Will regulated sports betting turn televised sports in the United States into a hellscape of sportsbook advertisements that would put Australia to shame? If CBS CEO Les Moonves has his way the answer to that question is a resounding, “yes.”
The top dog at the major American TV network embraced the prospect of increased revenue from regulated sports betting in a recent conference call to investors. It’s a phenomenon that Moonves says is already emerging in the limited (but growing rapidly) markets where sports betting is already legal.
According to a recent report on AdAge.com, Moonves pointed out his thought that increased ad dollars from sports betting will start out as a local phenomenon but will eventually make its way onto the national advertising scene.
As an example of how big the ad avalanche might get, Moonves used the example of FanDuel and Draft Kings. Several years ago the two daily fantasy sports giants dominated American airwaves with an advertising blitz of historic proportions. Moonves is hoping see that same dynamic play out again, observing that these companies are emerging as major players in the US sports betting industry.
The long-time network chief also suggested that sports betting will drive a boost in ratings for sports content saying:
So we think it’s a category that has an unbelievable upside. What that is I don’t know, but because of our local marketplace we’re ready there. The good news is this is also going to help the ratings on all our sports events, so that’s a positive to us.
The question remaining now is whether or not an ad blitz by bookies will result in more regulation (like we’ve seen in Australia) or possibly a situation where there are so many ads for sports betting that most folks tune them out?