DraftKings is a digital sports entertainment and gaming company that connects fans across daily fantasy, gaming, and digital media. As the No. 1 online gambling leader in the U.S. by gross gaming revenue (GGR),¹ it has a mission to responsibly create the world's favorite games and betting experiences. In 2019, DraftKings began a successful relationship with Roku for streaming video ad campaigns to drive a key indicator for customer acquisition: first-time deposits.
Roku empowers DraftKings to precisely geotarget TV streamers by their sports allegiances and location, ensuring that DraftKings’ messaging for state-specific launches and promotions reaches the right audiences. DraftKings can manage its campaigns holistically with granular state-by-state targeting.
We recently sat down with Josh Levin Scherz, DraftKings’ vice president of sports marketing, to talk about its agreement with Roku, why DraftKings is betting on TV streaming, and how Roku is helping DraftKings solve its business challenges.
Please tell us about your background and the path that led to your current role at DraftKings.
Josh:
I’ve been at DraftKings since its inception in 2012. I was about a year out of college and had been working as an associate at a local ad agency. As a true startup, everyone did a little bit of everything at the beginning, although my focus was always marketing.
As DraftKings matured, and sports betting was legalized and continued to expand across the country, plenty of opportunities came my way, and I’m grateful for every single one of them. Recently, I was promoted to vice president, overseeing marketing for the sports vertical at DraftKings.
How would you describe DraftKings’s relationship with TV streaming? What’s the advantage of partnering with Roku?
DraftKings recently expanded beyond streaming video ads by leveraging Roku’s home screen unit for the first week of the NFL season. For this campaign, DraftKings expanded reach to households with a marquee ad on Roku’s home screen that was visible to Roku viewers as soon as they turned on their TVs, creating an unmissable moment for the brand. When viewers clicked on DraftKings’ marquee ad, they were directed to an immersive landing page. The campaign was a huge success, with 36% incremental reach among households that didn’t see DraftKings’ standard streaming video ad.
DraftKings also deepened its relationship with Roku in September 2023 when it launched the DraftKings Network on The Roku Channel. The DraftKings Network is a 24/7 FAST channel that was introduced in May 2023 to provide engaging sports and entertainment content for the company’s passionate fans and bettors.
What was a key business or marketing challenge DraftKings faced prior to working with Roku? How did Roku help solve this challenge?
Josh:
How did Roku help drive success for DraftKings campaigns? Can you share specific examples?
Josh:
Advancement in access to Roku automatic content recognition (ACR) data has been a win for DraftKings campaigns. Tapping into ACR data, third-party data and first-party data promotes a cohesive campaign execution, with constant learnings available at our fingertips in real time.
New customer acquisition is supported through consistent test-and-learn capabilities across data sources and publishers. Roku provides ease of use and consistency in reporting the impact of certain campaigns during our high seasons, driving impact.
What’s next for DraftKings?
Josh:
At DraftKings, we take a data-driven and analytical approach to our marketing efforts across the board. In the year ahead, we will dive deeper into, among other things, the measurement journey with Roku. Through data clean room technology, we plan to analyze TV streaming buys unlike ever before.
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¹ Eilers & Krejcik Gaming: DraftKings new US online GGR market leader.
