Global Trends which will Affect Fantasy Sports Industry in 2023

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Recent Updates about Fantasy Sports Industry 
3. Impact of COVID-19 on Fantasy Sports Industry
4. Analysis of Fantasy Sports Market
5. Recent Mergers & Acquisitions that can Boost Industry’s Growth
6. Upcoming Fantasy Sports Leagues
7. Trending Fantasy Game Types
8. Growth Trends of Fantasy Sports Industry in 2022
9. Must-Haves for Opening Success Curtains in Fantasy Sports Business
10. Why can GammaStack be Counted as a Growth Booster of your Fantasy Sports Business?

Fantasy sports industry has reached an unrivalled level of success in the past few years and is expected to witness an enhanced growth in the upcoming time. In fantasy sports leagues, players are allowed to participate in matches through a completely different level while managing and controlling the teams whose performance relies upon the actual performance of the real-world players in the real-time gaming arena.

Fantasy sports is undoubtedly a multi-million dollar industry in which online gaming is only a single aspect of a big ecosystem. It consists of draft parties, merchandise, brand marketing, tickets to the real games and much more. The fantasy sports players have become the crucial influencers who can elevate popularity of their real-world counterparts. And this is a big YAY !!

This unmatched and rapidly growing interaction with multiple sports leagues is contributing to the growth of the global fantasy sports market to elevate by leaps and bounds with a CAGR of 10.32 % from the year 2014 to 2019.

Recent Updates & Highlights of Fantasy Sports Industry

• As per a recent study, in the upcoming 5 years, a CAGR of 13.24 % is expected to be registered in terms of revenue by the fantasy sports market.
• The size of the global fantasy sports market is expected to reach $33199.64 million USD by 2025.
• According to a study about the behaviour of fantasy sports players, nearly $556 are spent on the fantasy sports by the users and most of the seasoned players get engaged in the paid games thus the overall revenue of the industry is marking higher numbers.
• In U.S., fantasy sports industry is growing continuously and not showing any slowing down signals. 
• The count of players have grown from 32 million in 2010 in US & Canada to 59.3 million in the year 2017.
• The U.S. fantasy sports industry has grown from 42 million in year 2015 to a count of 45.9 million in year 2019.
• With the upliftment of PASPA, the federal law by the US Supreme Court, multiple individual states have also passed laws for legalizing sports betting. In 2019, more than 17 states have passed laws for legalizing sports betting & these new laws will surely impact the fantasy sports industry as well and will contribute to growth of the iGaming industry as a whole.
• As per DraftsKings, in New Jersey, fantasy sports players have grown with the quick growth of sports betting.
• As per a research report, the market of fantasy sports will grow by $9.34 billion USD in 2021-2024.

Impact of COVID-19 on Fantasy Sports Industry

• After the outbreak of COVID-19 in December 2019, it has spread to nearly 100 countries globally with its declaration by WHO as a public health emergency.
• COVID-19 has affected the global economy in three ways which includes affect on demand and production, creation of market and supply chain disruption and financial impact on financial markets and firms.
• Fantasy sports industry is no exception and has got affected by the economic crisis due to COVID-19 pandemic.
• Cancellation and postponement of sports leagues all over the world has surely impacted the fantasy sports industry but the ray of hope is still persisting for fantasy sports businesses.
• In the starting of July, multiple tournaments and leagues including NBA, UEFA and many more will be joining the already-live tournaments including Coppa Italia, LaLiga, FA Cup, Bundesliga, EPL and many more.
• Thus, fantasy sports industry is witnessing recovery and will get back to normal track very soon.

Analysis of Fantasy Sports Market Trends

• Use of Fantasy Sports in Brand Promotion
  Using fantasy sports in brand promotions is considered as a key market trend which will definitely drive the growth of the fantasy sports market. Multiple big brands are staying focussed on usage of fantasy leagues for marketing their products. The promotions include purchasing advertising space, creation of contests for the members of hub & creation of the hubs to be uniquely accessed by the analysts. Global brands make use of fantasy sports for the purpose of promotion that is mainly targeted for high-income customers lying in the 25-50 age range. Advertisers influx is going to continue in upcoming few years and enhance the market growth. Factors including increased Internet penetration, growing popularity of esports & enhancing count of sports leagues will leave a positive effect on fantasy sports market value growth.
• Segmentation Analysis
  -Fantasy sports market can be segmented by sports type as :- Fantasy Soccer, Fantasy Football, Fantasy Baseball and many more.
  -By geography wise, it can be segmented as APAC, South America, Europe, North America, MEA and many more. In 2019, the MEA region has led the market of fantasy sports that is followed by South America, North America, Europe and APAC.
  -North America has registered the greatest incremental growth because of factors including enhanced count of players, strong Internet infrastructure, popularity of Football, etc.
• Multiple Acquisitions and Mergers
  Various big shifts are expected to be witnessed in the fantasy sports landscape in the coming time as multiple vendors are working for enhancement of their market presence through acquisitions and mergers.  Vendors will acquire small suppliers in the upcoming time for increasing their market share which will be helpful for them in enhancing their market outreach. The great mergers will help vendors to enhance their customer base and revenue generation.
• Growth of Fantasy Sports Mobile Apps
  Launching multiple fantasy sports apps has been a key factor behind growth of fantasy sports market. Fantasy sports apps enable users with a rich, convenient and improved gaming experience. These mobile apps allow users for joining public leagues, track performances, creation of private leagues, mock drafts, player rankings and access other useful features which facilitate an exciting gaming experience. 
• Growing Demand in Latin America and APAC Region
  Though Europe and North America have always been the dominants of fantasy sports but global market has registered enhanced user participation from Latin America and APAC regions as well. Popularity of multiple sports shows varying nature in varying countries. For example, the largest segment of fantasy Basketball is in China, fantasy Cricket in India, fantasy Sumo in Japan, fantasy Soccer in Brazil. The revenue of the fantasy sports industry has increased annually from 0.5% to $7.8 billion in five years upto 2021.

Recent Mergers & Acquisitions that can Boost Industry’s Growth

• Assets of a professional Fantasy Football League, The Crown League  to be acquired by HOF Village, LLC.
• Global gambling powerhouse to be formed with the combination of The Stars Group and Flutter Entertainment through a deal of value around $12 billion.
• A bridge raise of $850,000 that Parlay Capital Holdings led, has been officially closed by PrizePicks.
• DraftKings has extended Stats Perform Deal for boosting fantasy sports app.
• New York Liberty has partnered with FanDuel Group in April 2021
• Sportech has announced extension and renewal of Totalisator services agreement with Emerald Downs Casino and Racetrack.

Trending Fantasy Game Types

• Esports
  Esports when combined with fantasy esports becomes an all together engaging and entertaining combo of gaming. This unique gaming type proves to be really enticing for the players as they get to play their favorite esports in the format of fantasy sports while sitting in the convenience of their homes. Multiple esports leagues including DOTA-2, League of Legends, Fortnite, PUBG, CS-GO, Arena of Valor, Call of Duty, etc are supported on fantasy esports platforms along with necessary fantasy gaming features including team drafting, multiple game formats and many more. The cancellation of major sports leagues has opened wide doors for the fantasy esports industry to mark its growth.
  
  
• Politics
  Fantasy gaming on political events seems to be a really exciting option as players get to game over their favorite political debate, elections, political decisions and much more. Political junkies inclined more towards politics stuff find it an interesting and highly engaging gaming option. The winning in such events rely upon your selected political candidate’s performances in real-time scenarios such as insulting an opposite party’s candidate, answering in a talk show and much more.
  
  
• Celebrity Leagues
  Fantasy celebrity leagues means fantasy gaming on various events and shows that involve actors, reality TV actors, TV stars, sports persons, masterchefs and many more. Some fantasy celebrity leagues cover fantasy movie star leagues, fantasy economists leagues, fantasy award leagues, fantasy reality TV leagues. It is also a perfect option for gaming enthusiasts in the absence of live sports.
  
  
• Stocks & Forex
  Fantasy gaming on Forex and stocks prove to be an exciting and exclusive gaming option for stock market pros. Stock markets statistics are the basis of these gaming categories and the chosen stock is the key performing player upon whom the winning depends.
  
  
• Open Prediction Games & Quiz
  Exclusive game categories like quizzes and open predictions include testing of knowledge in fields of entertainment, sports, science and politics. Players get the chance of winning bonus prizes on correct answering within a certain time frame. Creating a loyal customer base can be useful for fantasy sports businesses when sports leagues make a comeback after pandemic.

Growth Trends of Fantasy Sports Industry in 2023

• A CAGR of 5% is expected to be registered in 2021-25 by the fantasy sports market.
• Enhancing popularity of players in multiple sports, launching of multiple mobile apps, improved infrastructure of the Internet are some of the growth factors in the fantasy sports industry.
• 5G technology’s emergence in 2021 is expected to enhance the Internet’s performance thereby contributing to easing up the gaming experience of fantasy sports players.
• Development of feature rich fantasy sports platforms will enhance the urge of participation among fantasy gaming enthusiasts thereby driving the market growth.
• In absence of live sports events due to COVID-19 pandemic, various innovative fantasy gaming options have gained popularity such as esports, politics, celebrity leagues and many more which is levelling up the fantasy sports industry and making it more enlarged and rich in variety and forms.
• Although businesses have fear that fantasy sports will get crowded by the sports betting but so far evidence have shown that sports betting has always been a growth booster for fantasy sports. As per a FSGA survey, 87% of fantasy sports players belonging to the state where sports betting is legalized, have played either the same or more fantasy sports as compared to the previous year.
• Buying of digital advertisement spaces by the brands for sales and promotion can help the vendors to generate an additional revenue stream from fantasy sports market.
• Ban on buying ads has been uplifted by Google for the fantasy sports companies as it had done updation of its advertising policies that says that fantasy sports advertisers should meet certain minimum standards and possess state licenses for promoting their services.
• Vendors like Yahoo Daily Fantasy, DraftKings and FanDuel are witnessing the advertisement power across the properties of Google including YouTube and Search Engine through Google Ads.
• Though COVID-19 pandemic has slowed down the economic growth of the fantasy sports industry, it has still maintained an optimistic growth with the resume of sports leagues and matches.

Must-Haves for Opening Success Curtains in Fantasy Sports Business

Are you planning to try your luck in the fantasy sports industry ? Then you must stay mindful about certain aspects for registering growth:-

• • Personalization is the Core
    You should keep a complete check at the requirements list of your customers and ensure that your fantasy sports platform is exactly built as per the trend and demands of users. A loyal customer base track should be maintained so that you can recognize the recurring clients and offer them personalized onboarding and gaming experience on your platforms.
    
    
  • Rewards can Trigger User’s Actions
    Various open contests can be conducted for rewarding the users with certain bonuses as a form of engagement strategy that keeps them binded to the platform and triggers them to continue gaming on the fantasy sports software.
    
    
  • Go Omnichannel
    You must ensure that your platform is compatible on multiple devices including mobile, desktop and laptop so that you users can easily access it from their desired channel and device in a convenient manner.
    
    
  • Showcase your Success Stories
    Do not forget to keep your new customers informed about your existing happy customers and their wonderful experiences with you so that they can find the platform reliable and get convinced towards continuing with it
    
    
  • Integrate Trending Gaming Types & Features
    You must integrate trending fantasy gaming types such as fantasy esports, fantasy celebrity leagues, etc along with the state of the art feature list such as multiple game formats, exciting drafting options and much more.

 

• Don’t Forget the Mobile Apps
  You should always ensure to engage the great count of mobile using fantasy sports players through responsive and highly engaging fantasy sports mobile apps.

Why can GammaStack be Counted as a Growth Booster of your Fantasy Sports Business?

GammaStack can provide you with a feature rich and ultra modern fantasy sports software and mobile application integrated with multiple exciting features and trending game types. A well developed and designed fantasy sports platform helps you to offer a convenient and exciting gaming experience to your users. We ensure that our fantasy sports website covers all the necessary functionalities including:-

• Multiple Draft Types (traditional snake drafts, auction drafts, etc)
• Engaging Game Types (oppo-picks, pick’ems, etc)
• Exciting Sports & Non-Sports Catalog (Soccer, Baseball, Esports, Celebrity Leagues, etc)
• Secure Payment Options (Fiat & Cryptocurrency)
• Multiple Game Formats (Daily, Weekly & Season-Long)

and much more.

Make your players delve into an exciting and fun-filled fantasy gaming journey with pioneering fantasy sports software by GammaStack !

Sources:-

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200217005350/en/Global-Fantasy-Sports-Market-2020-2024-Launch-Apps

https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/covid-19-impact-on-global-fantasy-sports-market-size-status-and-forecast-2020-2026<

https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/global-fantasy-sports-market-size-2020-industry-analysis-emerging-technology-top-countries-data-growth-factors-future-trends-defination-sales-revenue-by-forecast-to-2026-2020-05-02

https://brandequity.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/marketing/fantasy-sports-aims-to-make-a-comeback/76754232

https://sportstar.thehindu.com/other-sports/major-league-baseball-schedule-coronavirus-new-york-yankees/article32009493.ece