Just weeks after announcing in its recent quarterly results that its go to market strategy would include such a move, sports-first live TV streaming platform fuboTV has acquired Balto Sports.
As it announced its third quarter results on 11 November, the strongest three-month period in its history, fuboTV said that it was sat at the intersection of three megatrends: the secular decline of traditional TV viewership, the shift of TV ad dollars to connected TVs and online sports wagering. And expressing confidence that its growth opportunities were numerous, the acquisition of Balto has been made marking its first move into the online sports wagering market.
Balto Sports is described as a Y Combinator company that develops tools for users to organise and play fantasy sports games. fuboTV intends to leverage its own proprietary technology along with Balto’s contest automation software to launch a free to play gaming offering in an online sports wagering market expected to reach $155 billion by 2024 according to Zion Market Research.
Financial terms of the transaction have not yet been disclosed but what has been revealed is that in connection with the deal, Balto’s team will join fuboTV and will be instrumental in driving the company’s expansion into both free to play gaming and online sports wagering.
“fuboTV sees the online wagering space as complementary to our sports-first live TV streaming platform. We believe there are significant synergies between consumers who enjoy wagering and our subscribers who enjoy streaming live sports, creating a flywheel opportunity,” commented fuboTV co-founder and CEO David Gandler.
“One of our goals with wagering is to expand our total available market (TAM) by developing another important revenue stream for fuboTV, as we are doing with our growing ad sales business…We see a natural progression to layer on real money wagering in regulated markets complementing fuboTV’s live streaming video for a highly engaging user experience within our platform. We will be strategic in our approach to wagering as we consider and evaluate different opportunities and will adjust our plans accordingly.”
Balto Sports is described as a Y Combinator company that develops tools for users to organise and play fantasy sports games. fuboTV intends to leverage its own proprietary technology along with Balto’s contest automation software to launch a free to play gaming offering in an online sports wagering market expected to reach $155 billion by 2024 according to Zion Market Research.
Financial terms of the transaction have not yet been disclosed but what has been revealed is that in connection with the deal, Balto’s team will join fuboTV and will be instrumental in driving the company’s expansion into both free to play gaming and online sports wagering.
“fuboTV sees the online wagering space as complementary to our sports-first live TV streaming platform. We believe there are significant synergies between consumers who enjoy wagering and our subscribers who enjoy streaming live sports, creating a flywheel opportunity,” commented fuboTV co-founder and CEO David Gandler.
“One of our goals with wagering is to expand our total available market (TAM) by developing another important revenue stream for fuboTV, as we are doing with our growing ad sales business…We see a natural progression to layer on real money wagering in regulated markets complementing fuboTV’s live streaming video for a highly engaging user experience within our platform. We will be strategic in our approach to wagering as we consider and evaluate different opportunities and will adjust our plans accordingly.”
