888 reached an agreement with US broadcasting network NBC to become sponsor of its coverage of the English Premier League (EPL), ahead of the operator’s launch of the new Spectate sports betting proprietary technology platform across the US in 2021.
Marketing Opportunities
As part of its sports networks, NBC launched an NBC Sports app which allows users to watch live streaming coverage of games from the EPL, including interviews and a radio podcast featuring former soccer pros Robbie Earle and Robbie Mustoe.
“As a main sponsor and as a support sponsor, we have content inside the main shows and in the pre-game and half time shows.”
Yaniv Sherman, SVP, Head of Commercial Development, 888
The agreement is geared towards the NBC network’s coverage in New York and New Jersey, but could potentially expand across other NBC networks, as 888 is looking to expand into other states seeking to win market share from operators such as BetMGM, FanDuel and DraftKings.
“The EPL deal, while mainly geared towards the US, gives us the opportunity to go after specific player demographics and audiences in a more focused manner. That is the idea behind that, because soccer is popular in the US, particularly in the North East region. That popularity is growing and the idea was to leverage that opportunity.”
Yaniv Sherman, SVP, Head of Commercial Development, 888
NFL Insights
As 888 signed a deal to become the official sports betting partner for the National Football League (NFL) in the UK and Ireland, the operator is gathering insights from broadcasts of Monday Night Football, as well as the NFL play-offs and Super Bowl on Sky Sports, looking to maximize every marketing opportunity by utilizing its available technology.
“We’ve seen a lot of multicultural, multiregional activity geared around soccer within the traditional NFL weekend, which is typically Saturday and Sunday afternoon, so if we have content before these games, then we capitalise on that opportunity. A lot of this involves deploying the latest technologies needed to effectively optimise the value from marketing opportunities.”
Yaniv Sherman, SVP, Head of Commercial Development, 888
The broadcasting network which has 184 million broadcast viewers and 60 million active users teamed up in February with Australian-based sports betting operator PointsBet in a 5-year partnership deal to make it the NBC’s official sports betting partner.
Besides using odds and games from the operator to power its NBC Sports app, the NBC incorporated PointsBet into its programing, comprising of over 2,200 live sporting broadcasts across 8 regional networks.