SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Oliver Lietz, CEO of Nanocosmos, shared some interesting insights around micro betting and how his company is working to enable it by delivering real-time streaming 24/7/365 to reach anyone, anytime, anywhere.
While the precise definition of microbetting may still be a matter of debate, one consensus is clear: thanks to real-time video streaming, it is fostering greater fan engagement than ever before. This sports betting/iGaming hybrid, with its dynamic approach to live wagering, is progressively drawing the attention of operators actively pursuing fresh revenue streams.
We asked Nanocosmos CEO Oliver Lietz for his take on this exciting new genre and how it differs from the wagering norm.
He stated: “Microbetting is a fast-growing trend that has created a lot of attention this year and will likely have a great impact on the future of the gambling industry. Microbetting lets users place bets on specific short-term outcomes during the context of a game or event — often with very low stakes.
“Users can stake their bets on an array of outcomes, from the subsequent point scored in a tennis match to the next pass or run of an NFL game or the next scoring athlete of any sports or the imminent basket in a basketball match. Microbetting – also called lightning betting or flash betting – is a new form of online betting that provides instant gratification and numerous opportunities to engage.”
Several platform operators have decided to take advantage of the momentum the Microbetting trend has created and have included the “flash betting” offerings to their services based on interactive live streaming or so called real-time streaming. Streaming with minimal latency to enable smooth interaction.
But unlike traditional in-play bets that encompass a broader perspective, Lietz believes that microbetting is all about placing rapid, compact wagers on immediate outcomes within the game’s larger context and based on real-time video streaming. Imagine placing a bet on the next score which is about to happen in five to 10 seconds. This cannot be accomplished if you have a latency of more than one second. Smooth interaction can only take place if latency is not noticeable
He observed: “The world of online sports betting is growing due to increased customer demand, deregulation, the COVID-19 pandemic, and real-time streaming technology have all driven this boom. Recently, sportsbooks have taken in-game betting one step further with the fast growing trend of microbetting.
“Beyond just growing in popularity, live sports betting has also grown in variety. Participants can now stake their bets in a number of ways — ranging from pre-game wagers on the winning team to in-game betting focused on point spreads and the like.
“Microbetting shows promise for bringing new users into the online gambling world due to the low level of commitment it requires. The increased accessibility on the other hand is where gambling operators have seen the greatest opportunity.”
“Working with our clients we stress the importance of a high quality experience. Winning players for Microbetting stands and falls with a reliable service that covers all targeted geographical areas and all devices 24/7/365. Equally important is adaptivity and ease of use. To serve as many players as possible, you require to stream across all networks and devices and of course without buffering and potential interruptions that can make one miss a bet or damage the experience.
“Twain Sports and Highlight Games rely on Nanocosmos’ real-time streaming solution nanoStream Cloud to power their microbetting services,” he said. “Rather than wagering on scheduled games that only occur so often, Twain Sports hosts basketball games where professional athletes compete head-to-head. This means that users can tune in and place bets at their convenience.”
He continued: “The UK-based provider Highlight Games for instance has pushed the industry by rolling out new products across the globe: so called “video virtuals” (four to five-minute games that involve betting on pre-match markets) and instant wins (which are much shorter on-demand games that only involve selecting your stake and pressing ‘start’ before the highlight show). Highlight Games creates unique betting and gaming opportunities for exclusively licensed content.”
Turning to the key technical requirements that providers must fulfill if they are looking to offer microbetting, Lietz placed the integrated approach next to speed at the top of the list. “Speed is the name of the game when it comes to microbetting,” he noted.
“However, bringing the in-person betting experience into a digital environment requires a comprehensive solution with an integrated approach so operators do not need to worry about the technical details too much. This is to ensure a smooth, high-quality streaming experience. Real-time streaming needs to cover the specific requirements of the platform provider to reach his specific audience anywhere, anytime.”
Another crucial element in building a successful micro betting offer is the underlying technology which, Lietz warned, can “make or break a platform”. He advised: “In order to fully deliver on the promise of microbetting, gambling products must deliver reliable, sub-second video experiences that are accessible across all devices.
“Nanocosmos offers reliable real-time streaming 24/7/365 with an integrated approach covering key needs of operators so they can focus on their business.]
“Sub-second streaming: built for interactive use cases like microbetting, our scalable nanoStream Cloud platform ensures sub-second streaming across the globe. This is based on our self-managed, global Content Delivery Network (CDN). No matter how many people tune in it is laid out to deliver with 100% uptime and continuous 24/7 operations – high availability with dynamic failover. This is to make player engagement work from every corner of the globe with no interruptions.”
Outlining the benefits of the firm’s adaptive real-time player, he added: “Our easy-to-embed player combines seamless playback with sub-second latency on any device — delivering on all your viewers’ expectations and more.”
Last but not least, Lietz focused on the company’s advanced analytics and the ability to stream health monitoring and alerting.”By using the nanocosmos platform from end-to-end, you’ll gain observability across the workflow to inform business decisions, while our new health monitoring feature makes it easy to pinpoint issues on your ingest stream and get 100% insights.
“Our goal is to offer operators a combination of software and services that will take care of delivering the content in real-time worldwide across all networks and devices and at the end provide you with valuable insights on how you can optimize your service. It is simple, and made for you to focus on your business and improve it.”
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Oliver Lietz, CEO of Nanocosmos.
