Genius Sports Partnering with Musk’s X on New Advertising Product

Posted on: July 19, 2024, 04:42h. 

Last updated on: July 19, 2024, 04:42h.

Todd Shriber @etfgodfather Read More
Expertise: Financial, Gaming Business, Mergers and Acquisitions.

Sports betting data provider Genius Sports is partnering with X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, on the “Trend Genius” product.

Twitter
X (formerly Twitter) owner Elon Musk. The social media site reach a deal with Genius Sports for the Trend Genius product.(Image: Reuters)

Trend Genius is designed to deliver advertisements pertinent to real time conversations taking place on X. In a hypothetical example, an active, robust conversation with multiple participants on “sports betting X” could be served ads from gaming companies. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

The new technology, built by Genius Sports and powered by X’s Ads and Trend APIs, allows advertisers to align with the real-time conversations happening on the X platform across categories. When a specified topic organically reaches a set conversation velocity, pre-programmed creative will run to reach audiences when they’re most engaged,” according to a statement.

As the chatter shifts or wanes, the ads served by Trend Genius would be paused until momentum is regained. In simple terms, Trend Genius harnesses artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to show ads that are most relevant to specific X conversations and threads.

X Agreement Marks New Frontier for Genius Sports

The accord with X is unique for Genius and could showcase the latter’s versatility while opening new markets beyond the world of sports wagering.

Traditionally, the Genius business model has involved striking agreements with sports leagues and selling the obtained data to sportsbook operators. In the US, Genius has lucrative deals with the NCAA and the NFL, among others. Genius has long been a dominant name in the European sports betting data market, previously winning deals with the English Premier League (EPL) and Germany’s Bundesliga, among others.

Genius technology could help X advertisers more efficiently target and maximize those expenditures, which could be long-term selling points in the highly competitive internet ad space.

“As the exclusive data distributor for the NFL, NCAA, and the Premier League, Genius Sports relied on its heritage of building data-driven products to engineer real-time algorithms needed to start and stop ad spend across the X platform,” said Josh Linforth of Genius Sports in the statement.

Advertising in Flux at X

Ad revenue is a vital part of the X business model and since Elon Musk acquired the social media giant in October 2022, some advertisers turned petty and reduced spending due to Musk’s alleged political leanings.

“After the billionaire bought the platform, advertisers and marketers have closely observed every change regarding its features and policies. Due to many contradictory developments at Twitter, industry professionals have become increasingly more cautious with their investments,” according to Statista.

While X currently commands a small percentage of overall internet ad revenue, it is one of the most visited sites in the world. That could signal opportunity for the Trend Genius partnership to potentially bear fruit over the long-term.