fuboTV Eyeing Potential Partnerships With Wagering Platforms, CEO David Gandler Says
fuboTV – the sports-heavy live-streaming TV platform – could look to partner with sports betting companies down the line, CEO and co-founder David Gandler said at the Credit Suisse Virtual Communications Conference Wednesday.
Gandler suggested that the streamer could capitalize on its sports fan viewership to go beyond typical marketing practices and point customers to wagering platforms natively.
“Given the fact that we have over 35,000 sporting events, there’s probably a play for us beyond just working with wagering companies on the marketing side of the business, where we drive potential wagering customers to their platforms,” Gandler said. “Owning our own technology stack allows us to think creatively about which direction we’d like to go.”
He stressed that the idea is in its very early stages and that the company values its disciplined approach in the space.
“We’re very open-minded, it’s very early days for us,” Gandler said. “We’re focused right now, as I said, on the video product – we’re continuing to improve our KPIs. But this is a long-term play, at the bottom of an ‘S curve.’”
In his session, Gandler also said that he believes the COVID-19 pandemic has given fuboTV a chance to showcase its non-sports content. It did, however, get a boost from the NFL draft and start of the Bundesliga last month. With the return of La Liga last weekend, Gandler said, the product saw “some of the highest reactivation levels [it has] seen in the last 18 months.”
“What COVID’s provided for us is to demonstrate that we have additional content,” he said, adding the company has seen a “major spike” across non-sports genres.
“Our major concern going into COVID was ‘Will we be able to maintain subscriber levels given that the reason that most folks sign up for fubo is just, you know, for the sports?” he said. “We’re very confident going into the fall sports season.”