SVG Sit-Down: Genius Sports' Sean Conroy Is Bullish on Betting-Fueled Content Opportunities The commercial director shares the latest on gambling-data tech, new partnership with DraftKings and NFL By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital
Thursday, August 19, 2021 - 9:54 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
With sports betting flourishing across the U.S., sports-data and technology companies are honing their offerings and services in an effort to stake their claim as the partner of choice for sports leagues, rightsholders, bookmakers, and more.
Genius Sports' Sean Conroy: The most forward-thinking leagues and federations are harnessing betting to create more-immersive fan experiences.
One company that has risen rapidly in the industry is Genius Sports. The technology, data, video-streaming, and integrity-services provider already boasts a portfolio of more than 170,000 official live sports events per year, thanks to partnerships with the National Football League, Major League Baseball, National Basketball Association, and, in the UK, the Premier League.
Genius has been active in the news this week with the acquisition of Spirable, a data-driven video-marketing company, and the addition of industry veteran and Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer Steve Bornstein as president, North America. The company is also gearing up for the start of the lucrative NFL season with a recently announced deal with popular online sportsbook DraftKings, under which Genius Sports will offer a suite of NFL-related products for the upcoming season.
SVG sat down with Genius Sports Commercial Director Sean Conroy to discuss what the London-based company brings to the table, what's behind its quick rise in sports media, and what he's most excited to see play out in the sports-betting space.
For those in the industry who aren't aware, can you detail Genius Sports' role in the sports-betting ecosystem? And how do your services factor into the live-sports-production sector?
At our core, we're a technology company. We're a specialist in sports technology and software. We sit at the intersection of sports, betting, and media, connecting sports leagues and teams with sportsbooks, broadcasters, media, and streaming companies. We help to connect the entire ecosystem, providing technology layers and data solutions that allow each set of partners across those areas to work together and thrive.
For sports, we work with leagues, federations, and teams to help them collect, package, and distribute their official data and live video content. This is central to how they engage their fans, create efficiencies at an operational level, and ultimately generate revenue and commercialize their content through media and sports betting.
We work alongside sportsbooks to help take the official data and video that we collect in partnership with sports and use that to power everything from split-second odds to outsourced trading solutions, live streams, and more across thousands of events. We effectively help sportsbooks engage their existing customers with engaging content and support the actual provision and delivery of those core betting markets that sit within their platform.
We think less specifically around sports betting and more about how do we engage fans? How do we deliver meaningful content and experiences for fans?
What does it mean to be the official data provider of a sports property, and how do these deals benefit Genius and its customers?
Official sports data is facts and information relating to an event or match that is directly sanctioned and approved by the relevant governing body. Official data deals provide sports with a fair return from betting on their competitions while creating the fastest, most accurate and reliable source of information to power engaging betting and media products.
What's important to know is that each sport or league is different. They have a disparate set of needs and requirements. What we do when we start working with any sport is, we sit down and look to understand how they operate their sport today. What are the tools that they have in place to collect and distribute live data? How do they capture and produce live video content to serve fans?
We then build solutions that allow them to better optimize their current operations. For example, we may work with a league to install a new official live-data scoring system. We may work to implement our cameras to support machine-learning-based optical data-tracking collection. There's a variety of different types of tools and technologies that we use.
Fundamentally, what we are looking to do is provide the right technology to the right league to help them collect and control their official data. Really, no two deals are the same, but the principle is to provide technology, to support the creation of robust and high-quality data and content and serve that to the fans within their ecosystem in a smart way.
Let's look at the NFL. You just announced that you will be working with DraftKings on a suite of products for the upcoming season. What's most exciting about what you can accomplish with a partner like DraftKings?
We are delighted with the long-term strategic partnership with DraftKings. We will be working with one of the U.S.'s premier sportsbook brands to provide them a range of official NFL data, from the core data and information required to run the betting markets to next-gen stats (which is the rich feed of information collected and produced from the players to track ball speeds and player speeds). We're taking all of this data and working with DraftKings to drive and innovate that experience for bettors around the NFL.
Our vision is to help power and support the full DraftKings player lifecycle. We'll be helping DraftKings acquire new players, taking t
Most recent headlines
17/02/2025
TVBEurope talks to the team who brought a piece of broadcasting history back to life on BBC Wales last night
By Jenny Priestley
Published: February 14, 2025 ...
17/02/2025
Eligible studios will receive the relief directly from their local authorities, with no need to submit a claim
By Matthew Corrigan
Published: February 17, 20...
17/02/2025
As DEI initiatives come under pressure in the USA, supporters of Rise, which promotes diversity in the media and entertainment sector, discuss the continuing im...
17/02/2025
EIB Global loan will partially fund SES's continued O3b mPOWER medium earth orbit (MEO) fleet expansion enabling additional capacity worldwide. O3b mPOWER s...
15/02/2025
At Nielsen, Business Resource Groups (BRGs) play a critical role in nurturing a ...
15/02/2025
Innovation to empower creativity: Explore the latest in Lightroom
Rob Christensen February 15, 2025
0 Comments
Whether you want to remove distracting ...
15/02/2025
Wisycom, a worldwide leader in RF technology and provider of wireless solutions, announces a new distribution agreement with EQUAPHON. An Argentinian profession...
15/02/2025
DPA Microphones, the leading manufacturer of high-quality microphone solutions, is pleased to welcome Nicholas Nick Mariano and Vincent Vince Divine to the ...
15/02/2025
Tuxera, a leading provider of quality-assured file systems and networking solutions, will showcase how Tuxera Fusion SMB enables unprecedented performance for m...
15/02/2025
Bitmovin's latest Video Developer Report indicates an increasing role of AI, the slow adoption of next-generation codecs, and continuing challenges when it ...
15/02/2025
When Michelin Enterprises set out to promote its prestigious Hotel Guide in the new Sleepless in the Kitchen , campaign, veteran German/Slovenian gaffer Robert...
15/02/2025
Formula E, the world's first all-electric racing series, revolutionizing motorsport with cutting-edge technology and a commitment to sustainability has sele...
15/02/2025
Agile Content, a global leader in TV and video technology solutions, announces its rebranding to AgileTV.
The transition to AgileTV stems from a commitment to ...
15/02/2025
Hiltron Communications will promote the latest additions to its range of satellite communication products, systems and supporting services at GovSatCom 2025. Th...
15/02/2025
Following the success of the original Airglow Booklight, DoPchoice debuts a new addition to their inflatable line the Float. This lightweight, inflatable, round...
15/02/2025
LAS VEGAS Marshall Electronics has announced that it will debut its newest camera controller, the RCP Plus, at the 2025 NAB Show at Booth N2649 between April 5 ...
15/02/2025
ATLANTA Gray Media has named Blake Sebo as the next general manager of KTUU and KYES, Gray's NBC and CBS affiliates in Anchorage, Alaska....
15/02/2025
KOKKEDAL, Denmark DPA Microphones will feature its new CORE+ technology for distortion-free microphone sound at the 2025 NAB Show, April 5-9, in Las Vegas....
15/02/2025
SWANSEA, U.K. QuickLink will launch StudioPro-NDI and StudioPro-3, two new models of its QuickLine StudioPro video production platform, at the 2025 NAB Show, Ap...
15/02/2025
Live From 2025 NBA All-Star Game Weekend: After 25 Years, Turner Sports All-In F...
15/02/2025
NASCAR Driver Cam on Max Embraces Cloud-Based Workflow for 2025 Season Chris Brown of WBD Sports says Mobii will play key part in delivering signals from the tr...
14/02/2025
Last month, we officially launched the Spotify Partner Program, a powerful new m...
14/02/2025
From an island off the coast of Lutruwita to the global stage in France SBS & ...
14/02/2025
The future of electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) land systems is evolving so that ...
14/02/2025
Here are 5 reasons why you should attend ISE 2025
Discover more about Calrec: Learn more about Calrec's legacy of innovation in broadcast audio solutions ...
14/02/2025
World Radio Day: On the same wavelength
By Graham Murray, International Sales Manager at Calrec
To mark World Radio Day, Calrec's International Sales Ma...
14/02/2025
DALLAS and TYSONS, Va. Tegna has concluded a broadcast rights agreement that makes Tegna's KFAA in Dallas the exclusive local television partner of the Dall...
14/02/2025
Amazon's Prime Video has released a new app for Apple TV that the streamer said delivers an improved streaming experiences with faster scrolling, improved s...
14/02/2025
CLEVELAND Telos Alliance announced a software update for its Axia Quasar XR and SR line of audio-over-IP (AoIP) mixing consoles and will show the offering at th...
14/02/2025
Puget Systems Returns to HPA Tech Retreat 2025 with New Analysis Tools for Puge...
14/02/2025
Glass Animals: Tour of Earth Uses Blackmagic Live Production Workflow
Brie Clayton February 14, 2025
0 Comments
80six deploys Blackmagic URSA Broadcas...
14/02/2025
A dispute between Paramount and Youtube TV that would have pulled CBS stations and Paramount's cable channels from the streaming service has been temporaril...
14/02/2025
Colourist Deidre (Dee) McClelland details how she helped shape the distinct look and feel of whimsical Oscar-nominated stop-motion film, Memoir of a Snail
By C...
14/02/2025
BitFire said it intends to introduce forward-looking services that simplify the launch of live production workflows, and enhance real-time collaboration
By Jen...
14/02/2025
The claim by the liquidators is the latest twist in the ongoing saga of the companys collapse at the end of 2021
By Matthew Corrigan
Published: February 14, ...
14/02/2025
A carriage dispute between YouTube TV and Paramount could come to a head today (Feb. 13), with the virtual pay TV provider threatening to pull all of the progra...
14/02/2025
ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J. LG Electronics USA has opened a new in-house, state-of-the-art virtual production studio at its 360,000-square-foot North American headqu...
14/02/2025
NEW YORK In a bid to help local broadcasters find new ways of monetizing their content, the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) and TVB have relea...
14/02/2025
WASHINGTON Three Democratic U.S. Senators have sent a stern letter blasting FCC Chair Brendan Carr for the weaponization of the agency for attacking broadcast...
14/02/2025
Years after launching the streaming service Apple TV+ in November of 2019, Apple has finally released a version of its steaming app for Android devices....
14/02/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. Red Digital Cinema will make its V-RAPTOR [X] and KOMODO-X camera systems available with Nikon's premier Z Mount, providing filmmaker...
14/02/2025
DAYTONA, Fla. The Fox Sports production of this year's Daytona 500 will see the addition of a few new tech elements and the continued unfolding of the broad...
14/02/2025
Watch Bryson Battles Blind Audition on The Voice Get a Four-Chair Turn Michael Bubl said the Boston Conservatory at Berklee musical theater senior might have...
14/02/2025
2025 Daytona 500: FOX Sports Looks To Ride Super Bowl LIX Momentum Into NASCAR S...
14/02/2025
14 Feb 2025
VEON's Kyivstar and the Come Back Alive Foundation Raise USD 2....
14/02/2025
Max Renews THE PITT, Starring Noah Wyle, For A Second Season
Max
Warner Bros. Television Group
The Pitt
New Episodes Of The Medical Drama From John...
14/02/2025
This year, Technicolor proudly celebrates 110 years of shaping the magic of cinema pioneering color, visual effects, and innovation that bring unforgettable l...
14/02/2025
NBA All-Star: More Games, More Teams, More Music, More Sound From the Court Turner Sports' team will deploy familiar tech to capture all the audio By Dan D...
14/02/2025
LIV Golf Continues To Innovate With Drones, Data-Driven Graphics, and All-Access...
SVG Sit-Down: Genius Sports' Sean Conroy Is Bullish on Betting-Fueled Content Opportunities The commercial director shares the latest on gambling-data tech, new partnership with DraftKings and NFL By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital 
