W
hat has been the biggest surprise as it relates to US betting in 2020?
Firstly, the fact that table tennis became the biggest betting sport was a huge surprise that nobody would have predicted this time last year. Not only that, but interest in table tennis has maintained, despite the fact that most sports are back up and running. Secondly, it’s been surprising how quickly activity has bounced back. The numbers continue to increase and break records, with no signs of slowing down. As a whole, the sports industry has done an admirable job in dealing with a very difficult situation and making sure things are handled diligently and with the utmost safety to keep players safe and protected.
Have there been any Sportradar products or services that were particularly sought-after in the past year?
One of the most popular product areas has been AV streaming. Covid caused a groundswell of interest for AV from bookmakers, since there were fewer, if any, fans in the stands to watch games live. In many cases, our AV streams were one of the only ways bettors could watch live sports. For the operators that have implemented our AV solution, it’s proving to be an effective revenue-generating tool and is now a core part of their betting portfolios, as it significantly improves the in-play betting experience.
Which Sportradar product or service are you most excited about in 2021?
We’re excited about the investments we’ve made in ad:s, our data-driven marketing services for bookmakers, and we’re looking forward to seeing great results in 2021. Our ad:s Marketing Cloud, which is built on top of our betting data, is a platform designed for the digital marketing needs of sportsbooks. Combining our knowledge of who is betting and when with state of the art ad-tech is an area where we can drive greater efficiency of marketing spend to good effect.
What are you most looking forward to from a US betting perspective in 2021?
It feels like 2020 marks the end of the initial opening phase of the US market with some clarity on who the market players are going forward and the legislation framework that underpins everything. I think in 2021, we’ll start to see a greater emphasis on execution to fully grasp the enormous opportunity in front of us. I’m really looking forward to helping our clients and partners execute on this.