ESPN Bet Remains Optimistic Heading Into Pivotal Year 2 

As the NFL season rolls around, ESPN approaches the first anniversary of the launch of its first sportsbook, ESPN Bet. 

Since ESPN entered a 10-year, $2 billion partnership with Penn Entertainment and rebranded the Barstool Sportsbook to ESPN Bet, the sports media giant has yet to achieve significant gains—at least in terms of market share.

In a May report by Eilers & Krejcik, ESPN Bet had secured only 2.8% of the online sports betting market share compared to a combined 74% by FanDuel and DraftKings. Penn president Jay Snowden said last year that the company is projecting 20% market share by 2027.

But ESPN claims it’s where it wants to be. During the company’s media day in Bristol, Conn., on Wednesday, Mike Morrison, VP for ESPN Bet and ESPN Fantasy, told Front Office Sports that ESPN is “happy” with its growth.

“It’s tracking very much along expectations,” Morrison said.

One of the positive points ESPN highlighted during its ESPN Bet presentation is it’s consistently in the top three sportsbooks in terms of weekly active users. According to Sharp Alpha Advisors managing partner Lloyd Danzig, ESPN Bet has made strides to at least put it in the ballpark of the second-tier of sportsbooks—and the opportunity of the media giant to capitalize on its brand is still on the table.

“ESPN Bet has achieved a hold rate and parlay mix that meets or exceeds levels seen at BetMGM and Caesars, while still lagging significantly behind DraftKings and FanDuel,” Danzig said. “Market share remains muted compared to initial investor expectations, though the media side of ESPN has shown clear signs of more aggressively integrating betting into core user flows.”

For Year 2 and beyond, ESPN is betting on a strategy taken from the world of Apple and Google. The media giant is creating an ecosystem around the ESPN app, ESPN Bet, and ESPN Fantasy in which the accounts are now interconnected. For example, if a user drafts Patrick Mahomes on their fantasy team, they will receive enhanced prop bets for Mahomes during game day. Then ESPN Bet will also feature links back to the main ESPN app—to gamecasts and streams.

“[ESPN Bet] can really focus on building a world class sportsbook, [ESPN’s app] can continue to be the preeminent sports destination, and we can complete this flywheel between our two products that no one else can compete with,” said Brian Marshall, VP for sports product and technology.

ESPN’s brand value certainly puts it in a unique position to acquire users—but the jury is still out as to whether that will be enough to catch up to the head start of the two industry giants.

“This fall is really the key period to really assess where we are, how we’re doing, where we sit in the market,” Morrison said.

On the other hand, DraftKings and FanDuel are looking to do the reverse of ESPN by expanding from an online sports betting and fantasy platform and into content machines. And even Fanatics, who acquired PointsBet last year, is still hoping to build its own ecosystem tied with merchandise and collectibles.

“The race to create a one-stop shop for sports fans is well under way,” Danzig said.