13.5% Sales Lift: How Attention-led Betting Ads Boost Sales

The betting and fantasy sports advertising landscape has exploded, with companies spending $434.4 million on national TV ads last year.

Key Takeaways 

• >25% of ads underperformed should be dropped or adjusted
• Ads featuring protagonists in suits performed poorly
• High-energy music improved performance
• Top-performing ad (BetMGM) would generate $387k sales lift at $1m media spend

Business Impact

Using PreView Synthetic Testing, we tested five ads each from six leading brands: BetMGM, FanDuel, DraftKings, ESPN BET, PointsBet, and bet365.

The difference in Attention Potential between the highest performing ad (62) and lowest score (17) was 45, which represents a potential 13.5% increase in campaign sales lift. On a $1 million digital campaign, this translates to $387,000 more in sales, assuming Nielsen's calculation of $2.87 in additional sales per $1 ad spend. 
 
BetMGM ads have a 25 difference in AVG Attention Potential Score to bet356, representing a 24.3% advantage in sales lift.   

 
Performance Highlights 
BetMGM and DraftKings emerged as top performers, with attention-grabbing strategies:

• BetMGM used high-energy soundtracks and dynamic black backgrounds 
• DraftKings leveraged celebrity humor, featuring performers like Kevin Hart 
• ESPN BET scored highest on Happiness Peak Index, indicating strong emotional engagement 

 
Standout Ads 
Some of the most successful ads broke the traditional molds: 

• BetMGM Casino GeoX Campaign scored highest on Attention Potential 
• PointsBet's 'Think You Know Sports' creatives performed well 
• Surprisingly, ESPN Bet’s ad featuring a lost bet topped the Happiness Peak Index 

Methodology
PreView Synthetic Testing is an API providing instant and ‘always on’ Predicted Attention performance, trained on 18 million participant sessions and 90K+ ads tested. The AI model determines Attention Potential on a scale of 1-100, with each point gained driving +0.3% campaign sales lift. 

This study assessed five videos from six betting brands for various performance indicators, including "Potential" (a measure of audience reach), "Attention Mean Index," "Confusion Mean Index," "Contempt Mean Index," "Happiness Peak Index," and "Surprise Mean Index." By analyzing these metrics, the study aims to identify successful strategies and areas for improvement in ad creation and deployment.