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☆ Why ESPN's rival to FanDuel and DraftKings is flailing — and how it could make a comeback
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-28 | by ( Ashley Rodriguez | Tiara White | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The app, ESPN Bet, made early strides in the first few months, gaining ground through promotions and marketing that leveraged ESPN's popular personalities. Even Fanatics, the industry's other major recent disrupter, hasn't made much of a dent in DraftKings' and FanDuel's dominance. As of March, ESPN Bet had captured about 4% of the online-sports-betting market by gross gaming revenue, per Bank of America's analysis, though its share has been higher in states like Pennsylvania. How ESPN Bet can make a comebackPenn could still be successful if it improves its product and spends less money on acquiring new customers, the analysts said. Jonas said if Boyd acquires Penn, it would be a sizable shift in strategy for their management, team, and board.

Persons: —, FanDuel, Dan Wasiolek, Will Wyatt, Penn's, Jay Snowden's, Boyd, Penn, ESPN Bet's, hasn't, it's, Barry Jonas, Scott Van Pelt, Stephen A . Smith, ESPN Bet, Penn doesn't, Jonas, EKG, Snowden, Wasiolek, they'll Organizations: Service, ESPN, Penn Entertainment, Business, ESPN Bet, Morningstar, Donerail Group, Barstool Sports, Penn, Reuters, Boyd Gaming, Truist Securities, Barstool, ESPN Bet's, NFL, Management Locations: Barstool, Penn, Pennsylvania, Eilers

☆ Why ESPN's sports-betting app is falling behind — and how it could make a comeback
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-28 | by ( Ashley Rodriguez | Tiara White | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The future of ESPN's sports-betting app is now in question amid mounting losses and an activist investor push at partner Penn Entertainment that has prompted sale rumors. The app, ESPN Bet, made early strides in the first few months, gaining ground through promotions and marketing that leveraged ESPN's popular personalities. As of March, ESPN Bet had captured about 4% of the online-sports-betting market by gross gaming revenue, per Bank of America's analysis, though its share has been higher in states like Pennsylvania. "Testers liked ESPN Bet's UX and minty aesthetic but felt the app lacked depth (particularly more extensive features)," EKG wrote in May. "Product is one thing, and I would say having expertise in how to target users effectively to lower your acquisition costs and your retention costs" is key for the ESPN Bet app to compete, Wasiolek said.

☆ Damar Hamlin’s sudden collapse sent ESPN scrambling. How Scott Van Pelt shifted from covering a game to a crisis
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

And suddenly it’s not.”Those were the salient words of “SportsCenter” host Scott Van Pelt Monday night after Damar Hamlin suddenly collapsed on the field during the high stakes Bills-Bengals game. Within moments, Van Pelt knew that the injury was very different than those normally sustained on the football field. And I was scared.”Later in the evening, after Joe Buck and Troy Aikman concluded their broadcast, hosting duties fell to Van Pelt. “I don’t work for a news network that covers traumatic events when they happen,” Van Pelt noted to me. “My personal preference was that I didn’t want to bring in a physician to speculate,” Van Pelt told me.

The massive audience makes it the most-watched “Monday Night Football” broadcast since the NFL moved the series to ESPN in 2006, surpassing the previous record of 21.8 million viewers for a Packers-Vikings game in 2009. Monday’s high-profile game, however, was suspended when Hamlin collapsed in the first quarter just moments after an open field tackle of Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins. During game play, ESPN averaged 21.1 million viewers, according to Nielsen ratings. That audience then grew to 23.9 million viewers between 9 p.m. to 10:15 p.m. when ESPN aired news coverage of Hamlin’s collapse. But I just didn’t want to be speculating.”Before Hamlin’s devastating injury, the game was expected to be among the most-viewed Monday Night Football games in ESPN’s history.

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