SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Zeeshan Khan, Sales Manager at Bayes Esports, explores in detail the critical rationale that could deliver significant benefits for fantasy sports operators that utilise an official stats API.
Fantasy sports are legal in countries where esports betting has yet to gain regulatory approval, such as the USA and India. In these countries, fantasy sports are considered a ‘game of skill’ rather than a “game of chance”, which distinguishes them from traditional betting activities.
This legal distinction allows fantasy sports to operate freely, catering to large populations and tapping into vast geographical markets. Unlike betting platforms, fantasy companies face less scrutiny in terms of licensing, and because of this, the popularity of esports fantasy is on the rise. By emphasising strategic decision-making, fantasy operators can provide an engaging and lawful gaming experience for millions of enthusiasts in these key regions.
Without the option of betting on esports, the esports community are thirstier than ever for innovative and engaging games. Instead of just watching a match on a public streaming platform, fantasy platforms allow players to fully immerse themselves into the game with real-time, interactive content.
As data-driven solutions are developed, the quality and engagement on the fantasy platforms are significantly improved. With more data comes more informed decisions, and overall a more interesting competition for the fantasy players.
Data providers gather the data, and transform it into engaging statistics, before feeding it back to the fantasy platforms through an API. These stats enable platforms to build features like real-time score updates, live match tracking, and interactive scoreboards, and so much more. Continue reading to explore the benefits that a fantasy operator can gain with an official stats API.
- Boosts Engagement
Think about a traditional sports fantasy game, like Fantasy Premier League (FPL) for example. The user interface shows a fixtures calendar, fixtures difficulty rating, player statistics, probabilities and a scoreboard that provides real-time updates. The reason the game is so fun is because there are so many elements for fantasy players to engage with, all of which are powered by data.
Esports, on the other hand, has even more data points to draw from. Players are moving at all corners of the map, faster than the eyes alone can track. This requires data collection at a high level of granularity, something to which scraped data would easily miss. With official data direct from the source, the fantasy platform can track every move a player makes within a match and even share it in a dynamic 2D map view of each match.
Instead of users just checking the app pre or post match, users will continuously return to the fantasy platform to get all their latest updates. Enhance the fantasy game even further with a high quality video feed that is in line with the public broadcast.
With faster data, companies are able to get the results quicker and deliver faster payouts, improving overall customer satisfaction. With the data flowing in line with the public stream, fans can keep a track of their fantasy team while the game is on, thus increasing fan retention on the platform.
- Increases Revenue
As an alternative to betting, fantasy games allow users to make money while watching their favourite esports tournaments. Pick players ahead of matches and see how their battle unfolds to win cash prizes. The more coverage the platform has of the best esports game titles and tournaments, the more opportunity there will be to generate revenue.
Daily fantasy sports is a popular form of esports fantasy which requires users creating and changing their line-up of players and teams everyday. With DFS there are daily winners, keeping players excited and coming back for more. This quick form of fantasy relies on fast data to deliver results in real-time and stay on top of player and fixture changes. This is where the quality of the stats API can have a drastic effect on the uptime and revenue of the fantasy game.
Bayes Esports’ Stats API is powered by live data and includes round the clock operations for its leading content calendar of CS2 and Dota 2. The statistics offer reliable, real-time insight into fixtures, scoreboards, player values, and more. Thanks to improved data reporting, Clout Fantasy, a customer of Bayes Esports, was able to reduce their refunds from 7% to 0%.
- Safeguards Integrity
Upholding a fantasy platform’s integrity and credibility will not only protect against fraud and illegal practices, but it can also impact the quality of the platform. It can shake the brand’s reputation, and can even be a barrier to onboarding new players.
So how does a high quality stats API reflect a platform’s integrity? The quality of the data used affects the accuracy of the game created. Stats using scraped data may not catch last minute player changes, which in turn, can leave users unsatisfied with the platform, or for some even cheating their way to a win. Only a platform built on official data can be reliable and fair.
Official data is also legally licensed data. For example, Bayes Esports partners with the IP owners of the data, like ESL FACEIT Group (EFG), to get the data directly from the source. This gives Bayes Esports the right to distribute their data, and ensures our customers are compliant with copyright infringement laws.
It opens up a revenue stream for the IP owners, creating a cycle where the revenue gets funnelled back into growing and improving the games, tournaments, and fan experience.
- Saves time
Esports fantasy games run on data, from the scoreboard, to player performance, and tournament standings. Building all of these intricate components from scratch, takes away valuable developer time which would be better spent designing an out-of-this world gaming experience. Whether those running a fantasy game are looking to expand their platform to new game titles, or launching the platform for the first time, a stats API can give a jump start to begin making revenue immediately.
With Bayes Fantasy Stats, a user-friendly API solution, fantasy game developers get everything they need and more with just one integration. Not only is the integration quick; having a partner on hand helps reduce manual data input. When Clout Fantasy integrated Bayes Stats, the percentage of partially correct data decreased from over 50% to a mere 1%.
The future of esports fantasy
The use of high quality stats in fantasy esports platforms will play an increasingly vital role for the success of the platform. With real-time data insights and interactive features, fantasy esports platforms will transform into virtual arenas where fans can not only spectate but actively participate in the action. High quality data will lead to a growing audience, more monetisation opportunities and higher revenue – a lucrative hub for both the player and the business.
Official data is becoming a non negotiable for those key fantasy platforms that want to come out on top. Players’ expectations are growing and platforms need to keep up or they will fall behind. Start forging partnerships with providers of official and high quality data and become connected to the heart of the esports ecosystem.
