Genius Sports touted growth from its BetVision live streaming product, which helped push the company past 2023 guidance, in its most recent public report.
The company reported its eighth consecutive quarter of results coming in above expectations with its year-end report released Wednesday, and CEO Mark Locke does not expect that to stop.
“The business is now better positioned than ever to benefit from multiple structural growth drivers across the digital sports ecosystem, and we’re excited to continue our momentum into 2024,” he said.
Despite the strong report, GENI fell 4.5% Wednesday to close at $6.68.
Genius revenue share thriving with BetVision
BetVision, which lets sportsbooks stream NFL games through their app with the ability to bet without leaving the stream, was key for revenue and profit growth.
Genius makes about three times more on in-play betting than it does on pre-match betting. Based on data from FanDuel detailed in the earnings presentation, Genius hit a home run where it matters most:
- Roughly 76% of handle and 50% of total bets made by streaming customers were in-play bets.
- Total handle from streamers grew three times in the second half of the season compared to the first, as bettors became more familiar with the technology. In-play handle also grew three times over the same period.
- Unique streamers at FanDuel since launch week more than doubled across the full season.
- Average latency for the full season was 5 seconds.
“The fact that BetVision is really focusing people on a lot of the in-play, it’s a lot of the live betting, really helps that three times multiple that we’re getting on the in-play come through on top of the fact that the in-play is growing rapidly,” Locke said.
Bet mix shifting toward in-play
Around 20% of NFL bets came from in-play, CFO Nick Taylor said, with in-play gross gaming revenue up 140% for the year.
Revenue growth for in-play outgrew the rest of NFL betting, he added.
Whether BetVision has the same impact with other sports will be seen this year. Locke said the integration and development of other sports with BetVision is “fairly straightforward” with multiple sports launching over the next 12 months.
When will Genius Sports see more BetVision customers?
BetVision is currently live with four sportsbooks:
Locke said one of the bigger challenges for new operators to jump on is a “backlog in some of the integration pipelines” of those sportsbooks.
“So what we’ve been doing is working with the sportsbooks to prove the concept,” Locke said. “I think we’ve undoubtedly done that, it’s a very clear, strong product and there’s a lot of proof out there of that. So this is a case of working with our partners to manage their integration pipelines and get these sportsbooks live with the new product.”
Bolt-ons must be ‘quite compelling’
Locke admitted the business “sort of [has] a ton of technology” when asked about potential acquisitions now that the company has positive cash flow.
There is a bit of opportunity in the market, he added, but the price has to be “compelling.”
“So when we look at the M&A market, it’s got to be quite compelling on a few fronts,” Locke said. “It’s got to be compelling on the basis that the technology is really required and we can deploy it well and generate real profitability from it.
“We’ve got to have a bit of a focus on the level of distraction and stuff, and ultimately the price that this technology, some of these technology companies are going for.”
Genius expects to end the first quarter with around $100 million in cash on the balance sheet.
Genius Sports 2024 guidance
Along with expecting positive cash flow for the year, Genius expects both top and bottom line growth. Revenue should hit $480 million, which would equal growth of more than 16% from the $413 million reported for 2023.
Adjusted EBITDA, meanwhile, is expected to hit $75 million. That would be up 40.6% from the $53.3 million generated last year.
Given the strength of NFL betting, the fourth quarter is expected to account for about a third of both revenue and adjusted EBITDA.