The fantasy sports market in North America is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.3% over the forecast period. According to the FSTA, more than 41 million people played fantasy sports in the US and Canada in 2014, which equates to 14% and 19% of the general population above the age of 12 in those countries, respectively. Fantasy football is the most popular fantasy sport in America, followed by fantasy baseball, auto racing, and basketball.
Technavio analysts have identified four things that are trending in the North American fantasy sports market:
Intense campaigns by NFL
The NFL has launched several campaigns to encourage youth to participate in football, which has enhanced its profitability. NFL Rush Fantasy – Learn, Play, Score! is a classroom curriculum designed to develop the math and analytical skills of third and fourth graders. The course aims to help them gain more knowledge on the basic aspects of real-life football and fantasy football.
The NFL enables the students to register on official fantasy sports websites and select their own fantasy teams, as well as keep track of their players to compare their points throughout the season. The students are also asked to write reports on their chosen players, thereby developing the ability to use statistics, graphs, and basic arithmetic. This has made fantasy sports a popular gaming option among youth, creating a new generation of fantasy sports players.
The NFL has also implemented an initiative named Play 60 to engage children in physical fitness activities for 60 minutes per day. The Play 60 application can be found at nflrush.com, where participants can find fantasy football links, game footage and player profiles, online games, and other apps. The initiative encourages children to move ahead of their fantasy sport counterparts in the application. The students participating in this challenge are offered an XBOX as a prize.
Increased traction of daily fantasy sports
Daily fantasy sports is a niche segment in the fantasy sports market in North America. In traditional fantasy sports, the team owners need to play with the same set of players throughout the season. However, daily fantasy sports games allow participants to change their players and play multiple games on a daily basis.
Draftkings, FanDuel, DraftDay, and Victive are some of the websites offering daily fantasy sports to end-users. It is expected that the emergence of advanced versions of fantasy sports will propel market growth in the future.
Growing trend of advertising on fantasy sports websites
The popularity of fantasy sports has resulted in high online traffic for sports websites. This has created several growth opportunities in the market. Many fantasy sports websites do not charge league fees; instead they generate revenue from advertisements.
Close to 74% of fantasy sports players receive data related to fantasy sports seasons from various websites such as Yahoo, ESPN, and CBS as well as directly from sports league websites. The advertisers are thus focusing on campaigning on these sites through banners or pop-up ads, which the players are compelled to watch before entering the webpage. The advertisers are also focusing on mobile advertising, driven by the growing use of mobile devices for online gaming.
Increase in M&A
The fantasy sports market in North America offers several opportunities for large vendors to increase their M&A. Vendors are enhancing their market presence and growth potential through M&A.
It is expected that many vendors will acquire small and domestic suppliers during the forecast period to increase their market share, which in turn will help them enhance their distribution channels and improve their market reach. Some of the recent acquisitions in the market are listed below.
