How to Leverage Data in Your Sports Betting Broadcasts

The market for sports betting in the world of live broadcast is growing. If you’re a sports broadcaster with regional sports networks at your disposal, you might be wondering how you can make this new revenue stream a core part of your business strategy. How can you incorporate betting into your over-the-air (OTA), over-the-top (OTT), and web stream broadcasts – in the way that generates the most dollars?

Right now, most broadcasters with sportsbook agreements are getting paid by the eyeball. The name of the game is maximizing sports betting viewership, and in our last article, we made the case that eye-catching, user-engaging graphics are the key to success.

But the backbone of a sports-betting broadcast is data, both the live odds data and the game data that influences it. With the right data driving your show, you can attract and engage viewers, maximize sponsorship opportunities, and set yourself up for a larger revenue share in the future. Here’s a walkthrough of what you need to know about the data behind successful sports betting programming.

Sports Data Providers Are Here to Help

Before you can start translating data into amazing graphics, stats stories, and fan engagement opportunities – you need to get plugged into the optimal data source. Thankfully, dedicated sports data providers are stepping up to offer live betting data in the formats you need to power your show. One of Chyron’s trusted partners, Sportradar, is a global leader in delivering sports data and content to broadcast networks, sports leagues, and the sportsbooks themselves. Crucially, for sports broadcasters, they can provide:

• The event and odds data that sportsbooks use to power their betting business
• Player and game stats sourced via official league partnerships
• Easy-to-integrate feeds for OTA/OTT broadcasts and live streams.

That last point is a big one. Data is the lynchpin of sports betting, but data on a television screen isn’t going to be of interest to viewers unless you’re visualizing it in an eye-catching way. Just like the course of a game and player stats themselves, live odds can change fast throughout a game. Critically, companies like Sportradar provide data in a way that enables graphics operators to visualize these different betting odds storylines as they develop directly from a CG.

Use Betting Data Feeds to Drive Graphics in Your CG

The next step is translating that meaty back-end data into stunning on-screen graphics for your viewers. To start, it helps to have a CG that plays well with data. In the case of Chyron’s PRIME CG, data is easy to connect to and access. PRIME CG possesses a unique feature where you can connect directly to a data feed via a web URL, presenting you with all of the data content at your disposal. From there, PRIME CG’s powerful data-binding to scene elements enables easy visualization of sports betting data for showcasing real-time changes to odds as they unfold. Logic-based scenes function as editable templates that designers can configure to refresh up-to-the-second based on betting odds updates and trigger controls.

However, visualizing betting data can prove a new art form for your graphics operators, and having outside experts realize your vision can help kickstart the betting side of your business. Sportradar and the Chyron Creative Services team have collaborated on the launches of numerous groundbreaking sports betting broadcasts. Sportradar sets up the data feeds you need to power the broadcast. In tandem, Chyron Creative Services creates your new asset library and works with Sportradar to map and script the behavior of data elements within the graphics templates.

Ultimately, it’s a hands-on process between your team and expert partners to understand your vision, determine what works, and create something your operators can run with.

Engage Sponsors and Viewers with Betting Storytelling

You have top-tier sports and odds data at your disposal, and it’s flowing smoothly into your CG – now it’s time to put on a show that viewers love to watch and advertisers love to sponsor. Traditionally, attempts by sports broadcasters to incorporate betting have been somewhat cut-and-dry. Throw your sportsbook partner logo somewhere on the screen, have your talent do a pre-canned radio-style ad to visit their website, and call it a day. You can do more with your production to generate a lot more value for both fans and sponsors.

Fans love real-time stats, stories that emerge from the game data, and analysis that drives the conversation, and today, many sports broadcasters use career, team, game, and record stats to do just that. To that end, betting and odds data is just another way you can tell these exciting stories about the game. Display an L-bar with the fluctuating live point bet odds as the game goes on. Display a progress bar tracking the home team’s star player’s progress toward the score-based player prop bet. Give your viewers unique “Did you know?” betting insights such as the home team’s historical average win rate against tonight’s opponent. Highlight a record-breaking odds swing during a championship game and how that compares against historical odds data. You can even incorporate live fan engagement questions around bets and display a leaderboard on the side of the screen.

Sure, sports betting is about money, but it’s also about adding to the thrill of the game by putting your own stakes on the line. Get the data that bettors are seeking and deliver it to them in a way that stokes their excitement. When you create a program that viewers love to engage with, you create premium ad real-estate that sponsors want to own.

Greater Sports Book Revenue Shares Lies Ahead

Gaze into the crystal ball and learn what sportsbooks may or may not want you to know about the future of sports betting broadcasts. Right now, the latency of betting data on OTT and linear television channels means you can’t legally place bets through integrated betting technology directly on your channel. Because of this, broadcasters and media companies are getting paid per eyeball. How many people watched your program and saw the sportsbook ad, and how many people went to the betting website from the live show.

As the speed of data to-air improves (sportsbooks and data providers are working hard to bridge the gap) to become real-time for viewers, you’ll be able to keep viewers within your media ecosystem when they go to place a bet. Not only are you eliminating disruption to the viewing experience, but you’re also generating betting value stats arising from your channel that you can use to claim a larger share of the revenue from your sportsbook partner. Talk about a win-win!

Are You Capitalizing on the Sports Betting Market?

Sports betting is a billion-dollar industry. Take advantage of the exceptional sports and odds data available to broadcasters today – and use it to drive a production that makes you a go-to for betting audiences. The technology to make it happen is ready and waiting, and if you’re not sure where to begin, trusted experts like Sportradar and Chyron Creative Services are here to help. Investing in your productions now will give you the solid foundation to capitalize on the even more profitable future of the sports betting market.

We have plenty more insights to share about sports betting, sports broadcast productions, and how you can create content that maximizes revenue. Subscribe to the Chyron Blog to stay on top of the latest and greatest info.