Genius Sports is now locked up as the exclusive data provider of the NFL through the 2029 season, the company announced Wednesday.
New to the partnership includes “certain global digital advertising within BetVision” and digital platforms owned and operated by the NFL. That ad space is available through Genius’ FANHub platform.
“The NFL delivers a tremendous platform to accelerate our business, and we are thrilled to extend and grow our strategic partnership,” Genius CEO Mark Locke said. “Our expanded NFL partnership further strengthens our leading position at the heart of the sports technology ecosystem, and represents a key milestone in our FANHub rollout, setting a new standard for data-driven immersive experiences for NFL fans, broadcasters, teams, sportsbooks, brands, and sponsors.”
The sports betting data supplier’s stock rose more than 3% in premarket trading on the news.
Genius locked in on BetVision
The NFL deal has been a significant win for Genius Sports, especially with the BetVision product. BetVision allows sports bettors to stream NFL games with partnered sportsbooks while seeing live stats and betting opportunities on the page without leaving the game.
The integration of streaming and betting has been a resounding success for the company. Genius called out one partner in its fourth quarter earnings presentation that said 76% of its total NFL betting handle from streamers was from live betting.
From the first half to the second half of the NFL season, there was a 33% increase in weekly average number of unique game streams and a 19% increase in weekly average number of unique devices.
The recent addition of its second BetVision sport, soccer, means an additional 18,000 BetVision events compared to the around 270 from the NFL. Basketball will be the next sport to launch.
Acquisitions on horizon?
Outside of its focus on BetVision, Locke mentioned on Genius’ first quarter call that the company has kissed a lot of frogs as it looks for acquisitions to put its accelerating cash flow to use.
“I think M&A is obviously a big focus, but we have to be very careful about what we’re buying and, you kiss a lot of frogs, I think, is the phrase, and we’re doing a lot of kissing, but we expect some of them will turn into princesses at some point,” Locke said.
