world to become players of casual games in the third panel
from Digital Media Wire's LA Games Conference 2008.
Casual Games: What's Next Now that Everyone's Involved?
Peter Blacklow, Pres., WorldWinner (Liberty Media subsidiary), EVP, Digital, GSN
Kate Connally, Vice President, AddictingGames, MTV Networks
Eric Lavanchy, Director of Gaming, Endemol USA
Matt Turetzky, VP, Non-PC Games, RealNetworks, Inc.
Dave Madden, EVP, Sales, Marketing & Bus. Development, WildTangent
Moderator: Mike Vorhaus, Managing Director, Frank N. Magid Associates
Give a profound or controversial comment with your introductions:
Dave – I think that casual games are generally going free, with monetization inside and
and at the back end of the game
Matt – News Flash: Gaming division is about to spin off from RealNetworks as a
publicly traded company – and that's all I can say about it
Eric – I'm convinced that within 5 years there will be no game shows or reality shows
without a significant online component that intimately involves and integrates people into
the show.
Kate – This is a profound question, not a statement. What will be the successful types of
games that are going to spring to life on television?
Peter – Celtics in 4 over Detroit
In such a crowded old space, how do new casual game titles break through?
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Dave – It depends on how you define casual, psychographic or demographic. If casual is
a game found online, no money spent, no time investment required … in that world, it's
going to be much bigger than the traditional game business is today.
What's the next new thing in casual games?
Kate – We're looking at platforms like Facebook and MySpace engaging a much bigger
interactive audience daily than ever before who are looking for something to do. You
give them an interactive experience while they're on their web page, and you have a much
better chance of engaging with them. There are also some innovative game styles
emerging but they are still early stage, like the viral vampire games which are interesting
at first but seem to become annoying.
Matt – Obviously there are a lot of interesting things happening on social networks, but in
general I don't think there's much new. We're all to blame for focusing on things that
have been successful over time, but that sameness will open the door to brands, like
Scrabble, Mattel and Hasbro.
Eric – It needs to be remembered that this is a very nascent area; Facebook as a platform
has been opened for all of two years now. In the early days of TV they were filming radio
plays. We probably haven't seen the thing that can really get accomplished through social
media yet.
Peter – This whole industry – online casual games – is still brand new. Particularly at
GSN, we hear a lot from people who enjoy the game shows on TV and who have no idea
that they can go online and compete in these games. Wheel of Fortune is the number one
syndicated show week after week after week, and while Sony is doing a great job trying
to move people online, the viewers and loyal fans are just beginning to move online.
What tools do you use to get viewers on to game sites?
Peter – Back to TV shows, none of these should happen without an online component.
Example, Bingo America, GSN was getting 2000 registered users per day, not many.
When we launched Bingo America with prizes and contests, that jumped to 22,000
registered users a day.
Is there really a difference between the casual gamer and the hardcore gamer?
Peter – I also work with GamerDNA, a company that I'm on the board yet, which is
focused on hardcore gamers. This segmentation around casual, hardcore, etc. games
doesn't work the same way in any other industry – people listen across music genres for
example. We've all lost sight of the gaming consumer, who don't define themselves that
way.
Kate – We've also defined gamers by the way games are delivered, the platform, vs. the
games that are differentiated by brands and programming vs. platforms.
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Matt – There's a perception that casual games are for women 35 plus. If you look at the
traffic coming to RealNetworks is much more balanced, 50/50. Casual is just about
monetizing.
Dave – The credit card is the gating factor for gaming online, who has it and who has
access to it in order to buy the game. I load up my iPod at 99 cents a song but I can't do
the same thing in gaming, to break the price down and sample games on a bite-sized
basis. It's dependent on microtransactions and other forms of monetization, the ways
people can pay for games.
Kate – Or advertising.
Can Eric talk about mobile vs. internet entries?
Eric – We're trying to minimize the distinction, and that's how consumers see it.
How about voting, mobile vs. internet?
Eric – Because of the way we advertise and make money from the calls, it's 90% mobile
vs. 10% internet but that will change over time. If you look at Current.TV, over 40% of
the audience is having a two screen experience while they watch.
Are people interested in learning about or improving themselves through gaming? Selfawareness?
Eric – Nintendo has a whole line of such games
Kate – We've done research, and the drive for personal achievement and accomplishment
is a big part of the motivation. Consumers say it's the one time they can actually finish
something.
Matt – Our research indicates the same thing, that our users play games for relaxation,
entertainment and also a sense of achievement. When you want to relax and feel good
about yourself, you might want to pop balloons vs. do math problems, because the
frustration level gets in the way of the sense of accomplishment.
Peter – When we started to benchmark people's scores against others in tournaments, we
doubled our conversion from free to money.
Are you looking at all at casual gaming as a way of affecting how people engage and
connect with each other, and understanding the effect on others?
Mike – The SIMS is the closest to what you are describing.
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Kate – The concept of collaborative play is creating awareness that people can
accomplish more in groups than they can individually. Collaborative play is an exciting
new area where we are seeing a lot of interest from gamers.
How do you determine content synergy with consumer lifestyle?
Collective hmmm… from the panel
For example, in the videogame Crimes of New York, who was creating that lifestyle and
how do you create synergy with the games.
Eric – Some Endemol examples … Extreme Makeover Home Edition. We're aggregating
people based on lifestyles and interests, allowing for social interaction.
Kate – We have a whole category called News Games based on things that celebrities and
politicians do. We have a whole team of creative developers who make those choices and
let fly.
But the kids are playing GTA IV, etc. Who's keeping this real world?
Kate – It's the responsibility of the game publisher
Eric – We're starting to see platforms for user generated gaming content. So the whole
question of control won't matter over time, you'll control it, the consumer will. A few
years ago, that wasn't possible.
Kate – At Addicting Games, 70% of our games are coming from independent developers
who might be teenagers learning Flash. Our most popular game last year was developed
by a 14 year old in Sweden.
Dave – The same plumbing being used by Real Time Worlds to launch their games is
being structured as a Wiki. Individuals will be able to create their own story lines, story
arcs, etc., and a $50 million bet was just made against it.
Who's the hard core gamer and who's not?
Dave – If you are an aggregator of games, you don't need to worry about it. But the
payment models is where things get interesting. The number one game played by
RuneScape, Habbo's users, is free. There's a whole slew coming out like this where you
get in for free, and then pay for new capabilities on a microtransaction basis or through
advertisers.
Eric – To answer an earlier question, what happened to the paid download model for
casual games … it's not gone yet but there consensus that it's going away.
But the paid download model is paid and growing, it's bigger than PC retail!
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Matt – We agree with that but the mix is moving toward online and free, ad and
microtransaction supported.
Peter – As you know I don't like the hardcore / casual distinction. At Worldwinner, all of
our gamers are hardcore casual gamers. On average, they spend $400 a month on
contests. Our commission is 15-25%.
Dave – That's called gambling addiction and people do it at the horse race all the time.
Peter – The gamblers don't stick around very long. People know they are going to lose
$300 a month but are doing it for the entertainment value not because they think they are
going to make money.
What's going to get the other 250 million people involved in casual games?
Matt – It's a question of ubiquity. We're distributing our games through as many portals
and locations as possible to drive that reach.
Dave – It's a huge addressable audience, the way you make money is multi-faceted but
it's going to be a huge market from an advertising perspective.
Kate – We need to make great efforts to diversify the types of people who are making
games. To date it's been an outgrowth of technologists but we need people from artistic
and creative backgrounds.
Eric – It's about taking gaming out of its box and immersing games in other participatory
experiences.
Peter – Television. Liberty Media, by buying our small skills based gaming company and
merging it with a television network, is saying that they are going to drive people from
TV to the internet to play games.
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Fantasy Sports Adds Baseball HQ To Web Holdings
MAY 15, 2008
By MATTHEW FUTTERMAN
Fantasy Sports Ventures Inc., a fast-growing fantasy sports company, acquired Baseball
HQ, a leading Web site for statistical analysis, the companies said.
Valued in the "low seven figures," according to a person familiar with the situation, the
deal is the latest step by the New York Internet media company toward its goal of
becoming a one-stop shopping center for marketers looking to connect to the estimated
15 million fantasy-sports players in the U.S.
To that end, Chief Executive Chris Russo wants to acquire or partner with a top fantasy
sports Web site in every category. Roanoke, Va.-based Baseball HQ, owned and run by
Ron Shandler, a cult figure in rotisserie, or fantasy, baseball circles, is the eighth
company acquired by closely held Fantasy Sports. Others include RotoNation, a sort of
authoritative consumer guide for the fantasy-sports industry; HoopsHype, an insider's
guide to basketball, and KFFL, a fantasy football guide.
The company also has partnership agreements with 125 other fantasy Web sites. FSV
sells ads for these sites and shares revenue.
"You have Web sites that from a content perspective are very strong, but from a business
perspective really were not fully leveraged," said Mr. Russo, former head of new media
for the National Football League who jumped into the $2 billion-a-year fantasy-sports
business in 2006.
Individually, sites acquired by FSV may have just a few thousand subscribers. But
collectively their Web traffic has propelled FSV's network into the Top 10 sports sites.
FSV's sites had 5.5 million unique users last month, according to Nielsen NetRatings,
ahead of NBA.com, NHL.com and Nascar Online.
Write to Matthew Futterman at [email protected]
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Fantasy sports come to China.
Magazine dated March 16, 2009
Ten years ago John Tang found his calling, thanks to boredom and a little bit of finagling.
Toiling for an hourly wage at Cisco as a service rep one summer, he took up fantasy
sports to keep himself entertained while working as late as possible. "You got paid for as
long as you sat in your chair, so fantasy sports became a great time-killer for me," says
Tang, 29, who was born in China and raised in the U.S. "Fell in love and have been
playing every year since."
Lately Tang is doing more than just engaging in a
pastime enjoyed by more than 28 million Americans:
He's bringing it to China. In October he launched
Imyty.com, the first Chinese-language fantasy sports
site. From his offices in Shenzhen he hopes to channel
China's burgeoning obsession with basketball into a
broader interest in fantasy sports. He estimates that
100,000 Chinese citizens play fantasy sports today,
including the 42,000 registered on his site. Even so,
Tang thinks the hobby could eventually be an even
bigger hit in China than it is in the U.S.
can bring 30 million users and $4 billion a year, what
can it do in a country with four times the population and
290 million Web users?" he asks. "Mark my words:
Within five years there will be a full-fledged fantasy
sports industry here. The Chinese are quick learners."
Fantasy sports started 30 years ago in the U.S. when writer Daniel Okrent conceived a
game called Rotisserie Baseball. In 1980 he and nine compatriots gathered and each
picked 30 players from U.S. Major League teams. They updated statistics for their virtual
teams using nothing more than box scores and calculators. At the end of the year the team
with the best aggregate statistics was declared champion. Okrent's game became known
as fantasy baseball, thanks to the efforts of copyright dodgers in the mid-1980s.
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Today the Internet has turned a once obscure hobby into an international obsession. In the
wake of baseball's success, a slew of other imaginary sports have sprung up--fantasy
football, with its 20 million adherents in the U.S., has surpassed baseball; fantasy auto
racing is a close third with 8.5 million acolytes. Japan boasts fantasy sumo, India fantasy
cricket and the U.K. its own version of fantasy football.
"Fantasy sports and porn are probably the two most perfect industries for the Internet,"
boasts Greg Ambrosius, editor of 20-year-old Fantasy Sports magazine. Today there are
dozens of similar publications as well as hundreds of Web sites (some fee-based) and
countless amateur advice blogs.
The honeypot has attracted all manner of entrepreneur. Former actuary Scott Swanay, 43,
peddles preseason baseball projections for $30 and updates them throughout the season
for $20 via his Web site, FantasyBaseballSherpa.com. At MockDraftCentral.com, fantasy
baseball fiends can pay $4 a month to take part in an unlimited number of practice drafts.
Comment On This Story
For fantasy players the payoffs can be huge. Last year, after putting his five kids to bed
each night, Robert Jurney of Dunkirk, Maryland would spend hours poring over league
standings and soaking up the latest player stats. He went on to win NBC Sports' national
fantasy baseball competition--a seasonlong contest of 26 leagues and 390 teams--and
took home the grand prize of $100,000.
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FUN Technologies' Skill Games Network
Reaches Industry Record of More than 30
Million Players Globally
Merger of Leading Skill Games Sites, WorldWinner and SkillJam, Continues to Drive
Record Numbers of Cash Players, Games Played and Revenue per User
TORONTO and SAN FRANCISCO - March 6, 2007 - FUN Technologies Inc.
(TSX:FUN) (AIM:FUN), one of the world's leading online and interactive casual games
providers, announced today at the 2007 Game Developers Conference that through the
merger of its wholly-owned subsidiaries, WorldWinner and SkillJam, the company's
FUN Games division has emerged as a global skill games powerhouse, touting the largest
player network in the world at more than 30 million. Following FUN's acquisition of
WorldWinner in March 2006, the company has completed the first phases of migrating
registered players from SkillJam and its extensive partner network to the industry-leading
WorldWinner tournament games platform. Additionally, FUN has added some of the
most popular casual games formerly available on SkillJam to WorldWinner.com,
including Bejeweled 2, Zuma, Big Money and Dynomite, giving players more games and
more players against whom to compete. These new games complement the popular titles
currently available on WorldWinner, including SCRABBLE® Cubes, Solitaire and
Luxor.
Leveraging best practices from both WorldWinner and SkillJam, FUN's newly
consolidated skill games offering has already realized increased revenues. SkillJam
delivers a partner network of leading games and lifestyle sites, such as AOL Games and
MSN Games, which are key to driving player acquisition, while WorldWinner provides
an unparalleled tournament platform and superior player experience proven to increase
player retention. As a result of the newly combined player network and additional games
available on WorldWinner, members are playing an average of 60 percent more cash
games daily, resulting in a 123 percent increase in average revenue per player.
Furthermore, the number of new cash players on WorldWinner has increased 95 percent.
In the wake of the consolidation of these two industry leaders, FUN Technologies is
29
poised to capture significant market share in the fast-growth industry of casual games estimated to reach USD 1.56 billion by 2008 .
With its line-up of household games played offline for decades, fast-paced competition
and myriad tournament modes that reward players with instant cash and prizes, FUN
Games attracts nearly 8 million unique visitors per month (comScore Media Metrix,
December 2006). For gamers, this 'player liquidity,' which is unmatched in the industry,
ensures tournaments close faster and winners are identified quickly, increasing the
excitement of the games.
"Building a robust player network, leveraging our vast partner network, and creating the
best selection of popular casual games were integral parts of our strategic vision for the
merger of the two leading skill games sites," said Lorne Abony, chief executive officer of
FUN Technologies. "WorldWinner and SkillJam represent the world's top two providers
of skill games competitions and are complementary businesses in every way;
consolidating them allows us to not only expand our games portfolio and player network
to benefit existing gamers, but also to attract an entirely new audience."
Completing the Integration
Following the most recent migration of skill-based game players from AOL Games, FUN
Games will continue to migrate additional registered players from key partner sites,
including MSN Games and GSN, the Network for Games, to the WorldWinner platform,
further expanding its player network. Additionally, the company will continue adding
popular casual games titles to WorldWinner, including Lingo and BookWorm.
About FUN Technologies Inc.
FUN Technologies Inc. is one of the world's leading online casual games providers.
FUN's strategy is to provide its cutting-edge games systems to top distribution partners
around the world. FUN is 53% owned by Liberty Media Corporation (NASDAQ:LINTA,
LCAPA), and FUN's common shares are listed on both the Toronto Stock Exchange and
the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange under the
symbol "FUN".
About FUN Games
FUN Technologies' FUN Games division, comprised of its wholly-owned subsidiaries
SkillJam, WorldWinner, Octopi and Teagames, develops and distributes casual games
solutions with a focus on free play and cash competitions across online, mobile and iTV
platforms. Its broad network of partner sites includes leading global brands, such as AOL
Games, EA-Pogo, GSN, Lycos, MSN Games, Real Networks and Virgin Games. FUN
Games boasts the world's largest skill games network, with more than 30 million
registered players.
30
Fantasy Sports Industry Grows to a $800
Million Industry With 29.9 Million Players
The growth of the fantasy sports industry continues for the fifth consecutive year,
nearing 30 million players.
It's clear that fantasy sports are having a dramatic impact on all sports properties and media
organizations
The fantasy sports industry continues to grow and the industry's total revenue is even larger than
estimated before this survey.
Chicago, IL (PRWEB) July 10, 2008 -- The fantasy sports industry continues its strong
growth with 29.9 million people now actively playing in the U.S. and Canada and
$800 million spent directly on fantasy sports products, a survey conducted by the
Fantasy Sports Trade Association (FSTA). Complete results of the survey will
unveiled on Tuesday July 8th at the FSTA Business Conference at the Doubletree
Hotel in Chicago.
In the past year, 11 percent of those in the U.S., and 10 percent in Canada, aged 12 and
above have played fantasy sports, according to the survey, which Ipsos conducted on
behalf of the FSTA. The FSTA funds the annual research and distributes it as a
membership benefit to its 120+ member companies via its web site at www.fsta.org.
This is the sixth consecutive year of the Ipsos survey.
The survey also represents the first comprehensive national study of spending habits
among fantasy players, which shows the substantial financial impact of the industry.
Fantasy sports has a total market impact of $4.48 billion dollars. Consumers spend
$800 million directly on fantasy sports products, but also use an additional $3 billion
worth of media products related to the hobby (such as DirecTV's NFL Sunday Ticket
and XM Radio's coverage of all MLB baseball games).
"It's clear that fantasy sports are having a dramatic impact on all sports properties and
media organizations," said FSTA President Jeff Thomas. "The fantasy sports industry
continues to grow and the industry's total revenue is even larger than estimated before
this survey."
31
The fantasy sports industry has grown from an estimated three million people playing
in the early 1990s, to a 2003 FSTA survey showing 15 million people playing in the
U.S., to 27.1 million playing in the U.S. in the past year. This growth trend looks to
continue as the survey showed teenagers in both the U.S. and Canada play fantasy
sports at a higher rate than the national average, with 13 percent of teens paying in the
U.S. and 14 percent playing in Canada.
Aaron Amic, a Vice President of Ipsos Public Affairs, will present the full findings of
the survey at the FSTA conference in one of two demographic panels. Dr. Kim Beason
of The University of Mississippi will also unveil his 6th iteration of fantasy sports
industry demographic research sponsored by the FSTA. His research this summer
focuses on how fantasy sports players spend their money outside of the hobby and how
they are using new technologies to enjoy the hobby.
In addition to the demographic data, the FSTA conference will also feature panels on
raising investment capital, technology innovation and working with Fortune 500
brands.
The FSTA expects record attendance for this conference, which features two days of
guest speakers and seminars. A complete schedule of events is available at
http://www.fsta.org.
About the FSTA:
The FSTA is the largest and oldest trade group representing the fantasy sports industry
with over 120 members ranging from small startups to large media corporations. As
the voice of the industry since 1998, the FSTA has been the leader in providing
demographic data, annual conferences and collective action to ensure unfettered
growth. Visit www.fsta.org for more information.
About Ipsos:
Ipsos is a leading global survey-based market research company, owned and managed
by research professionals that helps interpret, simulate, and anticipate the needs and
responses of consumers, customers, and citizens around the world. Member companies
assess market potential and interpret market trends to develop and test emergent or
existing products or services, and build brands. They also test advertising and study
audience responses to various media, and measure public opinion around the globe.
Visit www.ipsos.com to learn more about Ipsos offerings and capabilities.
Methodology:
Ipsos conducted two surveys on behalf of the FSTA. The first survey was conducted
online among 1,200 Canadians aged 12 and over and 1,210 US interviews of those age
12 and above between June 13 and 16, 2008 with Ipsos' Online Omnibus. Results are
demographically balanced and weighted to represent the population of those aged 12
and over in North America. The margin of error is +/- 2.82 percentage points with a
95% level of confidence.
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The second survey was conducted online among a pre-screened Ipsos panel of fantasy
sports players of all levels of expertise. Ipsos interviewed 594 American fantasy sports
players aged 18+ to learn of their sports spending and media habits. Interviews were
conducted June 16 - 30 using the proprietary Ipsos panel and the Ipsos Online
Omnibus. Results are demographically balanced and weighted to represent the
population of those aged 18+ who play fantasy sports in the United States. The margin
of error is +/- 4.02 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.
If you'd like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with Jeff
Thomas or Aaron Amic, please call (262) 308-5544 or e-mail at fsta @ sportsbuff.com
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Fantasy Sports Ventures deal will send
info from sites to Sprint’s Now Network
By ERIC FISHER
Staff writer
Published August 31, 2009 : Page 05
Fantasy Sports Ventures has struck a deal with Sprint in which news and
information from the company’s collection of fantasy football sites will be
integrated into the wireless carrier’s Now Network series of online widgets
and screen savers.
The deal is one of a series of fantasy football-related agreements for FSV
as the 2009 football season approaches.
Sprint, the NFL’s official wireless sponsor, operates a series of online
content modules at sprint.com/nownetwork in which a variety of realtime news and information is included. FSV content, such as lists of the
most-added and most-dropped players in fantasy football, will appear in
the modules, which can also be included within a variety of social
networks.
FSV data and analysis content will also be available to Sprint customers
via their mobile devices.
The information will draw from FSV’s aggregated network of more than
450 sites devoted to fantasy sports.
The New York-based company also has signed a deal with Coors Light,
another NFL sponsor, in which the brewer will sponsor a fantasy football
on-demand service for the FSV network of sites. Fans will be able to
submit questions that are answered in near real time by those site
operators. Coors Light is sponsoring a fantasy football trade analyzer that
will be on the network, as well, along with a daily, two-minute video
segment on fantasy football.
Additionally, FSV has partnered with EA Sports and Microsoft’s Xbox Live
to create a special “experts” online league of “Madden NFL 10” featuring
teams created by publishers of the FSV network sites. The “Madden” play
34
will then become a source of news content within the FSV sites.
“I often say these couple of weeks leading up to the start of football are
the craziest time of the year, but we’re very encouraged by our ability to
go out and do big deals like these,” said Chris Russo, FSV chief executive.
“While the ad market, for everybody, is still not as robust as we’d like it
to be, there’s still a place for deep integration between brands and
content.”
Financial terms for the series of pacts were not disclosed.
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Marketers see winner in fantasy football
By Theresa Howard, USA TODAY
Some marketers dreaming of more revenue are gambling on the fantasy-football
phenomenon.
The fantasy game offers a chance to tap into a
committed audience: More than 27.7 million U.S.
players spend up to nine hours a week planning and
plotting their strategies for weekly matchups in 70
million free and paid leagues (the average player
belongs to 2.5 leagues).
Players create season-long dream teams of real players.
Weekly fantasy victories are based on those players'
combined individual statistics in the real world that
week.
The fanaticism adds up to a hardcore audience for
advertisers and ad revenue for big online hosting sites,
such as the NFL and CBS.
"For advertisers, these are highly dedicated, highly
committed players with very, very attentive
engagement," says Paul Charchian, president at Fantasy
Sports Trade Association.
Perhaps too committed. Time spent playing is the top
reason fantasy players are likely to stop, according to a
study by FSTA.
Charchian says that despite the economy, the number of
players in 2009 will equal last year's. The bulk of players
are in free leagues; 95% of paid leagues cost less than $250.
"It's extremely cost-effective entertainment, and it remains an important part of the social
networking for men," he says. "They will find other things to scrimp on first."
36
That's why Best Buy, Snickers, Ford Motor and Coors Light are betting on fantasy:
•Best Buy. The electronics retailer will offer a less-time-intensive way to play. A 17week promotion lets people pick a new team each week and play against a featured
celebrity to win chances in a sweepstakes. The game begins Thursday, when players can
pick a team at www.bestbuyfantasy.com and submit a lineup to play against Reba
McEntire. Players earn sweepstakes entries equal to the points by which they beat her.
There are weekly prizes, and the grand prize is a $5,700 package including a high-def
TV, Ibanez guitar and Microsoft Xbox 360.
"The way people consume media has changed," says Tim Young, senior marketing
manager. "This is another way to become engaged with our consumer and be part of their
weekly life."
•Snickers. The candy will sponsor an iPhone app with score updates in its second season
with CBS fantasy football. "The game generates awareness, draws people to our website
and influences purchases," says Ryan Bowling, Masterfoods spokesman.
•Ford. The automaker will tout its F-150 pickup, Mustang and new Taurus in its first
foray into fantasy, also with CBS. "It's a great audience, and it resonates well with people
that are passionate about their cars," says Alex Hultgren, digital media manager of
marketing operations.
"We are able to grow our revenue year over year," says Rich Calacci, senior vice
president of sales at CBSSports.com, which brought in Ford when General Motors
dropped out. Part of fantasy's appeal, he says, is that advertisers know it themselves. "All
of our clients are people who have grown up playing and are now in senior-managementlevel marketing."
The fantasy interest also has been good for small businesses, however.
Ed Reichow, who owns Titlecraft in Minneapolis, is in his second season making
trophies for fantasy leagues. Last year, he sold about 70 priced at about $500. This year,
he has expanded with offerings from $130 to $800 and expects to sell several hundred
online at www.theultimatetrophy.com.
"The response has been great," he says.
Hearing voices?
Q: I enjoy the Miller Lite commercials with the classic sporting event voice-overs
playing as the beer is poured. I recognize two: the announcers for the football
"Music City Miracle" and golf announcer Verne Lundquist. However, I believe that
the hockey one is a dramatization with a fake Dick Enberg "Oh, my" thrown in at
the end. Am I mistaken? And if I am correct, is it not a little disingenuous to use a
fake one along with the two real classic moments?
37
—Rui Barreto, Chicago
A: You know your sports, Rui, but it is the real Dick Enberg, along with the real Verne
Lundquist.
Their "classic moments," however, were created just for the ads (by Draftfcb, Chicago).
"We hired Verne Lundquist and Dick Enberg to deliver some of their signature lines
choreographed to an amazing, unique beer pour meant to mimic actions from the sports,"
says Julian Green, a spokesman for Miller.
The Music City Miracle, however, is the real deal, with announcers Pat Ryan and Mike
Keith voicing the classic NFL moment. Miller licensed footage of the Tennessee Titans
last-second win over the Buffalo Bills in the AFC wild card playoff game in 2000.
38
Article can be found at http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20090916/SMALLBIZ/909169993
New-media firm gets fans in the game
By Kira Bindrim
Published: September 16, 2009 - 12:59 pm
Those who can't do, teach. And those who can't play, manage. At least that's the logic
behind fantasy sports, a $1.5 billion industry that has some 30 million Americans creating
virtual sports teams and pitting them against one another in fabricated games,
tournaments and championships.
“For years, people would say, ‘This team should have traded that guy' or ‘They shouldn't
have gotten that player,' ” said Christopher Russo, founder and chief executive of Fantasy
Sports Ventures, which manages and sells advertising for some 500 online sports sites.
“Now you can run your own team. That's empowering.”
For Fantasy Sports Ventures, the national pastime has been more than empowering; it's
been lucrative.
Founded in October 2006 by Mr. Russo and three partners, the company now has 25 fulltime employees. Traffic doubled last year on FSV's aggregated sites, which include
HoopsHype.com and TheHuddle.com, and it's on track to climb another 60% this year.
Last month, the company's sites had just over 11 million unique visitors. While that gives
FSV the sixth-largest audience among sports Web sites, according to Nielsen Online, its
August growth rate—55% over year-earlier levels—was more than double that of any of
its competitors.
“Sports are a good place to find a highly engaged audience,” said Mr. Russo. “And within
sports, the fantasy audience is the most engaged.”
Love of the game is something that 44-year-old Mr. Russo learned at the National
Football League, where he was senior vice president of new media for five years before
he left to start his own company.
When he joined the NFL in 1999, the league wasn't yet sponsoring fantasy gaming. But
39
one year later, Mr. Russo oversaw the launch of NFL.com's first fantasy season.
Mr. Russo has spent the previous three years aggregating independent fantasy sites under
the FSV banner. He takes a backseat approach to the sites' content—much the way
NFL.com hosts the semiautonomous sites of its member teams—while driving the
brands' ad sales. For many of the independent sites, whose limited budgets prevent them
from pursuing advertising aggressively, FSV is a logical alternative.
The company also appeals to advertisers looking for a targeted audience. FSV, which
sells clients both display advertising and integrated marketing campaigns, has multiyear
deals with Coca-Cola, Sprint, Gillette and Coors.
“[The sites] want to reach consumers who buy a disproportionate amount of cell phones,
beer and automobiles,” said Mr. Russo.
About 80% of FSV's revenue comes from advertising sales, and the other 20% is
generated by subscription fees required on some of its sites. Revenue, which came in at
$6 million last year, is expected to hit $10 million in 2009. The company has received a
vote of confidence from Gannett Co., publisher of USA Today, which took a minority
stake in FSV in March of last year.
Mr. Russo doesn't deny that the recession has slowed things down. Even when they're
guaranteed access to niche consumers, advertisers are reluctant to shell out big bucks
online: Total Internet advertising is projected to decline 0.5% in 2009, according to
media economist Jack Myers.
Display advertising has also taken its lumps, as brands flock to newer techniques like
social networking and viral video. But if flat is the new up, fantasy sports are ahead of the
curve.
“People need a diversion to take their mind off of what's going on in the economy,” said
Greg Ambrosius, president of the Fantasy Sports Association, which estimates that
fantasy players spend an average of $154 per season on gaming. “I haven't heard anyone
in the industry crying that business is down.”
A study sponsored by the Fantasy Sports Trade Association even showed that fantasy
sports consumers think about their teams an average of 41 minutes each day. That's
almost two minutes per hour.
For Mr. Russo, who raised $6 million through friends and family to start FSV, such
audience devotion will be critical to getting through tough times.
“Things feel better now than last October,” he said. “But I never used to watch the stock
market, and I certainly watch it now.”
40
Online Games Increase 22 Percent
Compared to a Year Ago
Published: July 12, 2009
The number of online game players rose 22 percent in May compared to a year ago,
drawing more than 87 million players in the U.S., according to market researcher
comScore.
That improvement is a stark contrast to the slide in overall console game revenues in the
U.S., which fell 23 percent compared to a year ago in dollar sales, according to market
researcher NPD.
The comScore analysis showed that gamers are increasingly opting for cheap
entertainment
nt alternatives, driven by the recession. Some analysts are expecting console
games to post a 20 percent drop in game sales in June, compa
compared
red to a year ago. Later in
the year, a rebound is expected. NPD numbers for June console sales will be out on July
16.
Yahoo Games ranked No. 1 in the category with 19.4 million visitors (up 6 percent from
a year ago), or roughly 22 percent of the online game market in May. It was followed by
EA online with 18 million visitors, up 34 percent from a year ago, Nickelodeon Casual
Games with 14.8 million visitors, and WildTangent Network with 13.8 milli0n visitors,
up 16 percent.
GSN Games Networks grew 563 pe
percent
rcent to 6 million visitors, thanks to the addition of
partners WorldWinner.com and CrazyMonkeyGames.com. Online games are growing at
10 times the rate of the overall U.S. Internet population, said Edward Hunter, comScore
director of gaming solutions. The category is expanding both through the growth of web
sites and through the growth of widgets that allow games to be distributed across a
variety of sites.
Viral distribution of games (where a company's game appears on numerous different
sites) is catching on. MochiMedia reached a combined audience of 16.9 million in May,
greater than all but two sites in the online gaming category. Games2Win reached 1.8
million people, which compares favorably with the top 20 sites in the category, while
Tetris Online reached
ed 165,000 people.
Copyright 2009 VentureBeat. All Rights Reserved.
41
Playtech to buy games developer GTS
08/12/2009
Jake Pollard
PLAYTECH IS TO BUY gaming software company Gaming Technology Solutions
(GTS) for an initial consideration of €10.8m, with a further consideration of up to €21.6m
based on the future performance of the
business.
GTS offers casino games, and Playtech will
look to its new company to develop skill
games that are allowed under regulated
markets.
Playtech chief executive Mor Weizer said
the acquisition would complement his
company’s product portfolio and enable it to
expand the Playtech product range in
regulated and soon-to-be regulated markets
such as Italy and France.
Weizer said: “Our agreement with GTS is a strategic move: it will enable us to work with
a true open platform and integrate new games seamlessly. We have been looking to
enhance our open content capabilities, and in effect become an aggregator of quality
gaming content. Not many service providers can do that.”
GTS has licensing agreements with 15 European gaming companies and 30 separate
internet gaming brands, including 10 operators which are not currently Playtech casino
licensees, such as European sportsbooks Bwin, which won Operator of the Year 2009 at
the EGR Awards last week, and Unibet, which won European Sports Betting Operator
2009.
Weizer added that the deal would enable Playtech to tap into one of the fastest growing
egaming segment of many sportsbooks and add another gaming product to Playtech’s
portfolio.
42
“The success of the games sections in sports betting operators sites is evident, and this
deal will give Playtech greater exposure to what is one of the fastest growing industry
segments. GTS has amongst its licensee base many of the most well established European
sports betting operators and we look forward to developing closer ties with them,”
Weizer said.
The acquisition of GTS brings Playtech nearer to having a full complement of egaming
solutions, supplying the major gaming verticals, and lacking only a significant sportsbook
offering. To fill the space, Playtech acquired sports technology business Player2Players
in March this year, and will develop the platform before marketing the product to clients,
Weizer said.
Don't miss out on egaming news: sign up for our free, daily Snapshot email. Or get the
news as its breaks with the free eGaming Review RSS feed.
43
The Facebook games that millions love
(and hate)
By Doug Gross, CNN
February 23, 2010 10:07 a.m. EST
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
•
•
•
•
Zynga games like FarmVille, Mafia Wars are played by millions every day on
Facebook
Expert says social gaming succeeds by appealing to women, other non-traditional
gamers
Zynga founder says key to success was games that can be played during
conference call
Backlash leads to FB group of 5 million saying they're tired of seeing games
(CNN) -- Early each morning, millions of farmers around the world rise to toil in their
fields. By night, gangs of mobsters scheme and legions of poker players shuffle up and
deal.
Sure, none of it's real. But the overwhelming popularity of so-called social gaming -simple games that let people play with their friends on networking sites such as Facebook
-- is changing the face of video games, experts say.
And as the maker of popular titles like FarmVille and Mafia Wars, San Francisco,
California-based Zynga has ridden the games' skyrocketing popularity to the top of that
emerging market.
For Zynga founder Mark Pincus, the formula for gaming success on Facebook, MySpace
and other sites was as simple as it might seem counterintuitive: create simple games that
people like but can easily set aside.
"We built the games so they could be played in a tab on your browser while you're on a
conference call," said Pincus, a veteran Web entrepreneur who created Zynga in 2007.
Of course, they've been helped by the massive growth of Facebook, where the games are
so popular they've spawned "fan" pages devoted to complaining about having to watch
friends play them.
Facebook, with its 400 million users, is where the vast majority of people play FarmVille
and Mafia Wars along with other Zynga titles like FishVille, Vampires, Café World,
YoVille and Zynga Poker.
44
In all, more than 65 million people play Zynga games every day, according to media
tracking company Developer Analytics.
More than 75 million people a month play FarmVille, Zynga's most popular title.
Zynga's top title, FarmVille, is played by an estimated 75 million people each month -roughly equal to the number who have played the classic arcade and desktop game Tetris
during its entire existence.
The massive growth was satisfying but not altogether surprising to Pincus, whose
previous startups had included Freeloader, a Web-based information-gathering service;
tech-support company SupportSoft; and Tribe.net, an early social networking site from
2003.
He said that starting the game company, which he named after his late English bulldog,
was an effort to fill what he considered a surprising void in most people's daily Internet
use.
"I thought in 2007 that something had gone oddly wrong with the whole Internet
experience," Pincus said. "I would have thought games would have been one of the top
two or three experiences people had on the Internet."
What Pincus got right, according to gaming expert Scott Steinberg, was a sort of return to
the "golden era" of games like Pac-man and Super Mario Bros.
"Video games actually appealed to a huge cross-section. They appealed to everybody,"
said Steinberg, publisher of DigitalTrends.com. "What happened is, as we went through
the mid-'80s to the mid-2000s, you started to see gaming become more incestuous in
terms of 18- to 34-year-old males making games for people just like them."
45
Zynga games like Café World draw much higher rates of female players than most video
games.
By contrast, three of Zynga's top five games -- FarmVille, Café World and FishVille -have mostly female players, with many players outside the traditional 18- to 34-year-old
range.
Those games all operate on the same basic premise. Starting with a simple farm, fish tank
or restaurant, the player works to make it bigger and fancier, sharing items with friends
and helping each other along the way.
Some of Zynga's early titles simply mirrored existing board and card games. It was Mafia
Wars -- in which players team up to whack other gangs -- that first exhibited what would
become the hallmarks of social gaming: simple, single-player action that's enhanced by
teamwork.
With FarmVille, that formula would become complete.
Players plant virtual crops that can be harvested hours, or days, later. Along the way, they
invite online friends to become their neighbors and help each other by sending gifts or
helping with the farming. There's no way to "win," but players take satisfaction in
building big, fancy farms that they can showcase to their friends.
"A farm is something that is internationally understood and known. It's cross-cultural,
cross-gender, cross-age," Pincus said. "A great social game should be like a great cocktail
party. If you want it to appeal to absolutely everyone you invite, it has to be broad in its
content so that everyone gets it."
Not that Zynga's success has come without criticism.
46
Mafia Wars is popular but prompted claims that it was a knock-off.
With hundreds of smaller companies vying for a piece of the social gaming market, some
rivals have accused Zynga of using its hefty venture capital to crowd out less-financed
competitors.
Many of its most popular games, including FarmVille, are similar to pre-existing games
from smaller companies, a fact Pincus dismisses by noting that video games have always
fallen into genres with similar titles from competing companies.
Psycho Monkey LLC, the makers of Mob Wars, filed a lawsuit claiming that Mafia Wars
ripped them off. Zynga settled that case in August, said a spokeswoman for the company.
Zynga also was hit with complaints and lawsuits over its original business model, which
let players earn in-game rewards for things like signing up for a credit card or videorental membership.
Critics said some of the offers amounted to scams, leading players to download unwanted
software or unwittingly sign up for memberships that appeared stealthily on their phone
bills.
Pincus has acknowledged not being vigilant enough with the automated ads that appeared
on Zynga games during the company's early days.
More than 13 million people play FishVille every week, according to Zynga.
47
"We were playing whack-a-mole," Pincus said. "Every time we found one of these or got
a complaint, we would take them down. Eventually ... we realized we had to take a much
more aggressive stance than a normal Web site."
In November, Zynga removed all "lead-generating" ads, relying for revenue instead on
the roughly 1 to 3 percent of the player base that pays for in-game items, such as a barn in
FarmVille. It has since been putting the advertisements back in, with a new system that
lets it more closely monitor what kind of ads show up, Pincus said.
"We'll see where this goes for the entire industry," Pincus said. "It was really important to
us to maintain a trusted position with our users. We wanted to do the right thing, and I
think we did."
Pincus offers a ray of hope for another vocal group of critics: the social-media users who
say they're tired of seeing all of their friends' updates about Zynga and other social
games.
On Facebook, a group called "I dont care about your farm, or your fish, or your park, or
your mafia!!!" had more than 5.2 million members recently.
"Please. No more of this stuff," wrote one member. "I've had all I can take. About to hang
up FACEBOOK. Just want a nice cozy place to talk with my friends!"
Zynga Poker was one of the company's first social games and remains among the most
popular.
RELATED TOPICS
•
•
•
Video Games
Facebook Inc.
Internet
Pincus said he hopes that messages from games can eventually be targeted to a more
select audience.
"We have to evolve," Pincus said "I think it's heading to a place that's more narrowcasting. I think you'll get to a place where Facebook will be better about showing feeds to
people who have a registered interest in them."
48
For example, he said, there might eventually be a way to send game notifications only to
people who play social games themselves.
"It's not just games. It's going to be true for music, for pictures, for status updates,"
Pincus said. "I think, over time, these networks are going to start to shape more to ... your
[registered interests]."
Meanwhile, Zynga will be among the developers continuing to change how people look
at video gaming. It's a change that Steinberg, the gaming guru, says will be for the better.
While heavyweights like Electronic Arts and the popular Civilization series are making
inroads into social gaming, Steinberg said, the genre is also opening up opportunities for
smaller developers.
"We're seeing, in many ways, a second renaissance for games," Steinberg said.
"There's been an epiphany among the developer community saying, 'Look at these
millions of users that we've forgotten to speak to for years.' This can only be a good thing
for the gaming industry in the end."
49
The fantasy golf sports market has grown
The fantasy golf sports market has grown a little more diverse today with the debut of
Pro Tour Fantasy Golf (www.ProTourFantasyGolf.com) offering $3,000 for first place
and $10,000 in total cash prizes for each league. Co-creator John Hohlen says “Pro Tour
Fantasy Golf offers participants the chance to score by picking three different golfers
each week and competing for a variety of cash prizes throughout the season.” For the
high roller, PTFG is offering a high-stakes league at (www.HighStakesFantasyGolf.com)
with a $20,000 first place prize and $40,000 in other prizes.
What makes Pro Tour Fantasy Golf unique, says Hohlen, “is the ability to substitute
golfers or take a mulligan to increase your chances of winning. But this is no game of
chance; strategy is essential.”
The object of the game is to pick 3 golfers for each week's professional golf tournament
with the option to substitute 1 golfer with another after the 2nd round. However, you can
only use a golfer twice throughout the 24-week season. Whatever earnings each golfer
wins is how many points you get. Each starting golfer wins you double earnings while
each sub wins you single earnings. Each team gets 6 mulligans. A mulligan can be used
to start a golfer a third time or to enter sub after the third round (Sunday).
While this may seem daunting, Pro Tour Fantasy Golf breaks each season down into 4week sessions. Each session is like a mini-season where the top 3 performers also win
cash prizes. Don’t worry about falling behind in the first two weeks—you can catch up
and win big in the next session. A bad round doesn’t spoil the fun with Pro Tour Fantasy
Golf.
John Hohlen and his friends created Pro Tour Fantasy Golf ten years ago, after years of
playing fantasy football. “Back then, there weren't any fantasy golf games on the
Internet, so we came up with our own rules and ended up with this game.” Co-creator
Steve Molitor says “Keeping track of lineups, standings, and statistics became tedious
through email. Cutting edge web programming technology has streamlined the process
allowing Pro Tour Fantasy Golf to reach out to golf fans around the world.”
League sizes are limited to 200 participants giving everyone a realistic chance of winning
a cash prize. Registration is now open. For complete details, log on to
50
www.ProTourFantasyGolf.com and www.HighStakesFantasyGolf.com or contact John
Hohlen at 314-650-8040
For over a decade the Fantasy Sports Trade Association has served as the unified voice of
the fantasy sports industry. The FSTA hosts a biannual trade conference and research
symposium. The next conference is scheduled for February 11-12, 2008 at the Inverness
Hotel in Englewood, CO. For more information on the FSTA, log on to www.fsta.org.
51
Web fantasy becoming reality!
Originally published 04:45
5 a.m., July 30, 2009, updated 08:22 a.m., July 30, 2009
Tim Lemke
While NFL players gear up for training camp, fans are starting prep work for the annual
fantasy football draft. And though the major online sports sites - ESPN, Yahoo, Fox
Sports - remain go-to
to destinations to sign up for leagues and get the latest news, a
growing group of smaller sites is collectively gaining traction.
New York-based
based Fantasy Sports Ventures has assembled a netw
network
ork of more than 400
sports-related
related sites, most of them independently run, that together attract millions of
unique users a month.
Largely through affiliate relationships, the company has helped direct revenue to
ultraspecific mom-and-pop
pop sites that other
otherwise
wise might never survive in the competitive
sports landscape.
FSV was founded in 2006 by Christopher Russo, a former head of new media for the
NFL. In helping to build the league's digital presence (and bring the league on board to
the fantasy craze), Russo
so noticed a host of independent sites that offered great content but
had no real way to make money.
"I thought there was an opportunity to create an independent marketing and media
company focused on fantasy sports," Russo said. "Part of the way I could make that
proposition interesting for advertisers was to aggregate all of the fantasy niche sites that
had really great content but weren't monetizing themselves all that well."
In other words, FSV does most of the marketing dirty work, setting up cross
cross--promotions
and selling advertising.
The Fantasy Players Network, as it is called, includes some well
well-known
known names - The
Huddle, KFFL and Hoopsworld.com, for example.
FSV owns aboutt 20 sites and holds affiliate agreements with hundreds of others ranging
from the popular sports blog The Big Lead to stats
stats-oriented
oriented sites such as Baseball
Prospectus and FanGraphs. Most recently, FSV purchased popular fantasy baseball site
BaseballHQ. Even
en the official Web sites of the ATP Tour and Harlem Globetrotters have
arrangements with FSV.
52
"These sites are for avid fans. You go to big sports portals, it's a combination of avid fans
and casual fans," Russo said. "You can go to a site that's just baseball statistics, or just
football injuries, or just the NBA Draft. The specialization that's happened has been great
for fans because they can get a depth of content that wasn't available before."
FSV's most important partnership might be with USA Today, which purchased a minority
stake in the company last year and promotes FSV's sites online and in print.
And it helps, of course, that fantasy sports is a booming business. The company estimates
that 15 million people, largely younger males, participate in fantasy sports, including as
many as 11 million in fantasy football alone. The average fantasy sports player spends
more than five hours a week managing a team and 12 hours on the fantasy league "host"
site or a site featuring fantasy sports content.
Every deal is different, but under a common affiliate agreement, FSV holds a multiyear
contract for exclusive rights to market and monetize a site and splits revenue evenly with
the site owners.
Altogether, the FSV network of Web sites drew more than 10 million unique visitors in
June, trailing only Foxsports.com, MLB.com, ESPN.com and Yahoo.com.
Russo said the company's goal is to place the network in the top three of all online sports
properties by this fall and reach No. 1 within two years. SportsBusiness Journal named
FSV one of the top five digital sports media companies of 2008.
"We've grown very quickly, and the scale is important," Russo said. "For advertisers,
being able to reach a large audience of avid fans as a good thing."
53