William Hill, CBS Sports Link Up For Sportsbook Deal
The anticipated marriage between sportsbook operator William Hill and a U.S. sports media property comes to fruition today with the announcement of the brand as the official sportsbook and wagering data provider of CBS Sports, both online and in network programming. CBS Sports will exclusively use William Hlll’s odds and point spreads and work with the sportsbook to develop and integrate content across its digital platforms, which in recent years have tilted toward daily fantasy players and sports bettors. The deal comes in time for William Hill to take advantage of some integration into CBS Sports’ digital platforms for March Madness, a time of massive sports betting.
Neither side would discuss deal terms or structure. Deals between sportsbooks and media companies range from standard sponsorship and rights agreements to affiliate deals in which sportsbooks pay sites for referrals who place wagers. William Hill execs see the deal as both an attractive brand-building opportunity and a funnel to drive users who already have shown an affinity for betting and daily fantasy to open sportsbook accounts.
“It doesn’t do Budweiser a lot of good to have a great brand if nobody drinks the beer,” said William Hill U.S. CEO Joe Asher. “The purpose of brand is to drive acquisition and loyalty to the brand. We’ve taken a pretty deliberate approach in that regard. We haven’t just willy-nilly gone on a media buying binge. We’ve tried to be targeted and look for opportunities that made sense for us and that’s exactly what we think this deal does.”
The mix of big-event sports programming and a track record of developing both sports betting and DFS content made CBS a unique player, Asher said. Five years ago it revived its original online brand, Sportsline, as a standalone web site that includes premium sports betting content, including access to picks that it sells for $9.99 a month or $99.99 annually.
“On the digital side, we’ve been aggressive with content,” said CBS Sports Digital Exec VP & GM Jeff Gertula. He oversees the second-most trafficked set of sports sites in the U.S., with more than 80 million monthly users. “That’s how we program CBSSports.com, because our audience is interested in picks content and gambling content. It’s always been a no-brainer there. Now, on the broadcast side, it’s different. It’s going to pace out different. There are partnerships with leagues and we have to be sensitive to the pace that they want to move at. So our approach is going to be that we will be aggressive where we can be aggressive and in the other places we’re going to work with our partners to make sure it fits everyone’s best interest.”
One of the sensitivities CBS Sports will have to navigate is its relationship with the NCAA, which has continued to try to distance itself from sports betting even as it has been legalized in 20 states and DC. It is unlikely that William Hill’s brand will appear anywhere near the network’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament broadcasts. “The opportunity to do something now, with a little bit of time to lead up to the (NCAA tournament) is good,” Asher said. “It will just be what I’d call an initial aspect of the deal because of where we are on the clock, given that there’s only six weeks or so until the tournament. But it’s a great opportunity in terms of kicking something off.”
