Analysis: The next DFS battleground

FanDuel recently launched its first real-money Android app, setting out the next DFS battleground. Martyn Hannah reports

FanDuel launched its first dedicated real-money Android app at the back end of last month and in doing so kick-started the latest daily fantasy sports battleground. In line with trends being seen across the wider egaming industry, a growing number of DFS consumers are ditching their desktops in favor of mobile and tablet devices.

At the iGaming North America conference in Las Vegas in April, DraftKings CEO Jason Robins said that more than 40% of traffic was now coming through the mobile channel, with that figure likely to increase by the end of the year.
[private] FanDuel’s arrival on Android completes the operator’s mobile offering, with an iOS app and dedicated iPad application already live. Rivals DraftKings launched its Android application late last year, and also has iOS apps that have been designed and optimized for iPhone and iPad devices.

Now that each operator’s mobile arsenal is complete, the real battle over who can conquer the mobile market will get underway proper. The signs are already promising, with FanDuel CEO Nigel Eccles saying mobile is a key driver behind its spectacular growth of late.

“More than half of our users are on our app, and 90% of those are using the app consistently to enter line-ups and watch live scoring,” he says. “Mobile has been a key driver of our business and we continue to innovate and invest in our mobile products accordingly.”

An awkward fit

The challenge for operators is that daily fantasy sports is a bit of an awkward fit when it comes to mobile. The need to research stats and have access to player performance numbers and articles while drafting line-ups means players often flick between several sites prior to and during play.

The scale and scope of FanDuel’s and DraftKings’ game lobbies are also hard to replicate on mobile, with operators having to design a simpler user interface for mobile and tablet devices. But desktop is still a core channel and the result is spikes in mobile activity at different points during gameplay.

Robins says around 30% of players come through mobile during the period of time where players set line-ups, but that number jumps to around 50% during the period of time when the games are actually being played.

“DraftKings players use all different devices and computers to research stats and build their strategic line-ups. We see them use each device differently, but equally effectively to perform their research. We tend to see an increase in mobile after live events start because players are checking their scores and monitoring the content. We also see spikes around peak times from drafting and when we add new content to the site,” he adds.

Another issue that operators have to work around is listing their Android apps in the Google Playstore. Despite daily fantasy being classified as a game of skill under the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act 2006, Google still considers it to be a form of gambling and so refuses to list DFS applications.

This means that Android users have to download the app directly from an operator’s website. While this isn’t a major issue for players already using the desktop product, it does make it harder to acquire new players directly through the mobile channel.

Back to basics

Second tier DFS operators such as DraftDay are also looking to capitalize on the rise in mobile penetration and usage. DraftDay launched its Rapid Fire iOS app back in March, offering players a much simpler user interface and game format compared with the popular salary cap contest.

The game allows players to pick the three players they think will score the most fantasy points during a game to win 2x their buy in, or pick the five players they think will score the most fantasy points during a game to win 20x their buy in.

“Salary cap does not lend itself well to a very simple app,” says Robert Ladd, CEO of MGT Capital Investments, which owns the third largest DFS site, DraftDay. “The operators that have had success in attracting new players on mobile offer simpler games like our Rapid Fire product. They key is creating a mobile product that allows players to change and alter their line-ups quickly and easily.”

FanDuel and DraftKings have kept the salary cap game format, but they too have stripped back their game lobby and user interface for mobile (see picture). The result is a sleek and easy to navigate UI allowing for a fluid and rapid user experience. Both operators have also distinguished the difference between mobile and tablet, with the latter offering more screen space for design quirks and additional features.

“The underlying technology [for mobile and tablet] is the same,” says Robins. “But we have customized the creative design for each to optimize the user experience, creating specific views to each device.”

Death of the desktop

Desktop is undoubtedly still the core platform for DFS players, with mobile providing a secondary way to play. That will likely continue in the near future, but it won’t be long before tablets replace laptops, and eventually desktops. As Ladd says, “the iPad Air is a pretty good computer” and with its larger screen size and capabilities is able to almost replicate the desktop experience.

What’s more, the mobility afforded with a tablet allows DFS players to second screen, watching the game on TV while simultaneously monitoring their daily fantasy line-ups on their tablet or mobile device.

For FanDuel and DraftKings a complete mobile offering forms part of a much bigger picture. As the two operators continue to do battle over market share and player signups, neither could afford to lose ground to the other when it comes to mobile. Now that they both have a complete mobile offering, innovation and development will be key to acquiring and retaining players.

What will be really interesting, however, is to see how they will react to the growing interest in wearable tech such as smartwatches, and which operator will be first to blink and bring a product to market.