The announcement of a partnership between FanDuel and the NBA last November was a watershed moment for the one-day fantasy sports industry.
The deal saw the launch of a co-branded free-to-play fantasy sports product and the NBA take an equity stake – undisclosed, but described as “significant” by FanDuel CEO Nigel Eccles – in FanDuel.
And as Paul Martino – an early investor in FanDuel – tells it to USA Today, one particular FanDuel stat stood out to the NBA.
It wasn’t the stratospheric revenue growth of 2014, or the greater-still growth projected to come.
FanDuel use supercharges sports media consumption
Instead, the NBA was hooked by a stat that spoke more to fan engagement than bottom-line profits.
Specifically, per Martino, league execs had their heads turned by internal FanDuel research that shows users spend 40% more time per week consuming sports media when active on FanDuel.
“This is the stat that helped us at FanDuel get our deal with the NBA,” Martino told USA Today, adding “[t]hat’s a pretty amazing statistic.”
As for where that stat comes from: FanDuel execs have used it in previous presentations, where it’s been sourced to an internal survey of 342 fantasy football users conducted in August 2013.
Users reported spending an average of 17.4 hours per week consuming sports-related content “prior to playing FanDuel,” and an average of 24.5 hours per week “while playing FanDuel” – an increase of 7.1 hours a week.
