Fubo Sportsbook to integrate real-money bets with Live TV streaming for new free-to-play sports contests

FuboTV Inc. announced Thursday that it will unveil pick’em games this weekend - becoming the first company to launch the free-to-play sports contests directly integrated into the live TV streaming experience. Aditionally, pick’em players in select markets will have seamless access to Fubo Sportsbook by scanning a QR code to place real-money wagers aligned with their picks. This marks the latest incorporation of FuboTV and its owned-and-operated real-money wagering platform.

Pick’em players will be able to predict the outcome of select live sporting events directly from FuboTV’s live TV streaming platform’s home screen. Fubo will make pick’ems available prior to the start of select live sporting events each Sunday. Players can test their skills through a variety of contests, including Perfect Pick’ems, to earn points and compete against their friends and the FuboTV community for the chance to work their way up leaderboards.

Pick’ems will launch on June 19 to select FuboTV subscribers and will continue to roll out to the company’s user base in the coming months. Subscribers can engage with pick’ems across all FuboTV connected TV, smart TV, gaming consoles, and mobile apps as well as on its website. "FuboTV will continue to expand the types of contests, the gaming experience and, later, will introduce prizing," the group stated in a press release.

The industry-first integration also demonstrates and further builds upon the seamless Watch/Wager/Win connection between FuboTV and Fubo Sportsbook - all within a single ecosystem. Fubo Sportsbook is purpose-built to meet U.S. sports fans’ growing demand for interactivity by delivering personalized omniscreen experiences that turn passive viewers into active participants. Its proprietary feature, Watching Now, leverages FuboTV’s first-party user data to engage participants by recommending relevant bets based upon what they are streaming — even as they change the channel.

"As it aims to transcend the industry’s current TV model, FuboTV continues to integrate interactivity and personalization into its live TV streaming experience with recent proprietary launches of free-to-play games and the FanView live scores and stats widget", the company further explained.  In January, the company updated its popular Multiview on Apple TV feature to include FanView, enabling viewership of multiple live sporting events alongside game stats and scores from around the league.

FuboTV recently reported that this integrated approach has led to stronger engagement with crossover users on average placing a greater number of bets and having higher retention rates on the sportsbook than sportsbook-only players. The company intends to further integrate FuboTV and Fubo Sportsbook with the launch of additional product features, including live odds, this year, subject to regulatory approvals.

"With this weekend’s launch, FuboTV will become the first live TV streaming platform to offer pick’em games integrated into the video experience with a direct gateway to an owned-and-operated sportsbook," said Mike Berkley, chief product officer, FuboTV. "We believe interactivity is a key product differentiator for Fubo and, with these immersive experiences built into our live streaming product, we can offer the most personalized - and customizable - sports and entertainment television experience."

Scott Butera, president of Fubo Gaming

"While other media companies are entering into external partnerships with betting companies, FuboTV and Fubo Sportsbook have combined both into one ecosystem," said Scott Butera, president of Fubo Gaming. "The launch of pick’ems will further demonstrate FuboTV’s unique product integration and commitment to offering fans real-time immersive experiences across multiple touchpoints."

"Our mission is to transform the TV experience through interactive engagement, including free gaming and real-money wagering, into streaming video," said David Gandler, co-founder and CEO of FuboTV. "This industry-first integration has been popular with consumers, and, as we reported on our recent first quarter 2022 earnings call, we’re already seeing encouraging early signs of the flywheel effect between FuboTV and Fubo Sportsbook."

David Gandler, co-founder and CEO of FuboTV

"We believe our built-in video audience will allow us to acquire users more efficiently, with a limited amount of marketing spend. We will continue to build our fully unified streaming TV and sportsbook experience with the rollout of more interactive features this year," the CEO concluded.