Only a few years old, the appeal of fantasy sports is so pervasive that TV shows have been based on them, channels have been made for them, and with the boom of unicorn DFS sites FanDuel and DraftKings—who both raised over $250 million in venture capital this summer — a new advertising model where they give away the best betting promo codes as a loss leader for overall increase of traffic has been born.
Today on “Dot Complicated with Randi Zuckerberg” Jackie Schaffer, co-creator of the FXX hit show, The League, and Erik Groset, the CEO of DFS site, FantasySportsCo.com discussed the success of DFS.
“The DFS model has changed in the last 7 years since we’ve started The League.”
“We work very long hours on our show. We’re out of these little trailers. We’re all working so hard. Don’t make me sleep under my desk.”
“My husband and co-creater of the show, Jeff Schaffer, was a writer on Seinfeld.”
“We were on vacation, which were few and far between. It was Christmas Eve when normally we can unplug from work. Instead he’s dialing in to the US and stomping his feet trying to change the outcome of a football game all the way from France.”
“I thought it was it was awesome and pathetic in the way you create characters for a television show.”
“Golden Tate who plays for the Detroit Lions and used to play for the Seahawks arrived on set on one of those smartboards. I’m sure his coaches wouldn’t be happy with that.”
“The way DFS works, you set your line up, and pick your players. The games are already in play so there’s nothing you can do to affect the lineup.”
“I’m a very competitive player. Jeff and I play in a league together with the 6 cast members of the show.”
“Season 4 Episode 1 had the cast having their draft while Jenny and Kevin are having their child. I went into labor 4 weeks early and was still running the show. Art truly imitates life.”
“Watching Steve completely lose it at Jon for not knowing who he was playing was one of the best behind the scenes moments.”
“It’s the work-life balance. I have one secret of how I’m so efficient: I still have a Blackberry—it is so fast. It makes me so happy.”
“I cannot type fast enough on the iPhone. For seven years I’ve held onto that Blackberry.”
“My husband is a little disappointed that all the pictures of our children are like 1 megapixel.”
“Big shout to Netflix for changing the business model for TV.”
“I love hearing people tell me that they joined their first league after watching the show. People get really invested in it.”
“I hear a lot of people naming their child or dog after one of the characters of the show.”
“My one big tip that made me a 2-time champion: Don’t tinker. Go with your gut and stick with it. Tinkering is really part of the problem.”
“We collaborated before, my husband and I, we made Eurotrip for Dreamworks. We’re working on more together.”
“Hopefully if you’re entertaining enough you can hold your own. Just get up there and have some fun.”
“If I’m out of town, Jeff never knows what to get for dinner. He went to a gas station and got a burrito. He just gave up.”
“One of my favorite apps is Matthew Berry and his Fantasy Life is app.”
“In Los Angeles, it’s all about Waze. We’re old school that way.”
“Instacart and Artkive are silly things that aren’t valuable to work but definitely to my home life.”
“The apps that I’ve been deleting are points and rewards things that I just don’t need.”
“You have to really believe in what youre doing. The buyers are more often saying no than yes. It’s passion. It’s got to translate to viewers.”
“Everything we’ve ever done comes from such a personal place. You have to be in a passionate place.”
“Success is something you want to be proud of. So only do things you believe in.”
“Given the amount of advertising that FanDuel and DraftKings did this kind of backlash is normal.”
“Any startup that grows too quick it’s going to have it’s fair share of missteps. Look at Uber. It’s explosive growth.”
“I think everyone is taking good steps in getting reputable law firms involved and self-policing.”
“FanDuel and DraftKings are allowing a former US Attorney General to do an independent audit.”
“Fantasy is a game of skill. You think you can beat everyone in the office based on your knowledge.”
“There’s more research that can be done, but it’s how much you know about the sport that determines how well you do.”
“Because it’s such a fast growing industry and we want people to be successful. We want to simplify the process using algorithms.”
“A lot of people do watch 10 hours a day of sports because it’s their passion. They don’t have to do it to be competitive. Everyone has their own intuition.”
“We’re riding the wave, because the two unicorns are doing so much marketing. Ride the trends.”
“Do they need to advertise this aggressively—absolutely not. They’re doing it because the other guy is doing it.”
“The great part of building software is the ability to reach millions of people, but there’s a lot of logistics that go into it.”
“I feel like the butcher is the most knowledgeable person in the market, so I’d ask him for advice.”
“Product Hunt is one of my favorite apps right now.”
“I love the Nokia Here maps for navigation in the car. Google Maps and Apple Maps have just blown it.”
“I used to love Shopkick but it got too overly complicated.”
“Follow your passion and trends. If you can find something you’re passionate about and a hot trend you’ll probably be successful.”
Tune into ‘Dot Complicated with Randi Zuckerberg’ next week when Randi sits down with former ‘Housewives of New York’ star, Heather Thomson, to discuss her new clothing brand Yummie by HT. Only on SiriusXM Business channel 111; 12pm ET/9am PT.
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