It’s been a year since Betr, the micro-betting company launched by YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul and sports betting exec Joey Levy launched. The company, which had a unique strategy in that it launched as a media business first and then layered a sports betting business on top, started by creating 10 videos a day in an effort to build an audience base it could then monetize.
Today, Betr is operational in Ohio and Massachusetts and is valued at $300 million. Speaking to EGR, Betr CEO Levy said he views the company as a “sports betting-focused media company,” and has used the brand awareness and affinity generated by the company’s content endeavors as a way to convert audiences over to the Betr betting product. Levy added that the media efforts have contributed to what he sees as “best-in-class brand awareness and brand affinity” and that the company now has a $0 customer acquisition cost. “The brand we’ve developed provides this halo effect that we think will contribute to best-in-class efficiency on the paid user acquisition and retention side.”
Betr’s biggest competitors are FanDuel and DraftKings, which have also been using content to draw audiences in a competitive market. DraftKings now streams video content 24/7 on Samsung TV Plus and its own site. FanDuel also launched a streaming service in September last year and plans to license podcasts from Spotify-owned Ringer.
Levy says that despite going up against those two giants, there is still a lot of market left to be captured. “There are very sophisticated operators out there that are very well capitalized in OSB, fantasy, and media – but we’re doing all three at the same time.”
Levy’s comments – and the continued growth of the sports betting-media love affair – also imply that Penn’s well-publicized breakup with Barstool Sports wasn’t necessarily a sign that things on that front will slow down. Instead, it appears that the Penn/Barstool breakdown has made more brands wary of acquisitions as a way to build publishing operations. For many, the advantages of building in-house over buying existing properties include not having to deal with the messy business of post-acquisition integration, and potentially a much more cohesive editorial organization that feels part of the main business.