Study finds US sportsbooks failing to personalise marketing despite rich betting data

OtherLevels, a provider of real-time, multi-channel experience platforms for live sports and iGaming, has published a case study highlighting how little use leading US sportsbooks make of customer betting data when crafting marketing communications.

The Brisbane-based company’s research team carried out a four-month study in a single US state, placing 734 wagers of equal value across four major sportsbooks and covering sports including professional football, American football, basketball, ice hockey and baseball. Researchers then analysed 401 marketing messages received in response to this betting activity.

Personalisation gap

The findings showed a marked disconnect between betting patterns and subsequent marketing content. Despite placing 471 moneyline wagers across 12 different teams, only 3.74% of messages referenced a team the researchers had actually backed. Similarly, just 3.40% of prop-related messages mentioned a player the researchers had wagered on.

Even where betting activity was concentrated, personalisation remained low: only 0.75% of messages referenced any of the top five most-wagered-on players, despite this market accounting for 165 bets, while just 1.5% mentioned any of the top five most-wagered-on teams. First names of the research team’s customers appeared in only 0.49% of messages.

According to OtherLevels, the study also found that operators rarely adjusted messaging content or subject matter in response to repeated, demonstrated customer interests. The prevalence of generic player-prop promotions, often built around well-known players regardless of individual betting history, indicated a fixed promotional approach rather than one driven by customer data.

Comment from OtherLevels

Brendan O’Kane, chief executive of OtherLevels, said the study demonstrated that sportsbooks hold clear data on customer team and player preferences but are not yet converting this into timely or relevant messaging. He added that operators who make full use of their data have an opportunity to turn insights into more personalised, engaging customer experiences, and that tailoring promoted players to individual betting interests can produce better results than relying on name recognition alone.

Results from personalised activation

OtherLevels said it had previously demonstrated measurable benefits from fully automated, personalised activation messaging. Over a 12-month period, one operator using the OtherLevels Experience platform saw a 16% lift in NBA messaging performance, an 8% lift in NFL messaging performance, and a 30% lift in NFL on-site engagement, based on communications built around customers’ learned preferences across sports, teams, players and betting markets.