What Does The Presence Of FanDuel And DraftKings Mean For eSports Betting?
Published: Oct 19, 2015 - Last Updated: Jun 17, 2020
Not so long ago we talked about the recent move of daily fantasy sports giants FanDuel and DraftKings eSports market, trying to diversify their business portfolios.
While each has taken a different approach to incorporating the eSports betting business into their companies, it can be said without doubt that the two DFS market leaders will have a big impact on the current eSports industry.
What’s the strategy for existing daily fantasy eSports players?
With “existing DFeS players” we are mainly talking about Vulcun, the leading daily fantasy eSports company in the market. AlphaDraft, Vulcun’s biggest competitor in the DFeS universe, has recently merged with FanDuel, a strategy that could potentially solidify its presence in the eSports market.
“We could go independent, but it’s very likely that when FanDuel and DraftKings entered, we would be drowned out,” said Todd Peterson, CEO of AlphaDraft. “I don’t think any one of us anticipated the market would move this fast.”
Vulcun, the holder of the largest prize pools in fantasy eSports, will have to find creative ways to stay afloat in the face of major upcoming competition. Ed Chang, VP of Business Development at Vulcun, believes that the company is well-positioned for continued relevancy:
“I think it would be foolish to say we aren’t somewhat worried or that we aren’t cognizant of it. We’ve known about those companies coming in for months now and we’ve prepared as adequately for that as we can. We know what we’re good at and we know what their strong points are.
We’re not going to pick a battle with them at something they’re better at. Our priority is making eSports 100 times more fun and we think users will come as long as we continue to focus on that goal.”
Pros and cons for a bigger crowd of service providers in the market
It’s common for companies to try to advertise their business offerings as much as possible and when talking about FanDuel and DraftKings, it is known that they are very good at making sure people get the message.
This also means that those who watch an NFL or college football game this fall will be inundated with more ads for eSports fantasy gambling. Supposedly the companies have spent more than $107 million on advertising since September 1, spending money on everything from NFL games to South Park.
One positive result that could come from this is an increased visibility for the eSports market even among mainstream viewers, since it is likely these companies will spend to advertise eSports gambling on more than just eSports-centric media. More visibility would potentially mean more growth and acceptance from the mainstream viewing audience.
However, it could also result in more ads on eSports sites, Twitch, and other places. The potentially huge increase in dollars spent may encourage sites to expand the number, location, or type of advertisements they place on their sites – and not everyone is fond of being bombarded with advertisements everywhere they go online.
Time will tell
Although there has been a lot of development in recent weeks, it remains to be seen how all these changes will impact the eSports wagering industry and the community. It goes without saying that customer satisfaction is one of the highest priorities for these companies and that all of them are ready to go the extra mile to make sure they stay ahead of the game.
Since: September 12, 2015
