Less than two weeks after FuboTV placed its sportsbook division under strategic review, the company is already giving the full court press to court a new partner.
Two weeks ago, Fubo said it wanted to continue in sports betting but wanted to work with a partner on its Fubo Sportsbook product. On the company’s investor day on Tuesday, Fubo Gaming President Scott Butera presented the new vision for the company, which sounded a lot like a sales pitch for potential partners out there.
While the company is in search of a partner, it continues to move forward with its existing Fubo Sportsbook product. On Monday the app soft-launched in New Jersey, joining Iowa and Arizona on the list of states where the company is live. The presentation also emphasized the continued growth and development of the betting product within the FuboTV platform.
Butera explains Fubo’s sportsbook shift
Butera was up front about the company’s pivot, and also offered some additional insight into the shift:
“Now, you may have seen we’ve recently announced that we’re doing a strategic review of our wagering business. And we’ve decided we no longer want to pursue this business on our own. Now, why would we decide that? Building and running a national sports book requires significant capital. There are large startup costs and risk of occasional losses, which also requires capital. When we started Fubo Gaming, markets were flush with cash and investors value growth over profitability. Today the market is the opposite. Capital is expensive, and investors want to see profitability now.”
What is not changing is the commitment to the idea of integrating the sports viewing experience with the betting experience. In fact, Butera was not the only part of the presentation discussing this integration. Head Product Officer Mike Berkley discussed continued product innovations related to betting during his section of the presentation, noting multiple options for partners to generate revenue:
“When you’re using the Fubo Sportsbook app, it will automatically detect what you’re watching on TV and display bets in the app related to that game. And when you change the channel to a different game on TV, the sportsbook app will automatically update with bets for the new game. It’s really magical. We believe only Fubo can do this because our TV and sportsbook products share a common back end and data platform. These valuable TV integrations are also something that we could potentially sell to other sportsbook operators in states where we don’t yet have market access. This allows us to generate revenue from our own sportsbook, but also from partner sportsbooks.”
Fubo Sportsbook offers a targeted marketing approach
Butera ran down a range of compelling numbers related to the company, including a 72% decrease in blended customer acquisition costs.
“Our metrics are outperforming competitors. For example, our subscriber population outperforms other sportsbooks in terms of average bet size,” Butera noted. “We also have high penetration, meaning Fubo subscribers are placing more deposits on sports betting sites than do subscribers on other streaming services. Again, it gets back to that strong demographic we have. Our subscribers are very likely to bet and the statistics are demonstrating that.”
Using a fishing analogy Butera noted the importance of not just getting customers, but getting the right customers. With an emphasis on decreased acquisition costs for high-quality bettors, Fubo and Butera did position themselves as an ideal target for an investor looking to make a mark without breaking the bank. In addition to the quality audience, the company also has significant market access in 10 states total.
Fubo’s Scott Butera on the changing sports betting landscape
At last month’s SBC Summit North America, Butera spoke with Mollie Chapman about the North American sports betting landscape. During the chat, he observed one of the key differences in North American vs European markets is the focus on entertainment. American bettors are seeking a “holistic” experience, which fits right in with the integrated experience Fubo presented this week.
Watch the entire interview:
