US-based live TV streaming platform, fuboTV, has acquired fantasy sports supplier Balto Sports, marking its first move into the online sports wagering market.
Balto Sports develops tools for users to organize and play fantasy sports games, and fuboTV intends to leverage its own platform technology alongside Balto’s contest automation software, to launch a free-to-play gaming offering.
As part of the deal, Balto’s team will join fuboTV and will be instrumental in driving the company’s expansion into free-to-play gaming and online sports wagering, the company said.
David Gandler, co-founder and chief executive of fuboTV said one of the company’s goals is to expand its total available market by developing gaming as an additional revenue stream.
“FuboTV sees the online wagering space as complementary to our sports-first live TV streaming platform. We believe there are significant synergies between consumers who enjoy wagering and our subscribers who enjoy streaming live sports, creating a flywheel opportunity,” he said.
“The acquisition of Balto Sports will enable us to build a first class, free to play experience that brings consumers the best games around live sports. From there, we see a natural progression to layer on real money wagering in regulated markets complementing fuboTV’s live streaming video for a highly engaging user experience within our platform.”
FuboTV merged with FaceBank Group, a celebrity and sports focused virtual entertainment company, in April 2020. The deal was intended to create a digital entertainment company combining fuboTV’s direct-to-consumer live TV streaming platform, with FaceBank’s IP in sports, movies and live performances.
In May 2019, fuboTV signed a deal with FanDuel, which saw the operator become the exclusive sportsbook, online casino, horse racing and DFS partner of the streaming platform.
The deal also covered a media buy, which made Flutter Entertainment-owned FanDuel the exclusive advertiser on fuboTV across the four categories.