Renowned Australian-based sports betting operator PointsBet has recently inked a lucrative multi-year partnership worth a whopping $500 million with NBC Sports, one of the most popular sports media brands in the United States. The sportsbook operator is now NBC Sports official sports betting partners, a partnership deal that is set to remain in place for the next five years.
The Agreement
As part of the partnership agreement, PointsBet will have access to year-round, multi-platform media and marketing opportunities across all of NBC Sports’ portfolio of sports-related events. This will include exclusive multi-platform gameday integrations across all NBC Sports Regional Networks. Needless to say, this is pretty significant especially considering the fact that the NBC networks are the exclusive regional home to NBA, MLB, and NHL teams.
With more than 2,200 live sporting events, PointsBet customers are definitely in for a treat. The sports betting operator will be the exclusive provider of odds, props, and trends for NBC’s portfolio that consists of, among other things, the Golf Channel, NBCSN, and even the recently-unveiled NBC Sports Podcasts.
One other notable highlight of the partnership agreement is the fact that PointsBet will also be the official betting partner of the NBC Sports Predictor app which already boasts of over 1 million downloads. The app will now integrate PointsBet content.
“For NBCUniversal and PointsBet, this agreement provides considerable opportunities in the fast-growing sports betting marketplace, which is unique to this extensive and robust, multi-year arrangement. Looking ahead, we’re also excited about the significant activation opportunities that will come to fruition as sports betting continues to proliferate across the U.S.”
David Preschlack, president, NBC Sports Regional Networks, and EVP content strategy, NBC Sports Group.
Also worth noting is the fact that NBC Sports now has a 4.9 percent equity stated in PointsBet – after the initial five-year run of the agreement, the sports media company will have the option to buy up to a 25 percent stake.
Game Changer for US Sports Betting
A number of network sports entities including ESPN and Yahoo Sports have moved into the sports betting space after realizing just how lucrative the sector is. It is therefore no surprise that the Comcast-owned NBC Sports has decided to join the bandwagon.
However, the PointsBet-NBC Sports partnership is getting a lot more attention simply because it is believed to have effectively changed the outlook of the country’s regulated sports betting market. It is not the first of its kind, but it does stand out because of what both NBC Sports and PointsBet have to bring to the table.
From being considered as a seemingly smaller player, PointsBet has proven that it has the potential to be a force to reckon with in the growing US sports betting market. NBC’s decision to pick PointsBet over relatively bigger sports betting brands is pretty interesting because of the strategy behind it. Clearly, they have a lot of confidence in the company.
